Texas Border Business
Rio Grande Valley, TX (May 1, 2020) – All 13 eligible IDEA college preparatory schools in the Rio Grande Valley were ranked among the top one percent of the most challenging high schools in the nation by the Jay Mathews Challenge Index High School Rankings formerly knownas America’s Most Challenging High Schools published in The Washington Post.
According to the 2020 rankings, eleven IDEA schools ranked in the top 25 of all high schools nationwide. In addition, IDEA schools ranked in the top 25% of charter schools nationwide, with eight schools ranked among the top 10 in Texas. IDEA schools also ranked in the top 25 among Texas charter schools.
And IDEA College Preparatory McAllen, ranked as the top high school in both Texas and the Rio Grande Valley and third in the entire nation!
“We know our educators are excellent and our students are thriving,” says JoAnn Gama, CEO, Co-Founder and Superintendent of IDEA Public Schools. “We know the time, thought and innovation that allows IDEA students to move mountains and dream big. But it is meaningful to have external, national institutions recognize the value of an IDEA education.”
All 13 IDEA high schools that were eligible, receiving rankings on the 2020 national list. These include:
- IDEA McAllen College Preparatory – 3rd in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Mission – 7th in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory San Juan – 9th in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Pharr– 10th in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Alamo – 11th in the nation
- IDEA Frontier College Preparatory – 13th in the nation
- IDEA Carver College Preparatory – 19th in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory San Benito – 22nd in the nation
- IDEA Montopolis College Preparatory – 23rd in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Weslaco – 24th in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Edinburg –25th in the nation
- IDEA Quest College Preparatory – 36th in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Donna – 59th in the nation
- IDEA Toros College Preparatory – 63rd in the nation
- IDEA College Preparatory Brownsville – 105th in the nation
The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post. It ranks public and private high schools the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top one percent of America’s 22,000 high schools.
