Best Houston-Area High Schools 2018: U.S. News & World Report

Seventy-three Texas high schools are rated among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2018 high school rankings. The highest-rated school in Texas was Meridian School in Round Rock that ranked sixth nationally.

The 2018 best high school rankings were released on Wednesday and evaluate more than 20,500 public high schools. U.S. News identified schools that best serve all students and assessed how prepared students are for college-level work. Schools are also recognized with gold, silver and bronze medals with gold indicating the greatest level of college readiness.

A total of 25 Houston-area schools received a gold medal. The 73 Texas high schools that ranked high nationally received a gold medal, 155 schools got a silver medal and 373 schools got a bronze medal.

"Top-ranked schools succeed in three main areas: exceeding expectations on state proficiency tests, offering challenging coursework and graduating their students," Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News, said in a press release.

Here's the state's gold medal schools in the Houston area and where they ranked nationally, according to the 2018 rankings:

Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston, No. 15

DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Houston, No. 38

Eastwood Academy, Houston, No. 56

Challenge Early College High School, Houston, No. 91

YES Prep North Forest, Houston, No. 94

YES Prep - East End, Houston, No. 97

YES Prep - Southwest, Houston, No. 106

YES Prep - Gulfton, Houston, No. 118

YES Prep - West, Houston, No. 123

YES Prep - Southeast, Houston, No. 131

Clear Horizons Early College High School, Houston, No. 151

YES Prep - Brays Oaks, Houston, No. 194

The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, No. 232

KIPP Generations Collegiate, Houston, No. 233

YES Prep - North Central, Houston, No. 234

Victory Early College High School, Houston, No. 272

North Houston Early College High School, Houston, No. 311

East Early College High School, Houston, No. 315

Alief Early College High School, Houston, No. 351

Energized for STEM Academy West High School, Houston, No. 372

Kerr High School , Houston, No. 405

Harmony School Of Science - Houston High, Sugar Land, No 426

Clements High School, Sugar Land, No. 446

KIPP Houston High School, Houston, No. 451

Memorial High School, Houston, No. 479

To determine the rankings, U.S. News teamed up with the social science research firm RTI International. A variety of data sources, including the Common Core of Data, College Board and the International Baccalaureate, were used.

A four-step process was used to rank all eligible schools. The first two steps were to determine whether students were performing better than statistically expected in the state and whether minority students were performing at or better than the state average for minority students, which was the second step. The third step required schools to meet or surpass a certain graduation benchmark and the final step was to determine college readiness. (You can read the full methodology here.)

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