The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in English language arts. The lowest is 4% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Yellowstone College Preparatory
Yellowstone College Preparatory is a charter school in Houston's Third Ward, serving grades six through nine and currently adding grades upward as it builds toward a full high school program. The school sits on a campus that was publicly reported to have undergone a large-scale renovation and expansion, adding classrooms, two gymnasiums, a library, a music room, an art studio, and an innovation hub, with the expansion opening in 2023. Houston City Council approved the sale of adjacent city-owned street blocks to allow the campus to grow. For families whose children enter in middle school, the practical implication is that they can now stay at one Third Ward campus all the way through high school graduation rather than having to find a new placement after eighth grade.
The early college designation is the most academically distinct feature of what Yellowstone is building toward. Publicly reported information from the school indicates that high school students can earn up to sixty dual-enrollment college credits by graduation, an amount roughly equivalent to an associate degree, at no tuition cost. That pathway is meaningful for families who are thinking about college affordability alongside college preparation. The current ninth-grade cohort is the first to have access to this; the grade band will expand toward twelfth grade in coming years.
The student body is almost entirely Black and nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the economic profile of the community the school draws from is one of concentrated need. IEP and English learner data were not available in what was provided.
The STAAR results from the most recent school year are candid reading. Across tested grades in math, ELA, reading, science, and social studies, proficiency rates at the "meets grade level" standard are low across the board, and the school sits in the bottom quartile on overall proficiency relative to districts in Harris County. Math proficiency in seventh grade was especially low. Eighth-grade science and social studies results were also well below what a family would hope to see. The "approaches grade level" figures, a lower bar, were more mixed: roughly half of students reached that threshold in math and ELA, and social studies approaches were in the majority, but science approaches remained low. A parent should ask the school directly about what academic supports are in place, what the growth picture looks like for individual students, and how the school is building toward the early college pathway given where entering students currently are.
Because trend data covers only a single year, there is no multi-year trajectory to assess. It is not possible from this data alone to say whether scores are rising, flat, or declining.
The school has no graduation rate yet, which is expected given that it is still adding high school grades and the first class has not reached twelfth grade.
The surrounding Third Ward and broader Houston context gives some texture to the setting. The zip code where the campus sits shows home values moderately above the Texas state benchmark and close to the national level, with rents running at a mid-range figure, and both values have seen slight declines over the past year. Houston as a city is growing rapidly, particularly in its outer suburban ring, while the urban core including Third Ward has its own slower residential evolution shaped by the city's lack of traditional zoning. Families within the Third Ward who want their children to stay close to home through high school have a campus here that is now physically equipped to serve that entire span.
What this adds up to is a school in an early stage of proving its high school model, with strong program ambitions anchored in dual-enrollment college credit, a newly renovated facility, and a clear community identity in the Third Ward. Current academic performance on state assessments is a real concern and warrants a direct conversation with the school about supports, trajectory, and how students are prepared for the college-credit coursework ahead.
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