Austin Elementary School

The only qualification needed for a child to qualify for the gifted(discovery) program is for their parents to donate fundraisers, the more money you give the more good chances for your child to qualify, it doesnt matter if she's talented, only thing that austin needs is your money!!!
—Submitted by a parent

We bought our house to be in Austin district instead of doing private school, we are now on our son's 2nd year going to Austin and are extremely happy with the teachers and school staff.
—Submitted by a parent

My son is starting in Jan and the front office was not helpful and simply answered all my questions:"It is in the handbook" I hope the teachers are more friendly than them. Moving in the middle of the school year is hard enough, I want my son to feel welcome and comfortable.
—Submitted by a parent

austin has talented teachers and staff.all the children are smart and love this school.you learn so much,I can't belive it. :)

Open House was simply chaos and communication with the front office staff definitely can be improved. Luckily, my daughter is in 3rd grade and her teachers are great!
—Submitted by a parent

Great teachers, great support staff and a great little neighborhood school.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter have been attending Austin since Oct-2008. Initially she struggled little bit. The class teacher took care of her. Now she is enjoying her KG. They gave special english training for other country students. The class teacher is calling parents-teacher(one to one) meeting for every couple of months.
—Submitted by a parent

Austin is a top rate school with a good balance of academics and fun (per my children). From top down, the school is run like a successful business and as a result, we (kids and parents) can't say enough great things about the program there.
—Submitted by a parent

My children have been attending Austin since November of 06 and I must say that this school thus far has been the best thing that has happen to my children s academic and social life. My third grader have been faced with many academic and social problems that was not giving the proper attention at his previous schools, and the attention and response that has been giving to his challenges is by far more then I could ever ask for. My family was greeted with a warm welcome from the teachers and students here at Austin and I proud to be apart of this school.
—Submitted by Yolanda Lee, a parent

Austin is a great school. The teachers really care about the students and are very available. The principal is also great. I have two children here and could not be happier with this school.
—Submitted by Susan, a parent

I am somewhat surprised that there are so few extracurricular activities available for students at this school. This was touted as one of the best schools in the Atlanta area and after a year and a half, I am not as impressed as I had hoped. Some of the teachers are excellent, the others are waiting for retirement! The principal is adequate at best. Overall, I do not think this is as good a school as I had been led to believe.
—Submitted by a parent

My child is in Austin for the past 6 years. She stayed for stability reason. I am so glad she is leaving there at the end of her 5th grade. Overall, the assumed quality of academic programs there are better than most schools in the area but I questioned it more with experiences. The school overall social issue is an added PROBLEM from faculty to students.
—Submitted by a parent

My family moved here to Atlanta in Jan 06. My daughter was in the first grade. Due to the other school she attended she was way behind at Austin. So I put her back. That seemed to work, now she reads at the 2nd grade level and her math is coimg along. As for the parents, yes they are involed in the PTA and the school but they don't make it friendly for the outsiders who are just attending. My daughter has been attending since Jan 06 and I have to have 1 person come and say hi or welcome me to their (Dunwoody Club). On the other hand I wolud say that this school is a lot better then where my family has come from before. I look forward for the up and coming year.
—Submitted by a parent

Although I've heard great things about Austin's academic standards in comparison to other public schools, my daughter's experience has been uneven there. She had a wonderful kindergarten experience. It was challenging and fun for her and she loved her teachers. However, her first grade experience has not been good. I've not been that impressed by the quality of some of her teachers who seem to be 'marking time' until retirement. With new apartments going up in the area, there has been an influx of a lot of new students. I've had a couple of minor concerns that my husband and I have tried to address with the administration and, frankly, they didn't seem very responsive. Parent involvement is great but geared toward stay at home moms with meeting times and events happening mid-day, etc. PTA seems a bit 'Dunwoody clubby.' A good school, but has room for improvement.
—Submitted by a parent

Austin is an outstanding elementary school. It gives the private school quality of education in the public school setting. The teachers go over and beyond to address the needs of all studnets. My child has attended there for 6 years and I am truly appreciative of her educational growth.
—Submitted by a parent

Austin is wonderful. Under the leadership of a very high integrity principal this school excels in most categories. Most of the teachers my boys have had have been awesome, the others were pretty darn good. I've needed to engage some of the support systems to address my oldest son's ADD and while a little slow moving (thanks to DeKalb county), the various individuals have been caring, knowledgeble, helpful and supportive. We've made great strides. The parental involvement here is tremendous (a little hard to keep up for those of us working moms) but the difference is clear. The PTA technology committee was so active the county has made Austin it's technology flag ship with 3 mobile computer labs (10 laptops each) and a school wide wireless network. Slightly less structured than Dunwoody's other premier elementary (Vanderlyn) this school seems friendlier and more accomodating than you would expect from a public school.
—Submitted by Sharon, a parent

My child attended Austin through grade 3. She was on the 'Principal's List' every semester she attended there and was in the high achiever's program also. The quality of her education grade k - 2 was pretty good, however, at grade 3 it became noticeably substandard. We placed her in private school for grade 4 and she required 1 year of weekly tutoring to catch up to her peers. Today, in a private, competitive school, my daughter still struggles, compared to her privately educated (since kindergarten) peers. She is a high 'B' student at her school, and her teachers continue to point to her weak foundations in core subjects (Language Arts & Math) It has been a very expensive and painful lesson regarding the 'quality' of this particular school district.
—Submitted by a parent

Austin has an active PTA and great faculty and staff. They provide for students at all learning levels. It is a very caring community school where any child can flourish.