11411 Powder Mill Trl
Austin, TX 78750

I do NOT recommend... this school awful. The teachers are especially rude and unpleasant. The kids here are very rude as well and the entire community of this school is genuinely a disgrace. Do better. I've even found roaches in the classroom and it's extremely disgusting and I feel repulsed. The only good quality of this school is the fact it is really easy to pass but other than that I don't suggest this school.

As a parent I was excited for my daughter to start her 5th grade year at a new school. However, my daughter dealt with so much foolishness at this school from her teacher. It was a lot of favoritism going on in the school. My daughter also came home telling me concerning things her teacher would say to her which was out of line; HIPAA violation and also microagression. I even brought this to administration attention but they wanted to talk to my child before talking to me and because my child was not comfortable speaking to them about the incidents that had occurred throughout the school year the school didn’t do anything about it. I absolutely believe my daughter didn’t do her absolute best because of the teacher she had at this school. She is now in middle school and thriving with no complaints from her teachers of her behavior so I know for sure that it was the teacher she had that caused her to not do her best.

All three of my kids graduated from Westwood. They came from a private school background and all of them have thanked us for moving across town so they could experience a diverse, challenging, and large high school environment with many options for extracurriculars. My daughter participated in dance, acted and stage managed for theater productions, and learned “how to learn” especially from her challenging AP courses in English and history. She refused to quit APUSH despite her low grades, eventually pulled it up and credits that class with preparing her to study independently in college. My second son did IB and orchestra and like his sister, used his fine arts as an outlet to de-stress from his studies. I didn’t push him (much) because I knew his IB teachers and peers were doing that job for me. My third child was in IB til sophomore year, when he got a terrible case of Mono he had to switch to AP due to a month missed of school. The guidance for all three kids was kind, responsive and helpful. I appreciated that the guidance counselors (who have to take care of waaay too many kids) did not let them drop down to an easier class at the first sign of distress, but DID respond and make that change when the student had demonstrated the need to do so. They even scheduled ballet immediately after my daughter’s math class for stress management. None of my 3 three made it into top ten percent but with their excellent SAT scores they earned full or partial scholarships, which saved us many thousands in college tuition. This is to the credit of Westwood in general because had they been in an easier school, trust me, they would have slacked off. When I did my research on high schools, I looked at PSAT scores and national merit finalists across Austin. I knew I had at least two potential NMF kids and wanted them to be PUSHED so they could snag free tuition if possible. At that time, Westwood averaged about 40 NMF per school year compared to 1-2 per year at surrounding schools. These days, I believe the number is more like 60-70 per year. Yes, kids in this district study more—typically they go to Berkeley 2 Academy over the summer to “pre study” for their upcoming AP or IB classes. This is an option for those with finances for it, but I want to state that it is not necessary for students of average intelligence to get A’s. If your student struggles with stressful academics, talk to the counselors. They will work with you, I promise.