World
Dallas, Houston lead US News best high schools ranking in Texas. How does yours rank?
These college majors are ranked the highest paying degrees in America
A Bankrate study used three factors to determine the most desirable and well-paid degrees in America.
Rankings for the nation’s best high schools have been released by U.S. News & World Report. The organization gathers data from nearly 25,000 public high schools in all 50 states as well as the District of Colombia. It also has separate rankings for charter, magnet and STEM-focused high schools.
How do Texas schools compare to those in other states?
Here’s what we know.
Top 10 Texas high schools
U.S. News analyzed a total of 1,555 public high schools in Texas, and the School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG) topped the list.
Part of the Dallas Independent School District (TAG) was found to be the best public high school in Texas and the sixth best in the nation. With 534 students, it has a 100% graduation rate and scored 100 for college readiness.
Here’s how the state’s 10 best public high schools line up:
Search for your high school on the U.S. News database.
Top 5 high schools in metro areas
Amarillo
- Amarillo High School
- Randall High School
- Canyon High School
- Claude High School
- Bushland High School
Austin
- Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA)
- Richards School for Young Women Leaders
- Idea Rundberg College Preparatory
- Meridian School
- Chaparral Star Academy
Corpus Christi
- Port Aransas High School
- London High School
- Calallen High School
- Collegiate High School
- Agua Dulce High School
Dallas
- The School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG)
- Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School
- Science and Engineering Magnet School (SEM)
- Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute
- Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet
El Paso
- Valle Verde Early College High School
- Mission Early College High School
- Clint ISD Early College Academy
- Northwest Early College High School (NWECHS)
- Silva Health Magnet
Houston
- Carnegie Vanguard High School
- DeBakey High School for Health Professions
- Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts
- Challenge Early College High School
- Young Women’s College Prep Academy
Lubbock
- Talkington School for Young Women Leaders
- Idalou High School
- Frenship High School
- Lubbock High School
- Lubbock-Cooper High School
San Antonio
- BASIS San Antonio – Shavano Campus
- Young Women’s Leadership Academy
- IDEA Carver College Preparatory
- Health Careers High School
- International School of America
How are high schools ranked? Is it fair?
According to U.S. News & World Report, “The top-ranked schools have a high rate of students who scored above expectations in math, science and reading state assessments, passed an array of college-level exams, and graduated in four years.”
People are also reading: As colleges quit US News rankings, how do you pick a school?
However, several medical and law schools have scrutinized the annual rankings for the accuracy of the data they use. These schools, including Harvard Medical School, have ended their participation in the U.S. News rankings.
“Rankings cannot meaningfully reflect the high aspirations for educational excellence, graduate preparedness, and compassionate and equitable patient care that we strive to foster,” Dean George Daley of Harvard Medical School wrote.
In other cases, the data may not be complete. In Oklahoma, the state’s education department missed a deadline to allow U.S. News to include them in the 2024 rankings. Therefore rankings did not include Advanced Placement test scores, which make up 30% of a school’s overall college readiness score.
Despite criticism, U.S. News & World Report has continued collecting data and publishing the annual rankings.