Texas Border Business
Rio Grande Valley, TX – For the 13th consecutive year, IDEA college preparatory schools in the Rio Grande Valley were ranked among the best performing high schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. This annual list of rankings reflects the rigor and success of IDEA’s commitment to students on the road to success in college and in life.
In U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 ranking of best high schools in the nation released today, 13 IDEA high schools received rankings on the list. This expansive edition ranks more schools across America than ever before, evaluating nearly 24,000 public high schools on how well they serve all of their students, regardless of economic or ethnic background.
The IDEA Public Schools’ high schools that received a ranking as a 2021 Best High School from U.S. News & World Report include:
1. IDEA Frontier College Preparatory – 8th best high school in Texas, Top 1% of high schools in Texas and the top ranked high school in the Rio Grande Valley
2. IDEA College Preparatory McAllen – 18th best high school in Texas, Top 1% of high schools in Texas and the top ranked high school in McAllen.
3. IDEA Quest College Preparatory – 22nd best high school in Texas, Top 1% of high schools in Texas
4. IDEA College Preparatory Edinburg – 30th best high school in Texas, Top 2% of high schools in Texas
5. IDEA College Preparatory San Juan – 32nd best high school in Texas, Top 2% of high schools in Texas
6. IDEA Toros College Preparatory – 43rd best high school in Texas, Top 3% of high schools in Texas
7. IDEA College Preparatory Brownsville – 59th best high school in Texas, Top 4% of high schools in Texas
8. IDEA College Preparatory Mission – 70th best high school in Texas, Top 5% of high schools in Texas
9. IDEA College Preparatory San Benito – 71st best high school in Texas, Top 5% of high schools in Texas
10. IDEA College Preparatory Donna – 72nd best high school in Texas, Top 5% of high schools in Texas
11. IDEA College Preparatory Weslaco – 87th best high school in Texas, Top 6% of high schools in Texas
12. IDEA College Preparatory Alamo – Top 23% of charter schools nationwide
13. IDEA College Preparatory Pharr – Top 26% of charter schools nationwide
IDEA College Preparatory McAllen made the prestigious list for the first time this year.
“Words cannot express how proud we are of these schools’ accomplishments, especially considering the challenges of balancing virtual and in-person learning,” says JoAnn Gama, CEO and Co-Founder of IDEA Public Schools. “We know these recognitions are a result of the dedication, commitment, and support of so many educators, leaders and staff at IDEA and our families at home.” According to U.S. News & World Report, the 2021 Best High Schools rankings take a holistic approach to evaluating schools, looking at six factors: college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates. Specifically, college readiness measures participation and performance on Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams. The methodology assigns weights to each of the six factors and then produces an overall score on which the ranking is based.
