Summary
Joe Lee Johnson Elementary is a PK-5 campus in Austin, TX, serving 821 students as part of the Round Rock Independent School District (Isd), a highly-rated district ranking in the 79th percentile statewide. The school has a diverse student body, with 59% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch in the 2024-2025 school year, indicating a moderate-to-high level of economic disadvantage. Over the past decade, the school has maintained a consistent, yet modest, performance profile, with its overall state ranking fluctuating between the 19th and 49th percentiles, typically earning a 2-star rating. The most recent data (2025-2026) shows a slight uptick to the 42nd percentile, suggesting a potential recovery from a significant dip in the 2024-2025 school year.
One of the most striking findings is a stark "two-schools-in-one" dynamic at Joe Lee Johnson. The school is a top performer for its White students, ranking in the 90th percentile statewide (5 stars) in the 2025-2026 school year, placing it among the best schools in Texas for this demographic. However, the school struggles profoundly with nearly every other demographic group, ranking in the 1st percentile for Hispanic students, the 12th percentile for English Language Learners, the 13th percentile for Low Socio-Economic Status students, and the 19th percentile for African American students. This creates a massive achievement gap within the same school, where while some students are thriving at a level comparable to the state's elite schools, the majority of the student body is being left behind. The school's overall rank improvement from the 19th percentile in 2024-2025 to the 42nd percentile in 2025-2026 is almost entirely driven by the exceptional performance of White students, masking a deepening crisis for the school's most vulnerable populations.
In mathematics, the school's performance is critically low and appears to be declining, with proficiency rates in the 2025-2026 school year at 37.9% (3rd), 42.7% (4th), and 33.3% (5th), all significantly below the district average (around 60%) and the state average (around 47%). This contrasts sharply with nearby Idea Round Rock Technical Academy, a charter school just 2 miles away that serves a similar demographic but achieves dramatically better results, ranking in the 73rd-84th percentile (4 stars) with test scores consistently 15-25 percentage points higher. Idea Round Rock achieves these results with $1,073 less per student in spending and a higher student-to-teacher ratio (21.3 vs. 17.4), suggesting a fundamentally different and more effective instructional model. Additionally, the school's Spanish-language STAAR program is underperforming, with proficiency rates in the single digits for 3rd-grade Math (8.3%) and 4th-grade Math (9.5%) in the 2025-2026 school year, indicating the bilingual/ESL program may need significant restructuring.
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