Highlands El, Highlands TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Highlands El

Highlands Elementary is an elementary school serving grades one through five in Highlands, a census-designated place in unincorporated eastern Harris County. The school enrolls a student body of about nine hundred students, drawn from a community that is majority Hispanic and economically disadvantaged. Most students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the overall enrollment is stable. The school is part of Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District, which also serves Baytown and surrounding East Harris County areas.

Highlands Elementary's state assessment results show proficiency rates that are below the midpoint among elementary schools in Harris County districts. In English language arts, the school's overall proficiency across grades three through five is modest: grade three sits at roughly four in ten, grade four at a similar level, and grade five slightly higher at about four and a half in ten. Math proficiency is lower across the same grades, ranging from about three in ten in grades three and five to missing data for grade four Spanish speakers. In science, only grade five is tested; fewer than three in ten students reached proficiency there. Across all tested subjects and grade levels combined, the school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint within the county's sixty elementary-serving districts, though absolute performance remains restrained. The data reflects a single year, so longer-term trends are not available.

The school's student composition reflects Highlands' broader demographics. The enrollment is majority Hispanic, with a substantial Black minority and a smaller White enrollment. About eighteen in twenty students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education enrollment and English learner status were not available in the report.

Highlands sits in a low-density, car-oriented community about twenty miles east of Houston. The built environment mixes older neighborhoods on quarter-acre lots with newer subdivisions; most residents own single-family homes. The area is family-oriented and quiet, with little walkable street life. Housing values in the zip code are modest. The community has a small historic townsite but no incorporated local government; Harris County operates civic functions including parks and library branches.

A parent considering Highlands Elementary should expect a school where proficiency, particularly in math and science, lags state benchmarks and county peer schools. The reading and language development work in English language arts shows somewhat more momentum. The school serves a student population that is largely economically disadvantaged and majority Hispanic. For families in the area seeking elementary education, this school is the local neighborhood option within Goose Creek CISD. A parent may want to look into what interventions or support programs the school has in place to address math proficiency, given the gap there. The district-level strategic direction or resource investments were not available in the search, so a conversation with school leadership about their approach to academic improvement would be worth pursuing.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 33% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 32% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 42% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 24% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 58% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 21% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

This schoolGOOSE CREEK CISD, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income38%Higher-income45%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income66%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income24%5 pp gap