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Principals from local high schools also represent some of the best districts in Greater Houston. Clear Creek Independent School District is No. 1 in Houston and its Clear Horizons Early College High ranked No. 5 among the region’s high schools.
Here in Greater Houston, there are almost 60 different school districts in eight counties.
None of them got a failing grade. In fact, most of them are pretty good and then …
“Some school districts clearly over-perform.”
That’s Bob Sanborn with Children at Risk.
The advocacy group ranked all those school districts for the first time.
They were graded just like individual schools, based on how well students did on state exams, how much students are improving and how low-income students are doing.
Sanborn says the best school districts have strong leadership.
“It’s leadership at the superintendent level but also the school board level — A school board that knows how to pick the right superintendent and make sure that they’re supporting that superintendent.”
The No. 1 large school district in the area is Clear Creek in Galveston County.
One principal there, Brett Lemley, says it may be a suburban school district but it still has challenges.
“We cover 13 municipalities in 103 square miles. We’ve got about 40 different languages that are spoken in our district. I think the big key is that we have a school board that’s unified, we have a superintendent with a great vision, and we have a lot of really, really good people on board that believe in that vision and will do anything to make it happen.”
Other suburban districts swept the top spots in the new rankings.
Those include the Conroe, Katy and Fort Bend independent school districts.
To see the top high schools in Houston, visit here.
Out of 58 school districts: 16 scored a “B”, 34 scored a “C”, 8 scored a “D”
| DISTRICT | COUNTY | 2014 HOUSTON RANK – LARGE DISTRICTS | 2014 HOUSTON RANK | LETTER GRADE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clear Creek | Galveston | 1 | 4 | B |
| Conroe | Montgomery | 2 | 6 | B |
| Katy | Harris | 3 | 9 | B |
| Fort Bend | Fort Bend | 4 | 12 | B |
| Alief | Harris | 5 | 14 | B |
| Cypress-Fairbanks | Harris | 6 | 15 | B |
| Humble | Harris | 7 | 20 | C |
| Klein | Harris | 8 | 21 | C |
| Spring Branch | Harris | 9 | 22 | C |
| Pasadena | Harris | 10 | 29 | C |
| Houston | Harris | 11 | 37 | C |
| Aldine | Harris | 12 | 41 | C |
| Spring | Harris | 13 | 53 | D |