Millsap Elementary & What to Look for in a School

I would not worry too much about the ratings that schools get. It all depends on the population/ demographics that a school has. I worked at 2 different middle schools, in a suburbian community, for 4 years, that had (at least)
"recognized" ratings. If they didn't have such high demographics - - with a fair amount of black and hispanic populations, they would probably be "exemplary". Most of the students, throughout the school passed all of their TAKS tests with an 80% or above, even in the focused demographic groups I mentioned before. However, often the rating is based on those focused demographics, rather than the over all population at the school. If there are even only a handful, from the focused demographics, that failed throughout the school, that can bring down the rating of the entire school. That's why a lot of inner-city schools have lower ratings. They have a lot more of the focused demographics to worry about, where the suburban schools have some as well (but not as many). Also, you know your child(ren). It's more about motivating them as individuals, then it is about what school they go to. Out of 60 students in one year, only 2 failed the Reading TAKS test (having to go to Summer School). Those 2 students were particularly hard to motivate. It seemed like nothing that I or their parents did made them understand how important it was to work harder. If you know how to motivate your student(s), then you should have nothing to worry about.

Millsap is a very good school. Cyfair is a very good district. The ratings for this district used to be exemplary but most of it's schools are recogized now. This is no reason to be concerned but marveled at. This school district has at least 7000 to 10,000 kids a year entering in. They are coming from different school disticts so its really neat that we are still on top of things. My kids went to Robinson for their elementary but I've heard great things about Millsap. The schools is why I moved here. I went to private school and this is so much better. The biblical principles you can teach at home. All the teachers that my kids have had in this district tell them that this is what scientist believe and this is what I believe. I hope this helps you feel more at ease.

I would not be overly concerned about the ratings of a school. I teach at a school that is rated "Acceptable" and my children go to a school rated "Exemplary". The teaching and learning that go on in my school is far and above better than the teaching in my kids school, we just happen to have a wider variety of children from different races and socio-economic groups. My children's school is totally focused on "looking good" on test scores, and their teaching reflects that. I would be more concerned about how the students are challenged and in talking with neighbors how happy their children are that go there.

I don't know anything about that school since I live in The Woodlands, but I found it on Great Schools.net, which is a good place to find reviews and information about schools.

http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/tx/1718/