Ed Neuhaus 
Same District, Same Grade Levels, Two Very Different Middle Schools
Lamar Middle School earned an A from the Texas Education Agency in 2025 with a score of 90 out of 100. Paredes Middle School, sitting in the same Austin ISD that runs Lamar, posted an F with a 59. That’s a 31 point spread between two campuses in the same district, and it shows up everywhere, including home prices.
If you are looking at central Austin or south Austin and trying to figure out whether the school zone matters for your search, the short answer is yes. It always matters. But how it matters here is more interesting than just two letter grades, so lets get into it.
This post compares Lamar Middle School and Paredes Middle School, both Austin ISD campuses, using the 2025 TEA accountability data and our own real-time MLS numbers for each attendance zone.
Lamar vs Paredes Middle: Quick Comparison
| Lamar Middle | Paredes Middle | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 TEA Rating | A (90/100) | F (59/100) |
| Enrollment | 1,109 students | 635 students |
| Grades | 6 to 8 | 6 to 8 |
| District | Austin ISD | Austin ISD |
| Median Closed SFR (12mo) | $780,000 (n=653) | $404,990 (n=547) |
| High School Feeder | McCallum or Northeast Early College | Akins |
| Part of Austin | Central / North | Southeast |
The price difference is the headline most buyers focus on. The median closed single-family home in the Lamar zone over the last 12 months sold for $780,000. In the Paredes zone, it was $404,990. Same district, same MLS, same buyer pool in theory, but a $375,000 gap based on which 6th grade campus your address is assigned to. That’s not a small detail, right.
TEA School Performance Comparison (2025)
The Texas Education Agency evaluates every public school in Texas across three accountability domains: Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps. The overall rating is built from those three. Here is the 2025 breakdown for both campuses.
| Performance Metric | Lamar Middle | Paredes Middle |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating | A (90/100) | F (59/100) |
| Student Achievement | A (92/100) | F (53/100) |
| School Progress (Academic Growth) | B (87/100) | F (56/100) |
| Closing the Gaps | B (85/100) | C (72/100) |
| Enrollment | 1,109 (grades 6 to 8) | 635 (grades 6 to 8) |
| Economically Disadvantaged | 22.2% | 78.3% |
| English Learners | 10.6% | 36.5% |
A note on TEA distinctions, because this is a place where a lot of online school summaries get it wrong. Per the 2025 TEA Accountability Manual, middle schools can earn up to seven TEA distinction designations: ELA/Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Comparative Academic Growth, Closing the Gaps, and Postsecondary Readiness. Yes, Postsecondary Readiness applies to middle schools too, it is calculated from indicators like attendance, chronic absenteeism, and on-grade-level performance, not just college readiness. Lamar’s profile and Paredes’s profile should both be read against that seven max.
The Closing the Gaps spread is the one that surprised me when I pulled the data. Paredes scores higher in that domain than its overall rating would suggest, which means the staff is doing real work to lift performance across student groups. The challenge is that the absolute achievement and growth numbers still come in below the state target, which is what drags the overall down. Lamar, on the other hand, is strong across the board and earned its A on the back of solid achievement plus consistent growth.
For the full TEA breakdown, rating history back to 2019, and all distinctions, visit the Lamar school page or the Paredes school page.
Lamar Middle: A Long-Standing Central Austin Performer
Lamar sits in central Austin near the intersection of Burnet and Koenig, and it has built a reputation over decades as one of the more academically serious middle schools inside the city. The 2025 score (90) is actually the highest in Lamar’s recent run. The campus has gone B, B, B, B, A from 2019 through 2025, so the A this year is not a fluke. It is a trajectory.
The student body is just over 1,100, which is large for a middle school, and that scale lets Lamar run a broader set of electives, fine arts pathways, and gifted and talented programming than a smaller campus could. About 22% of students are classified as economically disadvantaged and roughly 11% are English learners.
