Austin Education: Smart Choices

Austin is a horizon-expanding city offering outstanding educational opportunities from kindergarten through Ph. D. studies and touted by Fortune magazine as one of the country's top five intellectual capitals. Perhaps the acclaim results from Austin's seven area institutions of higher education, including the state's flagship university, The University of Texas at Austin. Or perhaps it is because the last census revealed that 84 percent of Austin adults have a high school diploma, 37 percent have earned a bachelor's degree and 12 percent have earned graduate degrees. Austin enjoys a well-deserved national reputation for educational excellence.

Looking Back and Forward

If you're a parent who's highly involved with your child's education, May probably feels like a final sprint to the finish line of yet another demanding school year. After nine months of checking homework, attending parent-teacher conferences and fretting about-or celebrating-test scores and report cards, you're happy that you and your child are heading toward some high-quality "downtime". While this is certainly true, it's also a good time to take a close look at the individual factors that have collectively impacted your son or daughter's academic achievement during the year. A realistic assessment can help you determine if the summer months should include extra work, and help you prepare for the challenges your child will face in the coming year. Here are some of the most important indicators to review:

Choosing a School District

Choosing the best school district for a family does not have to be difficult- if you know what you're looking for, if you keep in mind the needs of your child or children and if you know the right questions to ask. What Works, a booklet produced by the U.S. Department of Education, lists the following as the most important characteristics of an effective school:

The University of Texas at Austin
Office of the Registrar
Main Building, Room 1, 78712 ..........512-475-7399
50,000 students
www.utexas.edu
UT Austin, the flagship of the University of Texas system, is a leader in American higher education. The campus boasts state-of-the-art facilities, outstanding libraries and collections, academic prominence and endowed faculty positions. The university’s 15 colleges and schools, along with the division of continuing education, offer more than 100 undergraduate and 170 graduate degree programs, as well as more than 50 honors programs. Seven of UT’s doctoral programs—aerospace engineering; astronomy, chemical engineering, civil engineering, classics, computer science and ecology, evolution and behavior—are ranked among the top 10 in the country by the
National Research Council. UT Extension is a program on the UT campus
and offers evening classes to UT students and non-students. The classes can be for UT credit or for transfer and are taught by UT faculty and instructors approved through UT academic departments.