The Texas nonprofit Children At Risk ranked the state’s top schools, and in North Texas, four of the top five high schools are in the Dallas Independent School District. Most are magnet schools.
Children At Risk President Bob Sanborn knows magnets are selective, and they get top students from across Dallas. But he said lower-performing schools, with poor students, can replicate some of what magnet schools do.
“We know that for high-poverty kids, when we put them in high quality pre-K programs, they’re going to be much more successful," he said. "Especially when the entire pre-K class feeds into a Kindergarten class. When they have a longer school day, we’re going to see a lot of success with those kids.”
Sanborn said some of the state’s best schools are populated almost entirely by low-income kids.
The top North Texas high schools include DISD’s Science and Engineering; Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership; Talented and Gifted; and Health Professions. The Universal Academy, a charter school in Flower Mound, ranked fourth.
Here are Children At Risk's top North Texas schools. And here are the top schools statewide.
