Houston is home to 13 of the top charter schools in Texas, according to recently released ratings from U.S. News and World Report. The region had the highest share of schools in the state’s top 50 list out of any area in Texas.
Each year, U.S. News and World Report publishes a list of the highest-rated charter schools in the country. The list is separate from the group’s best public high schools rankings, which are broken down by national, state and metropolitan areas
This year, Texas was home to 19 of the top 100 charter schools in the nation, according to the rankings. Four of those schools were in Houston: Spring Branch ISD’s Westchester Academy for International Studies; Harmony School of Innovation – Katy; Harmony School of Discovery – Houston; and YES Prep – North Central
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Twelve charter school districts ranked among the best performing charter schools in Texas, including IDEA Public Schools, which had the most campuses on the list at 19 schools; Harmony Public Schools with 10 campuses listed; and Houston-based YES Prep Public Schools with seven schools
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KIPP Texas — despite being one of the largest charter networks in Texas — had only one school listed among the top 50: KIPP Houston high school. IDEA’s Houston-based campuses were not included in the rankings, which are based on data from the 2023-24 graduating class of seniors. (IDEA has operated since 2020 in Houston, but just enrolled its first 12th grade class for the 2026-27 school year.)
Three traditional public school districts in Texas also gained recognition for their in-network charter school partnerships, including Grand Prairie, San Antonio and Spring Branch ISDs.
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The highest performing charter school on the list was the BASIS Shavano campus in San Antonio. The next two charter schools ranked highest in the state were from ISDs: Young Women’s Leadership Academy in San Antonio ISD and Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute in Grand Prairie ISD
How the rankings were calculated
U.S. News and World Report publishes annual rankings of the best high schools across the U.S. This year, researchers evaluated about 27,000 eligible high schools, which include almost 18,000 schools. To be eligible, high schools had to be public schools and enroll at least 15 students in the 12th grade. The report use the most recently available data for all 50 states, which was the 2023-24 school year. (The rankings could change when newer data is released.)
Only three charter schools in the Houston area made the list of the nation’s top 500: Harmony School of Innovation – Katy, Harmony School of Discovery – Houston and YES Prep – North Central
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The rankings looked at six performance indicators, according to the report’s methodology, including student achievement on standardized tests, graduation rates and college readiness, as measured by student participation and performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. Schools are also analyzed based on how well they educate students from underserved communities. Analysts standardized the performance indicator for college readiness, since some schools do not offer AP and IB courses, according to the methodology.
Analysts also considered how schools fared compared to expected performance based on their students’ demographic profiles, according to researchers
See the top 50 charter schools in Texas
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