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What's one thing SPENCE EL gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
686
Elementary
DISTRICT 569 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ALDINE ISD·NCES 480771010724
SPENCE EL
1300 GEARS RD, HOUSTON, TX 77067 · (281) 539-4050 · Harris County
GRADES 01–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL686 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.9:1
43 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.3:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
89%
608 students
DISTRICT 87% · 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 2023-24 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
27.0%
TX avg 51.8% . +14.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
16.0%
TX avg 42.0% . +10.0pp 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 16 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 52 and 42. Reading scores are up about 14 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 10 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
35.2%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 35% 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
686
+93 (+16%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
15.9:1
was 14.2:1
% White
1%
was 1%
% Hispanic
69%
was 61%
% Black
26%
was 36%
% Asian
1%
was 1%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About SPENCE EL
SPENCE EL operates as a middle-of-the-pack primary school in HOUSTON, Texas, part of ALDINE ISD. Current enrollment sits at 686 students spanning grades 1 through 5. Compared to the state average of about 519 students per school, that is 32% larger than typical.
ALDINE ISD comprises 76 schools with combined enrollment of 56,419 students; SPENCE EL is among them.
Demographically, SPENCE EL shows that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 69% of enrollment. The remainder looks like 26% Black. By comparison, Harris County as a whole is about 44% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably more Hispanic than its surroundings.
Looking at the economic backdrop, The school employs 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.9:1. The state averages around 15.1:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 89% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Harris County (around 70%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.
Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, SPENCE EL is in the bottom 10% of Texas public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 35.2%; SPENCE EL posts 19.3%, -15.9 points below that line.
Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Harris County indicate the typical household earns roughly $74,983 per year, roughly 34% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 13% of residents live below the federal poverty line. SPENCE EL is one of 1205 public schools in Harris County (combined enrollment of about 886,911 students).
The closest other public school is PLUMMER MIDDLE, roughly 0.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, SPENCE EL comes 9th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 30.9%.
SPENCE EL operates from a commuter-belt location.
Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 16%: 593 students in 2018 compared to 686 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment ticked down from 36% to 26% over that span. Class-load math has rose: from 14.2:1 in 2018 to 15.9:1 in 2025.
On allk12, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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 ALDINE ISD
- MACARTHUR H SHigh · 3,501 students
- DAVIS H S ALDINEHigh · 3,184 students
- NIMITZ H SHigh · 2,651 students
- ALDINE H SHigh · 2,481 students
- EISENHOWER H SHigh · 2,262 students
- BLANSON CTE H SHigh · 1,258 students
Other schools in HOUSTON
- TEXAS CONNECTIONS ACADEMY AT HOUSTONCombined · 8,641 students
- NORTH SHORE SENIOR HIGHHigh · 4,284 students
- ELSIK H SHigh · 4,057 students
- SUMMER CREEK H SHigh · 3,972 students
- HASTINGS H SHigh · 3,786 students
- C E KING H SHigh · 3,716 students
Nearby schools
- PLUMMER MIDDLE0.1 mi · 894
- DAVIS H S ALDINE0.6 mi · 3,184
- IDEA SPEARS COLLEGE PREPARATORY1.4 mi · 617
- IDEA SPEARS ACADEMY1.4 mi · 728
- HERITAGE EL1.5 mi · 807
- JOAN LINK EL1.5 mi · 556
Frequently asked questions
About SPENCE ELHow many students attend SPENCE EL?
SPENCE EL enrolls approximately 686 students in grades 01-05.
What age range does SPENCE EL serve?
SPENCE EL serves students from grade 01 through grade 05.
How many teachers does SPENCE EL have?
SPENCE EL employs 43 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.9:1.
How diverse is SPENCE EL?
SPENCE EL reports a student body of 1% White, 69% Hispanic, 26% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees SPENCE EL?
SPENCE EL is overseen by ALDINE ISD in Harris County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.