Top Elementary Schools in Houston Area

The Houston-based nonprofit Children at Risk ranked 3,126 public elementary schools in Texas based on the following criteria:

1- Percentage of fifth-graders scoring at the commended level on the TAKS reading, math and science and the percentage of the 4h graders reaching that level on TAKS reading.

2- Percentage of 5th graders scoring commended on all sections of TAKS.

3- Overall student attendance rate for the school year.

4- Average class size in grades 1-3.

5- Retention rates for 4th and 5th grades.

6- Percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch and are economically disadvantaged.

Based on these criteria here are the top 5 elementary schools in Houston area which are all rated exemplary.

1- T H Rogers Elementary ( Houston ISD at 5840 SAN FELIPE ST, HOUSTON , 77057 )
2- Barbara Bush Elementary (Houston ISD at 13800 WESTERLOCH DR, HOUSTON , 77077)
3- Walker Station Elementary (Fort Bend ISD at 6200 HOMEWARD WAY BLVD, SUGAR LAND , 77479 )
4- Henderson J Elementary ( Houston ISD at 1800 DISMUKE, HOUSTON , 77023 )
5- Hamilton Elementary (CyFair ISD at 12050 KLUGE, CYPRESS , 77429 )

Spring Is In the Air For Houston Housing Market

Here are the promising March figures for Houston housing market:


•Single-family home sales rose 10.8 percent;

•Total property sales increased 14.5 percent;

•The average price of a single-family home appreciated for a sixth straight month by 10.2 percent to $212,403 — the highest pricing level for a March in Houston;

•The median price of a single-family home rose for the 11th consecutive month, by 6.4 percent, to $154,250 — the highest dollar figure for a March in Houston;

•6.7 months inventory of single-family homes compares favorably to the national average of 8.6 months;

•Townhouse/condominium sales increased 30.4 percent;

•Total dollar volume climbed 24.2 percent, reaching $1.2 billion.

P1010164.MOV

TEXAS CITIES BEST PLACES FOR JOBS

Aren't you glad and proud to be Texan? For the second year in a row, Texas cities took half of the top ten spots in Newgeography.com's annual ranking of the best cities in the nation in which to find a job.

Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos ranked first (ironically Round Rock also ranks high on number of foreclosed properties), San Antonio–New Braunfels second, our own Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown third, Dallas-Plano-Irving fifth and Fort Worth–Arlington seventh. I think this is some amazing statistics!

Among the medium-sized cities that Newgeography.com ranked, El Paso was fifth, McAllen-Mission-Edinburg was sixth and Corpus Christi was seventh.

College Station–Bryan was the third best smallest city in which to find a job. Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood was fourth.

The rankings are based on three-month rolling averages of monthly employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from November 1999 to January 2010. For more information you can visit the website.