Summary
Dessau Elementary in Austin, TX, is a PK-5 school serving 554 students as part of the Pflugerville Independent School District (Isd), and it faces significant academic challenges that set it apart from nearby schools.
Dessau Elementary has ranked in the bottom 1-8% of Texas elementary schools for the past five years, a steep decline from its 36th percentile ranking in 2016-2017. Its test scores are dramatically lower than those of neighboring schools with similar student populations. For example, in 3rd grade math, only 13.25% of Dessau students met proficiency, compared to 39.39% at Copperfield Elementary and 42% at Wieland Elementary. In 5th grade science, just 4.4% of Dessau students were proficient, versus 25.07% district-wide. Even Wilhelmina Delco Elementary, its closest neighbor, ranks in the 9th percentile—still significantly higher than Dessau’s 2nd percentile. Notably, Copperfield Elementary has a higher percentage of students from low-income households (90.3% vs. 82.67%) but ranks in the 47th percentile, suggesting that factors beyond poverty, such as school leadership and instructional quality, are driving Dessau’s struggles.
Despite these challenges, there is one bright spot: Dessau’s 5th-grade Spanish Reading proficiency on the STAAR test was 71.43% in 2025-2026, more than double the district and state averages. This suggests the school’s bilingual program may be a strength worth building on. However, this success does not extend to Spanish Math, where scores were 0% across all tested grades. The school’s per-student spending ($11,144) is comparable to higher-performing peers like Pflugerville Elementary ($11,863), indicating that funding alone is not the issue. For parents, Dessau Elementary requires careful consideration, as its consistent underperformance points to a need for comprehensive intervention, though the strong Spanish Reading results offer a potential foundation for improvement.
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