U.S. News & World Report has named the Harmony School of Innovation in Brownsville and all 23 Harmony Public Schools in Texas to its annual rankings of top U.S. public high schools.
The rankings announced this week also include all seven Brownsville Independent School District high schools, IDEA Frontier College Preparatory in Brownsville and 11 other IDEA schools in the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas Academy for Medical Professions in Olmito along with all four STISD schools, and Los Fresnos High School in Los Fresnos.
U.S. News bases the rankings on college readiness (30%), math and reading proficiency (20%) and performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%), the proportion of students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams (10%), and graduation rate (10%).
Under U.S. News’ 2020 rankings methodology, the vast majority of all public high schools are ranked, U.S.News says on its website explaining the rankings.
Harmony School of Innovation Brownsville ranked 706th nationally, 93rd in Texas and fifth among Brownsville area schools.
Among Brownsville area schools, IDEA Frontier ranked first, followed by Brownsville Early College High School in BISD, South Texas ISD’s Academy for Medical Professions. IDEA College Prep San Benito and Harmony School of Innovation Brownsville.
IDEA Frontier ranked first among the Brownsville schools, ranking 113th nationally and 14th in Texas.
BECHS, the second-ranked Brownsville school, ranked 309th nationally and 48th in Texas.
South Texas Academy for Medical Professions in Olmito ranked third among Brownsville area schools, 444th nationally and 67th in Texas.
IDEA College Prep San Benito ranked 594th nationally and 82nd in Texas.
In coordination with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm, U.S. News ranked approximately 17,790 public high schools in the United States out of more than 24,000 reviewed. The count includes public high schools that had a 12th grade enrollment of 15 or greater, or otherwise had sufficient enrollment in other high school grades during the 2017-2018 school year to be analyzed, U.S. News said on its website.
