Houston Chronicle released it's 2011 Houston area school rankings (Pearland, Conroe: calculated, income)

[usc619]

Houston's best and worst schools | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Here's the top 10

High School
1. Debakey (HISD)
2. Vanguard (HISD)
3. KIPP (Charter School)
4. Eastwood Academy (HISD)
5. Kerr (Alief ISD)
6. YES-Prep (Charter School)
7. Performing & Visual arts (HISD)
8. Clements (Ft. Bend ISD)
9. Harmony (Charter School)
10. Memorial (Spring Branch ISD)

Middle School
1. T.H. Rogers (HISD)
2. Energized for Excellence (HISD)
3. Settlement (Ft. Bend ISD)
4. Project Chrysalis (HISD)
5. YES Prep-Southwest (Charter School)
6. Westbrook (Clear Creek)
7. Sartartra (Ft. Bend ISD)
8. Beckendorff (Katy ISD)
9. Lanier (HISD)
10. Miller (Pearland ISD)

Elementary
1. Walker Station (Ft. Bend ISD)
2. Commonwealth (Ft. Bend ISD)
3. Tough (Conroe)
4. T.H. Rogers (HISD)
5. West Univ. (HISD)
6. Houston Heights Learning Academy (Charter School)
7. Alief Montessori (Charter School)
8. J.P. Henderson (HISD)
9. Kilpatrick (Katy ISD)
10. Hamilton (Cy-Fair ISD)

"There is, of course, no one perfect way to grade schools. The Children at Risk methodology is designed to evaluate schools on multiple academic measures and goes beyond the state's accountability system, which is based largely on whether students pass (or are projected to pass) the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Children at Risk looks at the higher standard of "commended" on the TAKS. At the high school level, the most weight is given to a six-year graduation rate, calculated by Children at Risk. No matter what a school is doing, if students don't graduate, then did it get the job done?

The formula also gives a boost to schools with larger concentrations of low-income children in an attempt to adjust for the impact of poverty. Children at Risk attempted to include as many schools as possible in the rankings, but those with insufficient data or atypical grade-level configurations were excluded. The rankings are based on public data from the Texas Education Agency from 2010 or 2009 (using the most recent year available)."

[LizzySWW]

Why don't they just list high schools by top SAT scores? Wouldn't that be a clearer picture of who is ahead academically?

Not really understanding the methodology used by Children At Risk. Is anyone else confused?

[crbcrbrgv]

In my opinion, T.H. Rogers is the best public non-charter elementary/middle school in the Houston area and Kerr is the best non-charter high school. They are both innovative schools that truly are a cut above the rest.

[TimBomb]

OMG Alief again.

[HugeTon]

I thought Alief is so called 'ghetto' areas, how come academically they are doing so well? I guess 'ghetto' does not equate bad after all.

[DrLizardo]

Originally Posted by HugeTon

I thought Alief is so called 'ghetto' areas, how come academically they are doing so well? I guess 'ghetto' does not equate bad after all.

I'm not going to hate on Alief, but it only placed one school on the list and that is an academy that gets to pick its students from a competition. All but two of the high schools on the list are similar that way -they're all either academies or charter schools with competitive/selective entrance requirements - with the two exceptions being Clements and Memorial.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by LizzySWW

Why don't they just list high schools by top SAT scores? Wouldn't that be a clearer picture of who is ahead academically?

Not really understanding the methodology used by Children At Risk. Is anyone else confused?

CHILDREN AT RISK looks at a number of indicators to evaluate a campus: fourteen variables at the high school level, ten for middle schools, and fifteen for elementary schools. All data included in the School Rankings is retrieved through the Texas Education Agency. An overview of the school rankings methodology and the variables included in the analysis is available here...http://childrenatrisk.org/research/s...s/methodology/

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by HugeTon

I thought Alief is so called 'ghetto' areas, how come academically they are doing so well? I guess 'ghetto' does not equate bad after all.

I'll put it this way. If the leadership from Alief were at FBISD, FBISD would be much better. If the leadership from FBISD were at Alief, they'd sink quickly.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

I'll put it this way. If the leadership from Alief were at FBISD, FBISD would be much better. If the leadership from FBISD were at Alief, they'd sink quickly.

You could also sub Katy in for FBISD and get the same results.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by HugeTon

I thought Alief is so called 'ghetto' areas, how come academically they are doing so well? I guess 'ghetto' does not equate bad after all.

Alief has lots of Asian that do very well in school.