Local schools get mixed results on report card

By BOBBY HORN JR.
EAST HARRIS COUNTY— A recent report by the Houston-based nonprofit group Children at Risk shows mixed results for East Harris county
While Hargrave High ranked in the top half of the group; Crosby, Sterling and Lee were in the lower half. Goose Creek Memorial was not ranked due to lack of available data.
Children at Risk ranked 144 high schools in the 8-county Greater Houston area, including Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller Counties.
Hargrave ranked #54 on the list while Sterling was #87, Crosby was #88 and Lee was #106.

High schools were ranked based on Texas Education Agency rankings, percentage of students making “commended” on the TAKS, graduation rates, average SAT and ACT college entrance test scores, student attendance rates and percentage of students in advanced placement classes.
Schools with larger populations of low-income students received adjustments in their overall schools to factor out the effects of poverty on the ranking.
Hargrave was boosted by an 83.2% graduation rate. By comparison, Crosby is 73.3%, Sterling is 69.6% and Lee is 63.9%.
The report also ranked 265 middle schools using slightly different criteria.
Goose Creek’s Gentry was the highest local school ranked at #88. Highlands Junior ranked #124. Huffman was #187 and Crosby was #207.
Elementary school campuses were only ranked if first through fifth grade data was available or if the TEA paired them with another campus.
Because of this, only Drew Intermediate was ranked for Crosby- #443 out of 589 schools. Huffman came in a #463. Goose Creek’s best was Austin at #137. Highlands ranked #161 on the list.
The highest ranked high school on the list was Houston ISD’s DeBakey, while fellow HISD school Jones holds the distinction as the lowest ranked.
Among middle schools, Houston ISD’s T.H. Rogers was #1 and The Prep. Academy Charter School was #265.