Houston’s Top 25 High Schools — New Rankings Reveal Some Public Surprises

The new school year is here for many already, close for others. The air is full of composition notebooks, mechanical pencils, school computers and back-to-school dread .

It’s an interesting time, and Houston is home to a number of high-ranked public schools — despite HISD’s well documented issues. And now, we know exactly which schools your high schoolers should book it to.

College prep? Check. Diversity? Check. Best Teachers? Check.

The new rankings of the Top 25 Public High Schools in the Houston area for 2020 have been released from rankings giant Niche.

The high schools are all fantastic in their own ways, but there can only be one winner. And once again, the champion is no surprise. To the shock of absolutely no one, Carnegie Vanguard High School reigned supreme.

The rigorous analysis of the top schools utilized key statistics and millions upon millions of students’ and parents’ reviews with data from the U.S. Department of Education.

Factors considered included state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT and ACT scores, teacher quality and high school ratings. Academic grades were the most heavily weighted at 60 percent of each school’s ranking.

You could call it comprehensive.

Carnegie wowed in many ways. In Niche’s report card, it earned A+s for academics, college prep, diversity, health and safety, administration and food.

The No. 2 spot was a serious come-up. Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions jumped up spectacularly from No. 7. It also earned a special accolade from U.S. News & World Report this Spring — N0. 3 on the round-up of 2019’s Best High Schools.

Rounding out the Top 5 are Clements High School (No. 3), Seven Lakes High School (No. 4) and Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (No. 5), which is undergoing a massive transformation with its new campus. Each of those schools ranked in the prestigious Top 5 last year, too.

There were even some impressive newbies on this year’s list, breaking into the big leagues for the first time. Alief Early College High School earned the No. 21 spot, while Cy-Fair High School came in at No. 22 and Langham Creek High School topped out at No. 24.

Niche also ranked schools on Most Diverse, Best Teachers, College Prep, Largest, Best for STEM, Best for Athletics and Best for Arts.

Schools ranged from all different districts, including HISD, Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, Friendswood Independent School District and beyond.

Read on for the complete list of the Top 25:

1. Carnegie Vanguard High School

2. Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions

3. Clements High School

4. Seven Lakes High School

5. Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts

6. Cinco Ranch High School

7. Obra D. Tompkins High School

8. Memorial High School

9. The Woodlands High School

10. Cypress Woods High School

11. Glenda Dawson High School

12. College Park High School

13. Cypress Ranch High School

14. Kingwood High School

15. Tomball Memorial High School

16. Clear Horizons Early College High School

17. Dulles High School

18. Clear Lake High School

19. Stephen F. Austin High School

20. Friendswood High School

21. Alief Early College High School

22. Cy-Fair High School

23. Stratford High School

24. Langham Creek High School

25. George Ranch High School

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