Students and their families will want to pick the high school that offers them the most educational options whether they desire to attend a public or a private high school.
In order to be well-suited to engage in college or be ready to enter the workforce, a student must attend the correct high school that is in line with their interests and aspirations.
Many of the better high schools provide the opportunity to earn college credit concurrently with a student’s high school classes, which is a very alluring idea for kids interested in continuing their education after high school.
Many of the better institutions offer students multiple paths to speed up the completion of their undergraduate degrees by offering Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs as well as connections with nearby colleges and universities.
College-bound students will leap at the chance to attend the best high school available as college admissions agencies typically place a great deal of weight on the difficulty of the courses candidates take at their high schools.
Students who enroll in advanced courses are also better prepared to do well on standardized exams like the SAT or ACT, which increases their likelihood of getting into the college or institution of their choosing.
The top ten best high schools in Texas that are open to students are listed below. The universities on this list were chosen because they have all received top rankings in reputable magazines regarding higher education.
The 10 Best High Schools in Texas
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The Awty International School (Houston, TX)
More than 1,700 pupils attend the Awty International School, who come from more than 50 different countries. The institution is certified by the French Ministry of Education and offers both the International Baccalaureate and French Baccalaureat certificates.
The school offers more than 200 teachers from 26 different nations to its students, who are expected to complete classes to learn a second language. The main campus of the institution, which covers 26 acres, has labs, music studios, and both indoor and outdoor athletic facilities.
The student-to-teacher ratio at the Awty International School is 7 to 1, and according to Niche.com, the average test scores are 31 on the ACT and 1380 on the SAT.
St. Mark’s School of Texas (Dallas, TX)
St. Mark’s School of Texas is the ideal option for kids looking for a private Christian high school with top-notch academic options.
It is ranked first on Niche.com’s ranking of the top private high schools in Texas. There are currently more than 900 pupils enrolled in all grades at this preparatory school for guys alone, which offers lessons from kindergarten through the 12th grade.
The school’s students benefit from an 8-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio and have access to 22 AP courses, which are offered by St. Mark’s.
The Winn Science Center at the school, which opened in 2019, offers students a first-rate location where they may access maker spaces, a planetarium, laboratories, and a greenhouse to support their scientific and engineering education.
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The School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG) (Dallas, TX)
The School for the Talented and Gifted is ranked first among public high schools in Texas and eighth overall by U.S. News and World Report.
TAG has 464 students enrolled in grades 9 through 12, and the school has 26 full-time equivalent instructors, giving it an 18 to 1 student-to-teacher ratio.
TAG was honored in 2022 for its outstanding performance as a Title I magnet school by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. The teachers and students at the school adhere to a number of interdisciplinary traditions, such as TREK, TAG Forum, and TAG-IT.
TAG-IT is a two-day course of extracurricular activities that take place in and out of the classroom, TAG Forum is a day-long speaker series, and TREK is a three-day educational excursion.
Carnegie Vanguard High School (Houston, TX)
As a result of the Vanguard program at Jesse H. Jones Senior High School, Carnegie Vanguard was founded in 2002.
Students must enroll in at least 10 AP courses in order to graduate from the school, and the core classes are all pre-AP or AP courses. The new student orientation “Fish Camp,” an overnight stay hosted by the neighborhood YMCA that includes a variety of outdoor activities, is one of the school’s unusual traditions.
The Carnegie Theatre Company, a student-run theatrical group, competes regularly at the state level and is maintained by the school.
Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School (Dallas, TX)
The first Mexican-American woman to be elected to the Texas House of Representatives inspired the school’s name, which was given to it in 2004 when it was created as an all-girls prep school.
The Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, a member of the Young Women’s Preparatory Network, is the first public school in Texas completely focused on educating young women.
The school offers various Advanced Placement courses in addition to a STEM-focused curriculum as a member of the Young Women’s Preparatory Network. Alumni of the school have the chance to connect with other alumni in the network on a professional level due to their membership in the network.
Greenhill School (Addison, TX)
The kindergarten through 12th-grade students are served by the coeducational, independent Greenhill School in Addison, Texas. More than 1,300 kids in all grade levels are now enrolled at the institution.
The middle 50% range of composite ACT scores for Greenhill high school students is between 30 and 34, and the middle 50% range of SAT total scores is between 1295 and 1535.
The school’s 75 acres of facilities are made up of classrooms, sporting fields, libraries, and the Marshall Family Performing Arts Center. The performing arts facility at the school has two theaters, a green room, dressing rooms, and a classroom for film and video production.
Successful Texas politicians Beth Van Duyne, a representative in the US House of Representatives, and Eric Johnson, the 60th Mayor of Dallas, are notable graduates of the institution.
School of Science and Engineering Magnet (SEM) (Dallas, TX)
The 500+ students at Dallas’ Science and Engineering Magnet School have good possibilities to study STEM subjects through a variety of AP and dual-enrollment classes that are meant to help students succeed in their college careers.
Another 2022 National Blue Ribbon School in the Dallas Independent School District is this public magnet school. In terms of public high schools nationwide, the school is ranked number 22. In terms of public high schools in Texas, it is ranked number 3.
The school provides a special “SuperLab” session that combines AP Physics C and AP Chemistry and enables students to learn the topics using a methodical, lab-based approach to instruction. The school’s Advanced Topics of the Theory of Applied Mathematics class is another unusual offering.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School (Austin, TX)
The coeducational boarding school St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, which is located in Austin, Texas, is ranked number four on niche.com’s list of the finest private high schools. St. Stephen’s was both the first integrated boarding school in the southern part of the country and the first coeducational Episcopal institution in the United States.
Students in grades 6 through 12 have boarding and day school choices at the institution. There are currently 699 pupils enrolled in St. Stephen’s, with 34% of them boarding there five days a week.
19% of the boarding students at the school come from nations other than the United States, welcoming students of all religions and backgrounds.
An observatory, one of the school’s facilities, is used in the school’s numerous hands-on science lessons and is accessible to the public once a month.
Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) (Austin, TX)
The LBJ Science Academy and The Liberal Arts Academy at Johnston High School merged in 2002 to form Austin’s public Liberal Arts and Science Academy.
With a student-to-teacher ratio of 17 to 1, the school’s 1,254 pupils in grades 9 through 12 can study in its 30 AP courses and 121 honors courses.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the school, which is ranked number four among public high schools in Texas and number 34 overall, had 28 students named as National Merit Semi-Finalists and 81 students named as National Merit Commended Scholars for the class of 2022 to 2023.
Among the demanding courses offered by LASA is an Amateur Radio course that allows students to obtain their own HAM licenses and the two-year LBJ Fire Academy, which certifies students as both firefighters and EMTs.
The Hockaday School (Dallas, TX)
Private pre-K through twelfth-grade all-girls school The Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas offers both day school and boarding services to its 1,100+ pupils.
16 National Merit Finalists and 17 National Merit Semi-Finalists came from the Hockaday class of 2022. Along with having nationally renowned academics, the class of 2022 saw 91% of students receive scores of three or above on AP exams.
Many Hockaday students take advantage of the school’s Institute for Social Impact-led courses that integrate academics and practical applications in order to build strong academic profiles.
In order to expand the school’s connection with community partners and to use experiential learning techniques to develop the leaders of the future, the institute was established in 2018.