5 Aldine ISD Campuses Make U.S. News & World Report’s ‘2016 Best High Schools’ Rankings

The media company recognizes schools that are challenging students for the future.

Ruben Oblitas from Victory Early College HS is a 2016 National Merit Semifinalist.

U.S. News & World Report released the Best High School rankings on April 19. In Aldine ISD, five campuses made the 2016 rankings. [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Victory Early College High School received a Gold medal, while [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Carver High School received a Silver medal. [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Aldine, [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]MacArthur and [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Nimitz Ninth Grade Schools each earned Bronze medals.

High schools across the country challenge students with college-level coursework. In 2015, students took nearly 4.5 million Advanced Placement (AP) exams. And more than 56,000 received International Baccalaureate diplomas after the May exam session.

Victory Early College High School team wins second place at the 2016 USTEM Space Center Houston’s Robotics Competition.

To create the 2016 rankings, U.S. News worked with RTI International. This is a North Carolina-based research firm.

Evaluators used a four-step method to rank the schools.

Academic Indicators

[ul class=”list list-search”] [li]State Testing. Schools had to perform better than average to pass.[/li] [li]How effectively schools educated their least-advantaged students (i.e. African-American, Hispanic and low-income backgrounds). [/li][/ul][ul class=”list list-search”] [li]High school graduation rates[/li] [li]College Readiness Index. This shows student participation and performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. [/li][/ul]

[icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]U.S. News evaluated more than 28,000 schools across the country. Five hundred high schools received gold medals, 2,173 schools earned silver and 3,545 took home bronze in the national rankings.

U.S. News also produces separate charter and magnet rankings. U.S. News also ranks the Best High Schools for STEM. The acronym stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Victory Early College HS campus

There are more than 450 Texas schools in the 2016 U.S. News Best High School rankings.

This is the fourth year in a row that Victory Early College High School earns a Gold medal. The campus has a 100 percent graduation rate. Carver High School again took home a Silver medal. The magnet school earned Silver in the 2015, 2014 and 2013 rankings. Based on state exam performance, three ninth grade schools — Aldine, MacArthur and Nimitz — received Bronze medals.

Current & Past ‘U.S. News’ Best High School Rankings

2016

Iván Delgado from Carver HS is taking part in an internship at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2015-2016.

Gold — Victory Early College HS
Silver — Carver HS
Bronze — Aldine Ninth Grade School
Bronze — MacArthur Ninth Grade School
Bronze — Nimitz Ninth Grade School

2015

Gold — Victory Early College HS
Silver — Carver HS
Bronze — Aldine Ninth Grade School
Bronze — Aldine HS
Bronze — MacArthur HS

2014

Gold — Victory Early College HS
Silver — Carver HS
Bronze — Eisenhower HS

2013

NASA names Esmeralda Trejo from Victory ECHS is a 2016 Aerospace Scholar.

Gold — Victory Early College HS
Silver — Aldine HS
Silver — Carver HS
Silver — MacArthur HS

2012

Silver — Aldine HS
Silver — MacArthur HS
Bronze — Eisenhower HS
Bronze — Nimitz HS

2009

Silver — Carver HS
Bronze — MacArthur HS

2008

Bronze — Carver HS
Bronze — MacArthur HS

2007

Bronze — Carver HS

U.S. News began ranking high schools in 2007. In 2010 and 2011, the magazine did not rank U.S. campuses due to developing a new method.

The campuses are raking in the awards and recognition. The U.S. Department of Education honored Victory Early College High School earlier this year. The department named [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Victory Early College High School a National Blue Ribbon School. The campus again ranked in Niche’s Top 100 of Best High Schools in the Houston area. The campus received an “A” to make the list of the top schools in the Houston area in the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]2016 rankings. Victory also made the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]spring and fall of 2014. Victory ECHS also made [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Newsweek‘s ranking of the top 500 schools in the U.S.

Magnet Schools of America recognized Carver High School. In 2014, the campus earned a [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]School of Distinction Award from the national organization. The magnet school also made [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Niche’s Best Magnet Schools 2016. Carver also made Niche’s [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”] 2014 rankings.

Eisenhower HS’ Grads Give Back event. Former students return to inspire Ike students to aspire to attend college.

Eisenhower High School made Niche’s [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]2016 Best Magnet School rankings.

MacArthur High School made Niche’s 2014 [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Top 100 of the Best High Schools in the Houston area.

The National Center for Urban School Transformation also recognized the three campuses. [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]In 2013, NCUST named Aldine Ninth Grade School, Aldine High School and MacArthur High School among America’s Best Urban Schools in America. [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]MacArthur became the first AISD high school to become a two-time winner.

To read about the method used to rank schools, visit [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]U.S. News.