Ed Neuhaus 
A 33 Point TEA Gap and a Neighborhood That Is Changing Faster Than the School Data
Maplewood Elementary earned an A on the 2025 TEA rating with a 91. Oak Springs Elementary earned an F at 58. Both are Austin ISD campuses, sitting roughly two miles apart in east central Austin. And here is the part that catches buyers off guard, the median sale price near Oak Springs ($652,000) is actually below Maplewood ($672,500), but only by a hair. The F rated zone is essentially priced like the A rated zone.
That disconnect tells you everything about how fast this corridor has changed. Oak Springs is one of the smallest campuses in the district, 215 students, with a deeply different student demographic profile than Maplewood. The schools were built to serve different communities and they still do, even as the real estate market around both has compressed into a single price band.
I have watched east Austin transform over my entire career. The homes are different now. The restaurants are different. The prices are very different. But the school accountability data has not caught up to the neighborhood story yet, and that gap matters for buyers.
Maplewood vs Oak Springs: Quick Comparison
| Maplewood Elementary | Oak Springs Elementary | |
|---|---|---|
| TEA Rating (2025) | A (91/100) | F (58/100) |
| Enrollment | 403 students | 215 students |
| Grades | PK through 5 | EE through 5 |
| District | Austin ISD | Austin ISD |
| Median SFR Sale (12mo, VOW) | $672,500 (n=78) | $652,000 (n=18) |
| Feeds Into | Kealing/O. Henry/Lamar/Marshall MS, then Austin or McCallum HS | Kealing or Martin MS, then Austin HS or Eastside Early College HS |
TEA School Performance Comparison (2025)
The Texas Education Agency rates every public campus across three domains, Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps. School Progress is itself made up of two parts, Academic Growth and Relative Performance, but the overall rating rolls up to those three core domains. Here is how each campus performed in the 2025 accountability cycle.
| Performance Metric | Maplewood Elementary | Oak Springs Elementary |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating | A (91/100) | F (58/100) |
| Student Achievement | A (92/100) | F (45/100) |
| School Progress | A (93/100) | F (54/100) |
| Academic Growth (component of School Progress) | A (93/100) | F (54/100) |
| Closing the Gaps | B (86/100) | D (66/100) |
| Enrollment | 403 students (PK through 5) | 215 students (EE through 5) |
| Economically Disadvantaged | 24.8% | 96.7% |
| English Learners | 7.2% | 8.8% |
| TEA Distinctions (ES max = 6) | Eligible for all 6 | Not Eligible (F-rated) |
The domain gaps are wide. Student Achievement: 47 points. School Progress and Academic Growth: 39 points each. Closing the Gaps: 20 points. TEA awards up to six distinction designations to elementary campuses, in ELA/Reading, Mathematics, Science, Academic Growth, Postsecondary Readiness, and Closing the Gaps. F rated campuses are not eligible for distinctions at all. Maplewood, as an A rated school, is eligible for the full slate.
For the full TEA breakdown on each campus, including the rating history back to 2019, visit the Maplewood Elementary school page or the Oak Springs Elementary school page.
Maplewood: A Quietly Excellent Campus in Central East Austin
Maplewood is a small school, 403 students, that has steadily climbed from a B in 2019 to an A in 2025. The 93 in School Progress matters as much as the 92 in Student Achievement, because it tells you students are not just testing well in absolute terms, they are growing year over year. That is the harder metric to fake.
The campus sits inside one of the more interesting elementary zones in the entire district. It pulls from Mueller, the master planned redevelopment of the old Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, along with established neighborhoods like Delwood, Dancy, and Giles Place. So you have brand new Mueller construction, mid-century ranch homes on shaded lots, and pre-war bungalows all feeding the same campus. That kind of housing range inside one elementary zone is rare in Austin.
Feeder pattern is strong. Maplewood students continue to Kealing Middle School (which runs a respected Gifted and Talented Magnet program), O. Henry, Lamar, or Marshall depending on address, then on to Austin High or McCallum. Kealing is the campus most buyers ask about, and the option matters.
Oak Springs: A Tiny Campus Under Real Pressure
Oak Springs has 215 students. It is one of the smallest elementary campuses in Austin ISD, and 96.7% of its students are classified as economically disadvantaged. The F rating reflects a campus working with a fundamentally different student population than Maplewood, with fewer resources per student than larger schools can support, and a rating history that has slipped from a B in 2019 to three straight Fs in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The feeder pattern out of Oak Springs has genuine strengths. Students continue to Kealing or Martin Middle School, then to Austin High School or Eastside Early College High School. Eastside is the option a lot of buyers do not know about, an innovative campus where motivated students can earn college credits, and in some cases a full associate’s degree, before they finish high school.
The Neighborhoods
The Maplewood zone reaches from Mueller through some of the most walkable parts of East Austin. Buyers in this zone are paying for proximity to Mueller Lake Park, the Sunday farmers market, Manor Road’s restaurant corridor, and an easy bike ride to UT and downtown. The $672,500 median across 78 single family sales in the last 12 months reflects that premium.
The Oak Springs zone covers Homewood Heights, Lorraine Heights, and Rosewood, with newer condo developments like Axiom East mixed in. The median of $652,000 across 18 single family sales is barely below Maplewood and well above where this part of east Austin used to trade. New construction is active here, and the lots are generally larger, so this is a zone where value is moving fast even as the school data lags.
Browse all homes zoned to Maplewood Elementary or homes zoned to Oak Springs Elementary.
Which School Fits You?
From a TEA performance standpoint, this is not a close call.
You might lean toward Maplewood if:
- An A rated campus with a 93 in Academic Growth is the bar you want cleared
- The Mueller and Delwood lifestyle (walkability, parks, Sunday market) fits how you actually live
- You want full eligibility for TEA distinctions across all six elementary categories
- The four-option middle school pathway (Kealing/O. Henry/Lamar/Marshall) gives you flexibility
You might lean toward Oak Springs if:
- Larger lots in Lorraine Heights or new construction in Homewood Heights match what you are searching for
- The Eastside Early College HS pathway, with college credit during high school, is appealing
A 33 point overall gap is hard to spin. Maplewood is the stronger campus by every TEA measure, and the homes there sit only 3% above the Oak Springs median. So you are paying a small premium for a meaningful academic differential. If school performance is in your top three buying criteria, that math is pretty clean. If you are buying primarily for lot size, new construction, or specific Rosewood blocks, the Oak Springs zone has things you cannot find in Maplewood.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Find Your Home?
East Austin school zones move as fast as the neighborhoods around them. Getting the right TEA data and the right neighborhood read before you write an offer is essential. I have spent 19 plus years helping buyers navigate central and east Austin. Lets talk about what matters most to you and I will show you the current inventory in both zones.
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