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What's the vibe like in the hallways at PONDEROSA EL right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
740
Elementary
DISTRICT 662 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SPRING ISD·NCES 484122004718
Ponderosa Elementary School
17202 BUTTE CREEK RD, HOUSTON, TX 77090 · (281) 891-8180 · Harris County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL740 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 0% of Texas public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Texas public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
17.6:1
42 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.5:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
645 students
DISTRICT 82% · 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, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 89 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 99 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 118 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 96 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 119 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 110 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 109 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (99) is 9% smaller than its 5th grade class (109).
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 63% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). 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
27.0%
TX avg 54.5% . -15.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
22.0%
TX avg 45.3% . -17.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 22 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are down about 15 points since 2020, while math scores are down about 17 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 8.0% | 19.0% | 19.0% | 54.0% |
| Mathematics | 8.0% | 14.0% | 22.0% | 56.0% |
Share of tested students at each STAAR level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
STAAR results by year
| School year | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 27.0% | 22.0% |
| 2024-25 | 24.0% | 13.0% |
| 2023-24 | 28.0% | 17.0% |
| 2022-23 | 34.0% | 37.0% |
| 2021-22 | 53.0% | 51.0% |
| 2020-21 | 42.0% | 39.0% |
% Meets Grade Level or Above, all students and all tested grades.
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
17.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
36.5%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-18.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 18% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 36% 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 →
Schools most like Ponderosa Elementary School
Ponderosa Elementary School's state test result (17.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponderosa Elementary School this school | 740 | 87.2% | 17.9% |
| Carolee Booker Elementary School HOUSTON | 726 | 87.2% | 27.8% |
| Tisinger Elementary School MESQUITE | 739 | 90.8% | 33.7% |
| Griggs Ec/PK/K HOUSTON | 763 | 91.1% | N/A |
| Heritage Elementary School HOUSTON | 807 | 88.8% | 22.9% |
| Jack M Fields Sr Elementary School HUMBLE | 638 | 87.9% | 24.1% |
Matched among Texas elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Ponderosa Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Harris County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 17.9% | #4,317 of 4,401 | #617 of 624 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 22.0% | #4,325 of 4,466 ▲ 98 | #619 of 625 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 27.0% | #4,366 of 4,466 ▲ 3 | #621 of 625 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -11.0pp | #305 of 3,998 | #34 of 603 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 740 | #686 of 4,938 | #193 of 682 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.6:1 | #4,096 of 4,622 | #570 of 657 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.0% | #2,228 of 4,628 | #294 of 657 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.2% | #1,374 of 4,789 | #327 of 671 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +3.6% | #1,078 of 1,307 | #118 of 148 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
740
-33 (-4%) vs 2020
+32% since 1990-91, when it was 561
Student : Teacher
17.6:1
was 15.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 740 | 42.2 | 17.6:1 | 87% (645) |
| 2023-24 | 738 | 53.8 | 13.7:1 | 93% (689) |
| 2022-23 | 784 | 47.9 | 16.4:1 | 89% (700) |
| 2020-21 | 773 | 50 | 15.5:1 | 92% (714) |
| 2017-18 | 714 | 45.3 | 15.8:1 | 79% (565) |
| 2015-16 | 728 | 44 | 16.6:1 | 73% (534) |
| 2010-11 | 749 | 46 | 16.3:1 | 72% (537) |
| 2000-01 | 637 | 40 | 15.9:1 | 35% (225) |
| 1990-91 | 561 | 33 | 17.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ponderosa Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 4% (714 to 740); teachers down 7% (45.3 to 42.2).
About Ponderosa Elementary School
Ponderosa Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school for students in HOUSTON, Texas. Students in pre-K through 5 attend the school, which enrolls 740 students. For comparison, elementary schools in Texas average about 519 students.
SPRING ISD has 42 schools; together they serve 33,678 students.
A majority of students at Ponderosa Elementary School, 62%, are Hispanic. The rest of enrollment is 30% Black, 4% White, and 3% multiracial. Among all residents of Harris County, the Hispanic share is about 44%. The chance that two students picked at random at Ponderosa Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 52%.
Teacher staffing is 42.2 full-time equivalents, or about 17.6 students per teacher. Among elementary schools in Texas, the typical ratio is 15.1:1. About 87% of students, or 645, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Among public schools in Harris County, the average eligibility rate is 70%.
Measured against Texas public elementary schools, Ponderosa Elementary School receives an F. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
A school in Texas with Ponderosa Elementary School's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 36.5%. Ponderosa Elementary School scores 17.9%.
Harris County census figures show that median household income is about $74,983, about 34% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 13%. A total of 1,205 public schools operate in Harris County, serving about 886,911 students.
The shortest distance from Ponderosa Elementary School to another public school is about 0.6 miles, to Helen Major Elementary School. The five-mile area around Ponderosa Elementary School holds at least 8 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 27.5%, higher than Ponderosa Elementary School's 17.9%.
The school's federal locale classification is Suburb: Large.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Ponderosa Elementary School went from 773 students to 740. The ratio was 15.5:1 in 2020-21 and 17.6:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Harris County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
4,838,303
Census ACS
Median income
$74,983
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
1,205
886,911 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in SPRING ISD
- Spring High SchoolHigh · 2,594 students
- Andy Dekaney High SchoolHigh · 2,485 students
- Westfield High SchoolHigh · 2,264 students
- Carl Wunsche Sr High SchoolHigh · 1,503 students
- Chet Burchett Elementary SchoolElementary · 982 students
- Rickey C Bailey Middle SchoolMiddle · 982 students
Other schools in HOUSTON
- Texas Connections Academy at HoustonCombined · 8,641 students
- North Shore Senior HighHigh · 4,284 students
- Elsik High SchoolHigh · 4,057 students
- Summer Creek High SchoolHigh · 3,972 students
- Hastings High SchoolHigh · 3,786 students
- C E King High SchoolHigh · 3,716 students
Other Ponderosa Elementary schools
11 other US public schools in 8 states are named Ponderosa Elementary. Ponderosa Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 12.
- Ponderosa ElementaryAnaheim, CA · 785 students
- Ponderosa Elementary SchoolAURORA, CO · 634 students
- Ponderosa ElementarySunnyvale, CA · 524 students
- PONDEROSA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPOST FALLS, ID · 466 students
- Ponderosa ElementaryBend, OR · 464 students
Nearby schools
- Helen Major Elementary School0.6 mi · 567
- Bammel Elementary School0.8 mi · 697
- Westfield High School0.9 mi · 2,264
- Arrow Academy - Champions Academy1.0 mi · 66
- Bammel Middle School1.2 mi · 783
- The School for International Studies at Bammel1.2 mi · 88
Frequently asked questions
About Ponderosa Elementary SchoolHow large is Ponderosa Elementary School?
Ponderosa Elementary School enrolls approximately 740 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Ponderosa Elementary School serve?
Ponderosa Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Ponderosa Elementary School?
Approximately 17.6:1 students per teacher at Ponderosa Elementary School.
What is the student diversity at Ponderosa Elementary School?
Student demographics at Ponderosa Elementary School are roughly 4% White, 62% Hispanic, 30% Black, 0% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Ponderosa Elementary School in?
Ponderosa Elementary School is part of SPRING ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.