Summerwood Elementary School

This is our first year here and we found the school wonderful in every way. Our kids attended private school up until now and I never thought I'd say this, but the quality of SWE surpasses anything we have ever experienced! All of our kids' teachers are just fantastic, and the music teacher is a star in her own right. Principal is involved and in charge around here, monitors the student behavior closely, and addresses any issues quickly and with great zeal. As far as academics, the school is exemplary for a reason: my kid in 1st progressed from 2nd to 3rd grade level reading this year, and we have a student from a foreign country who came with no English skills at the start of the year and is now reading on par with my child. Kudos to the amazing SWE teachers!
--Submitted by a parent

One year was too long at this school. I found the principal uniformed and removed from classroom activities. The teachers vary from superb to tired and overworked. My child's reading level dropped while at Summerwood yet watched quite a repertoire of movies in class. The playground and physical activities were inadequate for elementary school children. Children are not allowed to play outside if it is wet or muddy, which in Texas is half of the time. I was impressed with the specials program as well as the appropriateness and amount of homework. The literacy and math curriculum was very paperwork oriented and not necessarily geared toward different learning styles. My son was top of the class and the teacher seemed uncertain how to challenge him. We moved to find greener pastures.
--Submitted by a parent

I believe this school is a great school for kindergarten. My son's teacher, Ms. Pierson, is a great teacher and really knew how to get him to learn and interested in school, while having to deal with ADHD also. I am glad he got his start in school at Summerwood Elementary. After starting the year off in Summerwood, my son is in a 1st grade reading and math class in Louisiana thanks to his teachers at Summerwood.
--Submitted by a parent

The academic programs are few, as are the fine arts programs; however that is probably the case in most public elementary schools. The level of parent/family involvment is really good and the the school pulled off some very succesful fundraising events and a very nice Spring Festival. Overall, the school is good and I was pleased with my childs 2nd gr. teacher last year and this year, her 3rd grade teacher. I have been disappointed in the teacher we got for my Kindergartener this year though. She failed to tell us some of the difficulties he was having untill the begining of April at which point she also told us that if he did not achieve these 'benchmarks' by the end of the year, he would not pass. I dont feel the homework that he had this year came close to reflecting the level of work he needed to be doing.
--Submitted by a parent