Morgan Hanz, left, Alex Martinez, middle, and Gerardo Yanez, students at Hardy Oak Elementary School, react in this 2010 file photo as they look at leaves wrapped in plastic bags for an experiment to detect evidence of transpiration. This week Hardy Oak was ranked the best elementary school in the region by a Houston think tank called Children at Risk.
BILLY CALZADA, STAFF / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWSSan Antonio-area schools did not land among the top 10 rated schools statewide in any grade level in the annual rankings just released by Children at Risk, a Houston-based education think tank.
But the organization highlighted the top five schools that performed best when compared to other Bexar County and greater San Antonio-area schools in a livestreamed announcement this week.
The non-profit research and advocacy organization resumed the rankings after a two-year hiatus due to coronavirus-pandemic disruptions to classes and testing.
For many years, it has provided an alternative to Texas accountability ratings by analyzing academic performance, student achievement and growth, and, at the high school level, college readiness.
The organization uses standardized test outcomes from the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, as a measurement of achievement and growth. But it also weighs factors less accounted for in the state ratings — and not at all until a few years ago — such as comparing schools based on poverty level.
Kaitlyn Lomas, Devyn Moore, Lola Sanchez and Melanie Harrell gather before celebrating Day of the Girl.
Callaghan O'Hare, Contributor / Callaghan O'Hare/Contributor“Students in poverty are more likely to face challenges in completing their education compared to their wealthier peers,” the organization’s methodology states. “Schools that successfully serve students in poverty and address these challenges deserve special recognition.”
The San Antonio Independent School District has two high schools in the top five spots in the region: Young Women’s Leadership Academy landed at fifth, and Travis Early College High in the fourth spot.
Northside ISD has Health Careers High School in third place and Memorial Early College High School in Comal ISD was in the second spot.
IDEA Carver College Prep, of the IDEA Public Schools charter network, took the first spot, earning A ratings across all categories. The school is located on the East Side of San Antonio and serves close to 700 students.
“We work very hard to get to know our students on an individual basis,” IDEA Carver Principal Delisa Morales said in the organization’s announcement event. “And we truly have the best teachers on our campus… Just this past year over 45 percent of our seniors were able to graduate as AP scholars.”
In the middle school bracket, the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in SAISD was fifth in the region and North East ISD’s Lopez Middle was fourth. The BASIS San Antonio charter school network has its BASIS Shavano Campus in the third spot, and IDEA Carver College Prep took second.
The Eleanor Kolitz Hebrew Language Academy in San Antonio took first place in the middle school rankings, earning a B in student achievement and As in performance and growth.
In the elementary school rankings, D’Hanis School, in D’Hanis ISD in Medina County, took the fifth spot, BASIS San Antonio’s Medical Center campus came in fourth, and Northside ISD’s Blattman Elementary took third.
The second spot was taken by Comal ISD’s Hoffmann Lane Elementary. In first place was North East ISD’s Hardy Oak Elementary. Both schools earned As across the board.
“I think, like Ms. Morales said, it’s intentionality,” Hoffmann Lane Principal Amanda Schumann said in the livestreamed event. “So, we use data to know where our kids are academically, but we build relationships with them and then we are able to teach the social-emotional skills that our babies need.”
An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect reference to Blattman Elementary School and misstated the school district that contains Lopez Middle School.
danya.perez@express-news.net| @DanyaPH
