Spring Branch Academic Institute has secured the top spot in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report rankings for elementary and middle schools in Texas. The school, which did not hold a ranking in the previous year, now leads the state as the highest-performing institution among the 70,000 public schools analyzed by the publication.
Methodology Behind the 2027 Rankings
To determine these rankings, U.S. News analyzed publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education. The evaluation focused on student proficiency in mathematics and reading, while specifically accounting for student backgrounds and absolute performance on state assessments.
"By incorporating direct state data across all proficiency levels, the 2027 rankings offer a richer, more complete picture of how elementary and middle schools are driving student growth," said Eric Brooks, U.S. News director of education data analysis.
When schools tied in their overall scores, the publication prioritized those with lower student-teacher ratios. According to its U.S. News profile, Spring Branch Academic Institute maintains a 5-to-1 student-teacher ratio, with 100 percent of its students scoring at or above the proficient level in both math and reading.
Houston-Area School Performance
Twelve Houston-area elementary and middle schools earned spots among the top 25 in Texas this year. In the elementary category, Spring Branch Academic Institute and Houston ISD’s T. H. Rogers School were the only two local campuses to place in the statewide top 10. T. H. Rogers rose to the No. 4 position, improving from its No. 13 rank the previous year.
Other notable Houston-area elementary schools appearing in the top 25 include:
- No. 14: Creekside Forest Elementary, Tomball ISD
- No. 15: West University Elementary, Houston ISD
- No. 19: Stafford STEM Magnet Academy
- No. 21: Commonwealth Elementary, Fort Bend ISD
For middle schools, Cornerstone Academy in Spring Branch ISD ranked No. 7, while Houston ISD’s Briarmeadow Charter School took the No. 10 spot. Additional Houston-area middle schools in the top 25 include Fort Settlement Middle School (No. 13), Stafford STEM Magnet Academy (No. 15), Seven Lakes Junior High (No. 18), Beckendorff Junior High (No. 19), and Memorial Middle School (No. 24).
Schools With Shifting Rankings
The 2027 list reflects significant movement for several local campuses. While some schools climbed the rankings, others dropped out of the top 25 compared to the previous year. Specifically, Houston ISD’s Mandarin Immersion Magnet School fell to No. 30 from No. 18, Houston Gateway Academy-Coral Campus dropped to No. 70 from No. 21, and Smith Middle School in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD moved to No. 53 from No. 22.
Four Measures Determine School Rankings
Four distinct factors make up the overall score equally: reading/language arts proficiency, math proficiency, reading/language arts performance relative to modeled projections, and math performance relative to modeled projections.
The rankings use publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education, focusing on state assessment scores while adjusting for student demographics to ensure a fair comparison between institutions.
Among the schools mentioned, Houston Gateway Academy-Coral Campus dropped from the top 25 last year to No. 70 position in the 2027 rankings.
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