One thing worth noting up front, because the AISD feeder map is genuinely confusing on this. Lamar feeds into two high schools depending on your address: McCallum High School and Northeast Early College High School. It is not a six-way feeder. And the elementary campuses that send students to Lamar are Brentwood, Gullett, Highland Park, Reilly, and Ridgetop. That’s it. Five elementaries, two high school options. Confirm your specific address with Austin ISD before you write an offer, because the boundary lines inside this zone are precise.
Paredes Middle: Southeast Austin’s Akins Pipeline
Paredes is named after Dr. Américo Paredes, the UT scholar whose work on borderlands folklore reshaped Mexican-American literary studies. The campus sits in southeast Austin and serves about 635 students, so it is roughly half Lamar’s size.
The accountability picture is harder. The 59 in 2025 is actually an improvement on the F-rated 50 in 2024 and the F-rated 47 in 2023. Closing the Gaps moved up to a C, which is real progress. Student Achievement and School Progress remain below the state’s accountability floor. About 78% of students are economically disadvantaged and 36% are English learners, which is meaningful context for understanding both the challenges the campus is working through and the work happening to address them.
Paredes feeds exclusively into Akins High School for nearly all addresses in the zone. The elementary feeders are Blazier, Casey, Menchaca, Palm, Perez, and Williams.
The Neighborhoods and Home Prices
This is where the comparison gets practical. The Lamar attendance zone covers Allandale, Brentwood, Crestview, Highland, Ridgetop, and parts of north central Austin. These are some of the most established and in-demand neighborhoods in the city. Mid-century ranches, renovated bungalows, the occasional new infill build. The 12 month median closed price for a single-family home in this zone is $780,000 based on 653 closings, and the active median right now is $722,000.
The Paredes zone runs through southeast Austin and includes Goodnight Ranch, Cloverleaf, Texas Oaks, Springfield, and the area around Onion Creek. There is genuinely active new construction in Goodnight Ranch with M/I Homes, KB Home, Brohn, Highland, and Empire all building. The 12 month median closed single-family price is $404,990 across 547 closings, with active inventory currently at $399,900 median. For buyers who want a newer home with modern floor plans and reasonable energy efficiency, this zone offers options that are simply not available at this price point in the rest of urban Austin.
Browse current listings in the Lamar zone or in the Paredes zone to see what is on the market right now.
Which School Fits You?
The honest version of this answer depends on what you are optimizing for.
You might lean toward Lamar if:
- You want the highest TEA performance metrics available in this comparison, including A-rated Student Achievement
- Your budget supports central Austin pricing in the $700K-$1M range
- You want access to McCallum’s fine arts academy or Northeast Early College’s free college credit pathway
- You value a larger campus with broader electives and a deeper bench of gifted and talented programming
You might lean toward Paredes if:
- You want new construction with modern floor plans and energy efficiency in the $350K-$500K range
- You are drawn to Goodnight Ranch’s master-planned amenities (trails, parks, pool, community feel)
- You want quick access to the airport, TX-130, and the southeast Austin job corridor
If I’m being direct: the TEA gap here is wide, and it would be silly to pretend otherwise. But school ratings are not the only thing that shape a kid’s experience, and they are absolutely not the only thing that shape a household’s finances over 7 to 10 years. A $375K price difference compounds over a long time, and so does proximity to your job. Buyers who land in the Paredes zone should know what they are walking into on the accountability side. Buyers who stretch into the Lamar zone should know they are paying real money for the school designation. Both are legitimate calls. They just need to be made with eyes open.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Find Your Home?
I’ve been working Austin real estate for 19 plus years and I’ve helped buyers across both of these zones. The right answer is rarely the school rating in isolation. It is the school rating plus your budget plus your commute plus your kid plus your 10 year plan. That’s not a script we can hand you. It is a conversation.
If you want to walk through how Lamar, Paredes, or any other Austin school zone fits your search, lets set up a call.
Be safe, be good, and be nice to people.
