Victory Early College High School Makes ‘Newsweek’ Magazine’s Top 500 List

Disponible en: Español

Newsweek recently released its 2014 List of America’s Top High Schools. Aldine ISD’s Victory Early College High School made the rankings for 2014.

The rankings highlight schools that do the best job of preparing students for college. This year, the magazine’s method is more stringent than ever with new measures of quality and a higher standard for data.

Newsweek also recognized schools that beat the odds. These schools performed better than statistically expected for their level of poverty. The magazine ranked schools based on how well they prepare students for college. The ranking method took students’ socio-economic background into account. A star next to a school’s name means that low-income students are scoring at or above average on state assessments. This is Newsweek’s way of recognizing schools that narrow the achievement gap. Victory Early College High School made this list known as [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]”Breaking the Odds 2014 — Top Schools for Low-Income Students.” And Newsweek awarded the campus a star.

Victory Early College High School with a poverty percentage of 72.89 ranked 198 out of 500 listed. The AISD campus scored 86.55 on college readiness preparation. Victory Early College High School has a graduation rate of more than 87%.

Victory Early College High School collaborates with Lone Star Community College. According to Patricia Leon-Wade, the campus blends high school and college level courses. Leon-Wade is the assistant superintendent who oversees the campus. She added that Victory Early College students can get a high school diploma while obtaining college credit. They can get an Associate’s in Arts Degree or two years of college credit toward a baccalaureate degree.

“I am so proud of our students and staff at Victory Early College High School,” said Leon-Wade. “The campus has a strong academic and instructional focus for all students. The district also has a long partnership with the Lone Star College System. Both Aldine ISD and Lone Star strive to provide a quality education as well as prepare students for college.”

Overjoyed by the news, Principal Dr. Phyllis Cormier expressed her sentiments.

“Victory Early College High School seeks to educate each child holistically,” said Cormier. “Teachers at each grade level work in cross-curricular teams. Cross-curricular teaching is essential to give students a deeper learning experience. Teachers work together to find common topics to prepare to teach jointly rather than separately. This makes it much easier for students to see the relevance and connections between content areas.

“A great deal of the campus’ success comes from the commitment our parents, students, and staff members have made. And an integral part of our success is due to the partnership we have with Lone Star College. Our partnership gives students opportunities to be successful and college ready.”