Houston has no lack of great public and private schools. While Carnegie Vanguard High School has certainly struggled to find its space in Houston, it is critically acclaimed as one of the best, maybe the best, high school in the Greater Houston Area. It is already considered one of the top high schools in the United States.
Now located in the Fourth Ward, a more central location, Carnegie Vanguard was at one point part of Jones High School, and it also nearly shared a space with Worthing for a time before being bounced to its current location in 2002. The relocation to the Fourth Ward has since made transport easier and enrollment has increased. At its new location, which was once slated to be the new location of HSPVA, Carnegie Vanguard’s theater is an original Art Deco building, and was once used as a plant to bottle Orange Crush, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Despite its difficulties in finding space to provide education, Carnegie Vanguard is the only Vanguard High School in HISD where 100% of all students are in Gifted and Talented (GT) academic programs. In order to be admitted to Carnegie, students exhibit exemplary proficiency in the areas of intellect, creativity and leadership capabilities. This ensures a greater level of diversity both ethnically and socioeconomically. As a result, Carnegie Vanguard has earned an “Exemplary” rating by the TEA. Achievement here is the norm—distinction comes from only the greatest achievements.
Unsurprisingly, the TEA’s good opinion is not the only accolade attributed to this high-achieving high school. Newsweek ranked CVHS 11th in the nation in 2011, Washington Post called it #13 in the nation that same year and #11 in 2014. That’s up from 2008 when it was ranked #79 in the nation out of more than 18,000 participating schools. It was #17 in 2013 by the US New and World Report. With all these great recommendations, who wouldn’t want to try to send their children here?
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