Hopewell vs Kelly Lane Middle: A vs B, RRISD vs Pflugerville ISD ($390K vs $425K)

Same County Line, Two Different Districts, Two Different Middle School Outcomes

Kelly Lane Middle pulled an A (92/100) from the Texas Education Agency in 2025. Hopewell pulled a B (86/100) the same year. Both campuses earned all 7 distinction designations, both serve grades 6 through 8, and they sit about ten miles apart in northeast Travis and Williamson counties. So why the gap, and does it actually matter when you are picking a house? Lets break this one open.

First, the district thing. The original framing on this comparison had both schools in Round Rock ISD, which is not right. Hopewell is Round Rock ISD. Kelly Lane is Pflugerville ISD. Different districts, different boundaries, different tax rates, different bond programs. That matters for buyers who care about more than just the campus their kid walks into in August (which, frankly, is most of us if we are being honest).

I have shown homes in both zones over the years. The buyers I see lining up for these two are usually similar (commute to north Austin or the tech corridor, want new-ish construction, want a strong middle school) but the neighborhoods feel very different once you actually drive them. Lets get into the data first and the lifestyle second.

Hopewell vs Kelly Lane Middle: Quick Comparison

TEA School Performance Comparison (2025)

The Texas Education Agency evaluates every public campus using three domains: Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps. Academic Growth is a sub-component inside School Progress, not a separate domain. Here is how the two campuses stacked up in the 2025 accountability cycle.

The headline is the six-point gap on the overall score, but the more interesting story is that both campuses swept the distinction designations. There are 7 possible distinctions awarded to middle schools (ELA/Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Top 25 Percent Comparative Academic Growth, Top 25 Percent Comparative Closing the Gaps, and Postsecondary Readiness) and both Hopewell and Kelly Lane earned all of them. That is not a small thing. It means each school landed in the top quartile of its TEA-defined comparison group across every academic indicator that applies to a middle school. So while Kelly Lane scored higher on the raw rubric, Hopewell is still performing in elite company relative to similar campuses statewide.

For the full TEA breakdown including rating history, visit the Hopewell Middle school page or the Kelly Lane Middle school page.

Hopewell: The Big Campus With the Long Round Rock ISD Pedigree

Hopewell sits in northeast Round Rock and pulls students from eight elementary campuses including Herrington, Teravista, Caldwell Heights, Union Hill, Double File Trail, and Cactus Ranch (per VOW listings data). That is a wide catchment, and it shows in the enrollment (1,202 students, roughly 30 percent more than Kelly Lane).

What you get with a campus that size is depth. More elective sections, more athletics rosters with room on them, more honors-track options, more clubs. The trade-off is the obvious one: it is not a small school. Some kids thrive in that environment, some get a little lost. I have had buyers who specifically wanted Hopewell because their oldest needed the bigger pond to find their people, and I have had buyers who steered around it for the opposite reason.

The Round Rock ISD brand carries weight in Central Texas. The district has invested heavily in STEM facilities and technology, and Hopewell reflects that. With 33.7 percent of students economically disadvantaged, Hopewell serves a more economically diverse student body than Kelly Lane, and the school’s 88/100 Closing the Gaps score is the strongest single number in its TEA report card. That number measures how well a campus is moving the needle for every student subgroup, not just the top performers. Some buyers care about that, some do not. I am just telling you what is in the data.

Kelly Lane: The Pflugerville ISD Standout

Kelly Lane is the higher-scoring campus on paper, full stop. A 92 overall, a 91 in Student Achievement, a 93 in Closing the Gaps. It is the kind of TEA report card that makes a relocating buyer print the page out.

The campus pulls primarily from Murchison, Rowe Lane, and Dearing elementaries (the three biggest feeders by listing volume). It is smaller than Hopewell at 910 students, which gives it more of a tight-knit feel without losing the program depth a 900+ campus can offer. From Kelly Lane, students feed into Hendrickson High School, which is itself one of the better-performing high schools in Pflugerville ISD.

One number worth sitting with: 19.3 percent economically disadvantaged. That is meaningfully lower than Hopewell’s 33.7 percent. Whether that is a buying factor for you or not is your call, but it does correlate with the higher median home price in the zone.

The Neighborhoods

Hopewell’s zone covers a lot of northeast Round Rock, and the housing stock reflects how the area was built out in waves. Round Rock neighborhoods like Teravista, Cactus Ranch, Forest Creek, and Caldwell Heights make up the bulk of the catchment. Median closed price over the past 12 months in the Hopewell zone is $390,500 across 322 closings, which is a meaningful sample size. You can find homes in the $300s on smaller lots and well into the $600s on the premium streets.

Kelly Lane’s zone sits in Pflugerville and the eastern edge of the metro, anchored by Falcon Pointe and the Rowe Lane corridor. Newer construction dominates. Median closed price is $425,000 across 186 closings over the past 12 months. The premium versus Hopewell is real but modest, about 9 percent. That premium buys you a younger housing stock and the higher-rated campus, but it also means you are further from most north Austin tech employers (roughly a 25-30 minute drive depending on traffic, which on 130 and 290 means a lot of variability).

Browse all homes zoned to Hopewell Middle or homes zoned to Kelly Lane Middle.

Which School Fits You?

The TEA scores point one direction, the price points the other, and the lifestyle points in yet another. Here is how I think about it.

You might lean toward Hopewell if:

• You want a larger campus with deeper program options across athletics, fine arts, and electives
• You care about a school with strong Closing the Gaps performance (88/100), meaning the campus is moving every subgroup forward
• You want Round Rock ISD specifically (longer track record, larger district resources, broader high school pathways)
• You want the lower price entry point and you are okay with older housing stock in established neighborhoods

You might lean toward Kelly Lane if:

• You want the higher TEA rating (92 vs 86) and a smaller campus footprint
• You prefer newer construction and master-planned community amenities
• You want the Hendrickson High pathway through Pflugerville ISD

Honest read: both are strong middle schools. The “7 of 7 distinctions” line is genuinely meaningful, and it applies to both. The campus your kid attends will probably matter less than whether the house, the commute, and the neighborhood feel right. If you are touring homes in both zones, that is fine. Tour them. The data tells you neither one is a bad bet.

Ready to Find Your Home?

I have been helping buyers navigate the Round Rock and Pflugerville school zones for 19+ years. If you are weighing one of these middle schools and trying to figure out whether to stretch for Kelly Lane’s higher score or settle into a Hopewell-zoned neighborhood at a better price, lets talk through it. I will give you the unvarnished read on the neighborhoods, the commute, the housing stock, and how the schools actually feel on the ground (not just on paper).

Schedule a Consultation

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