Top Houston Schools

Two Houston schools crack top 100 in list of America's Best (Public) High Schools

When it comes to helping shape your child's future, selecting a high school is tantamount only to choosing a reproductive mate, but don't let the pressure get to you.

Newsweek and The Daily Beast have done the hard work for parents across the nation, looking at public school graduation and college acceptance rates, plus participation in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, to determine America's Best High Schools.

Carnegie Vanguard High School in Houston was counted among those that best prepare students for college, ranking near the top for the third consecutive year. The school took No. 28 in this year's rankings, compared to No. 13 in 2012 and No. 11 in 2011.

A selective magnet school that draws gifted and talented students from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds from across the Houston Independent School District, Carnegie Vanguard boasts a 100 percent graduation rate (with 93 percent of those students college-bound) and an average SAT score of 1883.

Houston's Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions, the first of its kind in the nation, took No. 85 on the list, also citing a 100 percent rate of graduation and a 93 percent rate of college attendance, with an average SAT score of 1844.

Other Houston schools ranking among the top 1,000 included

Clear Horizons Early College High School at No. 201
Memorial High School, No. 254
YES Prep Public Schools — North Central, No. 370
Clear Lake High School, No. 392
Harmony Science Academy, No. 414
Energized for STEM Academy, No. 434
the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, No. 597
KIPP Houston High School, No. 601
Stratford High School, No. 774
YES Prep — Southeast, No. 849
Westchester Academy for International Studies, No. 924.

Dallas had two schools in the Top 10: The School of Science Engineering (No. 4) and The School for the Talented and Gifted (No 5.)

In Austin, the highest ranked public school is the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School, which came in at No. 33.

DeBakey High School

Photo by WhisperToMe Wikipedia

DeBakey High School

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”