James E Randolph Elementary School

This is a wonderful school. This administration deals with some tough things (parents who all work and don't care about their kids at all, bullies given everything in life they want, etc.) and I highly respect what they try to teach the kids despite this being all around them. Katy ISD cares a ton about the STAAR test and standardized testing, therefore the schools put a lot of emphasis on it as well. That being said, we've had teachers tell our kids it's just a simple test and it doesn't define them and to move on. These teachers don't like these tests anymore than we do, but that's the district not the school. Every teacher we've had has been kind and loving towards our kids. They openly engage with the parents and are easy to access via email (which is so much easier than playing phone tag with a teacher who can't access a phone all day). The people we've dealt with in SPED have been wonderful. The administration has been quick to deal with any issues we've had with bullying (which there have been several, the school is great but the neighborhood has several mean, entitled kids). Overall I think this is a wonderful school with a very active and engaged PTA, the kids have everything at their disposal (iPads galore, all the latest technologies, educational apps at home that the school provides and pays for logins), and it's in a safe area. The only negatives to this school are not about the school, but the area and district. Katy ISD is very competitive, puts a ton on emphasis on standardized tests (which I do understand since the State of Texas attaches their funding to these scores), the neighborhoods around this school and nearby are fairly affluent and the children are very entitled. I would come back to this school again if we ever moved, but would strongly consider a different district that doesn't focus so much on standardized testing and attendance.

I would never go back if they still had the leadership it does today. This school is rated way too high. I miss the Fulshear / Katy area, but this was the school was the worse thing about the area. My kid would come home and tell me about how other children would be mean to her and she would not know how to retaliate. We told her to tell the teacher, but said the teachers would never do anything. This school has their kids switch classes starting in 2nd grade. This is ridiculous, training children the ways of Middle School or High School too early. This school is focused on State Standardized testing, and will ask that your child is retained until he/she is ready to take the test. 3 years in a row we consistently has 2-3 hours of homework that was not review but more new material we had to teach our child.