Summary:
Zip code 78731 in Austin, Texas, is home to two high-performing elementary schools, Doss Elementary and Highland Park Elementary, both part of the Austin Independent School District (Isd), serving students from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade in a well-established residential area.
Highland Park Elementary is the standout school in this area, consistently ranking in the top 4% of all Texas elementary schools with a 5-star rating for three consecutive years. It achieves exceptional academic results, with average reading proficiency at 85.51% and math at 75.93%, far exceeding both district and state averages. Its 5th grade science proficiency rate of 65.96% is more than double that of Doss Elementary, which struggles in this subject at just 28.67%. Doss Elementary is also a strong performer, ranking in the top 13% of Texas schools and earning 4-5 star ratings, with solid reading (75.08%) and math (70.71%) scores. However, it shows more ranking volatility, dropping from the 96th percentile to the 87th before rebounding to the 92nd, while Highland Park Elementary has been remarkably consistent in the 96th-97th percentile range.
Both schools have low student-teacher ratios (around 14.4:1) and similar per-student spending, but Highland Park Elementary achieves better results with slightly less funding ($10,132 vs. $10,776), suggesting efficient resource use or strong community support. The free/reduced lunch rate is notably lower at Highland Park Elementary (6.63%) compared to Doss Elementary (19.14%), which correlates with the performance gap. For parents, Highland Park Elementary offers elite, consistent academics across all subjects, while Doss Elementary provides strong overall performance with a notable weakness in 5th grade science that families may want to investigate further.
Thank you for your feedback!