DALLAS — Dallas scored two of the top 20 public high schools in the nation in a recent ranking from U.S. News & World Report.
Dallas Independent School District's Science and Engineering Magnet School took the No. 12 spot nationally and No. 1 place in Texas. DISD's School for the Talent and Gifted was ranked at No. 16 nationally and No. 2 statewide. Both of these schools are part of the school district's Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center, a complex that hosts six independent high schools that offer advanced academic curricula across specific interest areas.
In addition to SEM and TAG, nine schools in North Texas ranked in the Lone Star State's top 20, including Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School in Dallas at No. 6; Imagine International Academy of North Texas in McKinney at No. 11; Uplift Education - North Hills Prep High School in Irving at No. 12; Westlake Academy at No. 13; Booker T. Washington SPVA in Dallas at No. 14; Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet in Dallas at No. 17; and Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy at No. 18.
Related: See the nation's top public colleges
Six of the schools reported 100 percent graduation rates. North Hills Prep High School and Westlake Academy had graduation rates of 99 percent, while Imagine International Academy of North Texas did not report a graduation rate.
In October, the Dallas Business Journal reviewed grades from the Texas Education Agency for 1,400 North Texas campuses offering K-12 education. Only 28 percent of the schools received an "A" rating.
Like many of U.S. News' picks, the TEA's highest-ranking schools were magnet or charter schools. You can see the top 16 by clicking here.
Among the lowest-rated schools from the TEA ratings, the majority of campuses were in Fort Worth, Lake Worth and Garland independent school districts and mostly served economically disadvantaged students. All the lowest-rated schools only served students in the eighth grade or below; those can be viewed here.
METHODOLOGY
U.S. News rates schools based off of the following six factors for its best public high schools list:
- College readiness (30 percent)
- Math and reading proficiency (20 percent)
- Math and reading performance (20 percent)
- Underserved student performance (10 percent)
- College curriculum breadth (10 percent)
- Graduation rate (10 percent)
Click here to see the full rankings.
