St. Mark Lutheran School

Point of clarification regarding the post dated April 20, 2012: the special needs program is completely supported by the parents of the students with special needs. St Mark does not lose any finances or resources due to this unique partnership. Having the special needs program is a blessing to both the St Mark students and the students with special needs. Regarding the other areas of concern: I have found that my child has done very well academically at St Mark. My child has nothing but compliments for the Spanish teacher, the new principal, and the computer lab. Finally, I am pleased with the attention to detail and academic excellence at St Mark.
--Submitted by a parent

My 2.5 yo daughter is thriving. I can only speak to the early childhood education program. Frankly, I simply went there out of convenience. I moved into the neighborhood intending to take advantage of the well-regarded public school system, but now that I am at St. Mark, I am fully intending to keep her there through the 8th grade. She is thriving. She looks forward to school every day. All of her teachers have been loving and firm. The environment is enriching and structured. I work with her at home, but I am astonished by how much she has absorbed at school. The church congregation and leadership is highly-invested and committed to furthering the school's success. Now, I do not (yet) have any direct experience with the older grades, but here are my observations from watching closely. The new principal is excellent. Highly intelligent, innovative, disciplined, and experienced. The older children have impressed me by how mature and well-rounded they are. The athletics and music programs seem especially deep. More than anything, though, is that intangible "feel" that rather than money and prestige, the school's driving focus is each child's success and development.
--Submitted by a parent

This was not the school for us. As with some other private, nonselective schools I believe, there are students who come here because of ongoing academic and/or social problems elsewhere; by upper grades, a significant number have been through several other campuses. My young child s teacher was excellent but again, as with some other small schools was overburdened by the school attempting to take on way more than it could handle; just because it goes through eighth doesn t mean early childhood teachers should be expected to lead/coach middle grade extra-curriculars. I understand that without a full offering of arts, athletics, etc., some parents will complain but you are either foregoing some of those resources with a small school, or asking teachers to wear too many hats and burn out. There was an overemphasis on sports from kindergarten up. Chapel time was used in place of a general assembly to recognize sports achievements. Frustrating moderate parents were a handful of squeaky-wheel parents who could be found on campus any day of the week and who fully expected to have their every demand met, reasonable or otherwise, and who were never disappointed.

St Mark is a great school for producing well rounded and well grounded kids. Smart kids do very well here and are encouraged to participate in activities outside their area of excellence (ie sports, music, art, oral presentations in chapel). As a result they leave St Mark with some intangible skills that greatly enhance their natural intelligence. For kids of more average academic abilities, the academics will require more effort. Music, art, PE and keyboarding are part of every kid's schedule as there is no TAKS test to prep for. Overall the students score well above average on annual standardized tests (Iowa basic skills), indicating that base education is good with added bonus of all the extras. The community is small so folks who have a difficult time getting along with others will struggle.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter attended St. Mark from K till 6th grade. She is now in a public middle school in HISD. So I am in a good place to compare the education at St. Mark & local public schools. She started keyboarding in K and by 6th grade was typing 60 words a minute. She learned how to read music in 5th grade and was playing flute by 6th grade. She took Spanish in 4th & 5th grade. In 6th grade, she was diagramming complex sentences in English & studying words off of the SAT vocabulary lists. I think that the math at St. Mark lags a bit behind as that was the only class she had problems in at the HISD school. Compared to current peers, she is very much ahead of HISD peers in keyboarding, writing and reading skills.

St. Mark is an awesome school! Low student to teacher ratios and excellent priviate school education. Very solid faith based education. Loving teachers. Great principal and hardworking school board.
--Submitted by a parent

This is the school to send your children to if you do not like them.It i is below the bar educationally. All the good teachers have left do to an ineffective board. They value religion over education. Some of the older teachers really need to go they have not adapted to a new world. Look around there are better schools all around unless you want a subpar school
--Submitted by a parent

St. Mark is a wonderful school. The school is has a safe and comfortable environment. It offers many after school activities. The sports program is overall good, but sometimes the teams are left too large. The teachers are quilified and supportive. The cafteria has excellent lunches and there is also an extended care offered before and after school.
--Submitted by a parent

The loving environment has enabled my children to grow academically, socially, and in their Christianity. Our kids started out in public schools and we feel so blessed to have made the move to St. Mark.
--Submitted by a parent

We LOVE St. Mark. The teachers are so kind and caring! My kids are learning so much and love to go to school everyday. The small classes are great for personalized attention. The curriculum is fun, educational, and intriguing to the children. The school communicates well with the parents so we always know what is going on in the classroom and the entire school. They have wonderful afterschool activites to top it all off.
--Submitted by a parent