New rankings released by U.S. News & World Report this week show five Ysleta ISD campuses – including North Star Elementary School and the Young Women’s Leadership Academy (YWLA) – are among the top 20 percent of public elementary and middle schools in the state.
In its 2024 Best Elementary and Middle Schools rankings released Tuesday, U.S. News & World Report published rankings and data for more than 79,000 public elementary and middle schools nationwide.
Ranked among the top 20 percent of the 4,393 public elementary schools in Texas were Ysleta ISD’s North Star Elementary School (No. 765); Vista Hills Elementary School (No. 791); and Eastwood Heights Elementary School (No. 803).
Among the state’s 1,935 middle schools, YWLA (No. 282) and Alicia R. Chacon International School (No. 328) were in the top 20 percent in the state.
As a result, these five campuses – and an additional eight Ysleta ISD schools – have earned a Best Elementary Schools or Best Middle Schools badge from U.S. News & World Report for placing among the top 40 percent of public schools of their type in Texas.
The additional eight campuses are Ramona, Del Norte, Scotsdale, Glen Cove, and Dolphin Terrace elementary schools; Eastwood Knolls and Edgemere international schools; and Riverside Middle School.
“The 2024 Best Elementary and Middle Schools rankings offer a way for parents to get a snapshot of their child’s school and how well it’s doing within its community,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News. “Easily accessible data on student-teacher ratio, district spending, and the number of school counselors available at the school can keep parents informed and involved.”
These new rankings come just after Ysleta ISD was named the No. 1 school district in the El Paso area for the third consecutive year by Niche, a nationwide online platform that helps parents and students connect with the right schools for their family.
According to U.S. News & World Report, these new rankings focused on state assessments of students who were proficient or above proficient in mathematics and reading/language arts while accounting for student backgrounds, achievement in core subjects, and how well schools are educating their students. Student-teacher ratios are applied to break ties in the overall score.
