Area High Schools Shine in US News and World Report Rankings
Six of 12 High Schools in Houston and Anderson Counties Recognized
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
EAST TEXAS – U.S. News and World Report recently released its annual ranking of high schools across both the nation and individual states. The list revealed several area high schools fared well, with six of the 12 high schools in Houston and Anderson Counties in the rankings while several others were somewhat surprised by the results.
According to Robert Morse, chief data strategist for U.S. News, “Texas high school students are generally required to pass statewide tests in English, math, science and social studies courses to graduate. In addition, students must earn at least 22 credits, including one credit of fine arts and four credits of English, according to the Texas Education Agency.”
There are 601 Texas schools in the 2018 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, including 73 schools that earned gold, 155 that earned silver and 373 that earned bronze.
A four-step process was used to determine the best high schools, the U.S. News website stated.
“The first three steps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, using their performance on the math and reading parts of their state proficiency tests and their graduation rates as the benchmarks,” Morse indicated in his analysis. “For those schools that made it past the first three steps, a fourth step assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.”
As stated in the analysis, the four steps used in the assessment were:
Step One – The first step determined whether each school’s students were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state.
Step Two – For schools passing the first step, step two assessed whether their historically underserved students – black, Hispanic and low-income – performed at or better than the state average for historically underserved students.
Step Three – For schools passing the first and second step, step three required schools to meet or surpass a benchmark for their graduation rate.
Step Four – Schools that made it through the first three steps became eligible to be judged nationally on the final step – college-readiness performance – using Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate test data as the benchmark for success.
In Houston County, two of the five high schools were recognized in the rankings and were awarded a bronze medal.
Crockett High School – Crockett High School was recognized in the National Rankings and earned a bronze medal.
Grapeland High School – Grapeland High School was unranked in the National Rankings.
Kennard High School – Kennard High School was recognized in the National Rankings and earned a bronze medal.
Latexo High School – Latexo High School was unranked in the National Rankings.
Lovelady High School – Lovelady High School was unranked in the National Rankings.
In Anderson County, four of the seven high schools were recognized in the rankings and were awarded a bronze medal.
Cayuga High School – Cayuga High School was recognized in the National Rankings and earned a bronze medal.
Elkhart High School – Elkhart High School was recognized in the National Rankings and earned a bronze medal. Elkhart was ranked as the 262nd Best High School in Texas. EHS was the only area high school assigned a specific, numerical ranking.
Frankston High School – Frankston High School was recognized in the National Rankings and earned a bronze medal.
Neches High School – Neches High School was unranked in the National Rankings.
Palestine High School – Palestine High School was unranked in the National Rankings.
Slocum High Schools – Slocum High School was recognized in the National Rankings and earned a bronze medal.
Westwood High School – Westwood High School was unranked in the National Rankings.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
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