Original Research by School Decision on Texas H S
Texas High School is a regular public high school in Texarkana serving grades nine through twelve. The school sits on Summerhill Road in the city's northwest residential area, away from the downtown core where civic institutions cluster. As a four-year high school, it enrolls a student body with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and the racial makeup is primarily Black students, followed by White students, with smaller populations of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students.
On state assessments for the most recent year, the school's results show a mixed picture across subjects. In English language arts, about three-fifths of students meet the state's "approaches grade level" benchmark, with fewer reaching the "meets" or "masters" levels. Math proficiency is lower: about three-quarters meet the approaches level, but only about one-third reach the meets level and very few achieve mastery. Science is a relative strength, with about nine in ten students at the approaches level and three in five at meets; social studies also shows reasonably broad proficiency, with about four-fifths at approaches and about half at meets. Overall across all subjects, about three-quarters of students meet approaches and just under half meet the standard. These results suggest the school is serving many students at or near grade-level expectations in science and social studies but faces steeper challenges in mathematics and in moving students toward deeper mastery across subjects.
The district has undertaken a major facilities upgrade funded by a voter-approved bond, including construction of a new Career and Technical Education building at Texas High School. More notably for academic pathways, the district launched a P-TECH Academy at the school, a dual-enrollment program through which students can earn a high school diploma and an associate degree at no cost by taking college-credit courses through Texarkana College, with a pathway to Texas A&M University-Texarkana. The first cohort began in 2023-24, and an Education and Training pathway is available for incoming ninth-graders. For families looking at high school options in the area, this represents a significant opportunity to pursue postsecondary credentials while still in high school without direct tuition cost.
Texarkana itself is growing and becoming more affordable. New residential subdivisions are under construction, and major employers include healthcare systems, manufacturing, logistics, and the Red River Army Depot. The city straddles the Texas-Arkansas line and carries a regional character tied to commerce and government. Walkability is limited citywide, though the downtown has modest pedestrian activity and the city is pursuing an Active Transportation Master Plan that includes sidewalk and bike-lane improvements near schools.
The housing market in the Texarkana area is substantially more affordable than state and national benchmarks, which may draw families relocating for work or seeking entry into homeownership. A parent may want to look into the school's support services and academic intervention structures, particularly in mathematics, to understand how the school addresses the performance gap in that subject. The school's size and the composition of its student body are facts that matter most to families considering fit, and families prioritizing dual-enrollment college pathways will find a concrete option in the P-TECH program.
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