1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at HOUSTON EL right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
496
Elementary
DISTRICT 467 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·AUSTIN ISD·NCES 480894000322
HOUSTON EL
5409 PONCIANA DR, AUSTIN, TX 78744 · (512) 414-2517 · Travis County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL496 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.2:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.7:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
92%
457 students
DISTRICT 61% · STATE 65%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
25.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +13.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
29.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +25.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 29 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 13 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 25 points.
Source: STAAR. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of TX schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
19.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.3%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 34% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
496
-146 (-23%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
11.2:1
was 14.3:1
% White
2%
was 2%
% Hispanic
91%
was 91%
% Black
6%
was 6%
% Asian
0%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About HOUSTON EL
HOUSTON EL is a mid-tier elementary-level community in AUSTIN, Texas, one of the schools within AUSTIN ISD. The school instructs 496 students in grades pre-K through 6.
HOUSTON EL is one of 123 schools operated by AUSTIN ISD, a district that enrolls 72,272 students overall.
In terms of who attends, HOUSTON EL lists that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (91%). Beyond that, the school records 6% Black. By comparison, Travis County as a whole is about 33% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.
On the resource side, Staff filings list 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 15.1:1 average. About 92% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Travis County (around 54%), the school's rate is north of typical.
With demographic context factored in, HOUSTON EL is in the bottom 10% of Texas public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 34.3%; HOUSTON EL posts 19.3%, -15.1 points below that line.
Around the school, the surrounding county (Travis County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $99,611 per year, 57% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. HOUSTON EL is one of 333 public schools in Travis County (combined enrollment of about 191,706 students).
UPHAUS EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around HOUSTON EL. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts HOUSTON EL at 7th of 8; the average score across the group is 28.7%.
Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.
Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at HOUSTON EL has edged down 23%, going from 642 students in 2018 to 496 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 14.3:1 in 2018 to 11.2:1 in 2025.
Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.
Travis County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,330,015
Census ACS
Median income
$99,611
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
333
191,706 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in AUSTIN ISD
- BOWIE H SHigh · 2,876 students
- AKINS EARLY COLLEGE H SHigh · 2,421 students
- AUSTIN H SHigh · 2,323 students
- ANDERSON H SHigh · 2,223 students
- MCCALLUM H SHigh · 1,897 students
- NAVARRO EARLY COLLEGE H SHigh · 1,633 students
Other schools in AUSTIN
- LAKE TRAVIS H SHigh · 3,569 students
- BOWIE H SHigh · 2,876 students
- WESTWOOD H SHigh · 2,858 students
- WESTLAKE H SHigh · 2,854 students
- MCNEIL H SHigh · 2,660 students
- VANDEGRIFT H SHigh · 2,437 students
Nearby schools
- UPHAUS EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER0.3 mi · 246
- KIPP AUSTIN OBRAS0.4 mi · 373
- KIPP AUSTIN BEACON PREP0.4 mi · 393
- KIPP AUSTIN BRAVE0.4 mi · 490
- RODRIGUEZ EL0.5 mi · 372
- WAYSIDE SCI-TECH MIDDLE AND H S0.9 mi · 554
Frequently asked questions
About HOUSTON ELWhat is the total enrollment at HOUSTON EL?
HOUSTON EL enrolls approximately 496 students in grades PK-06.
What grades does HOUSTON EL serve?
HOUSTON EL serves grades PK-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at HOUSTON EL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at HOUSTON EL is approximately 11.2:1 (44 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at HOUSTON EL?
Student demographics at HOUSTON EL are roughly 2% White, 91% Hispanic, 6% Black, 1% Two or more.
What district is HOUSTON EL in?
HOUSTON EL is part of AUSTIN ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.