Education in Houston

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This article is intended to give an overview of the education in Houston.

Contents

Healthcare and scientific research

Texas Medical Center Texas medical center sundown.jpg
Texas Medical Center

Houston is the seat of the internationally renowned Texas Medical Center, which contains the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions. [1] All 47 member institutions of the Texas Medical Center are non-profit organizations. They provide patient and preventive care, research, education, and local, national, and international community well-being. Employing more than 73,600 people, institutions at the medical center include 13 hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, and virtually all health-related careers. It is where one of the first—and still the largest—air emergency service, Life Flight, was created, and a very successful inter-institutional transplant program was developed. More heart surgeries are performed at the Texas Medical Center than anywhere else in the world. [2]

Some of the academic and research health institutions at the center include MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, UT Health Science Center, Memorial Hermann Hospital, The Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, and University of Houston College of Pharmacy. The Baylor College of Medicine has annually been considered within the top ten medical schools in the nation; likewise, the MD Anderson Cancer Center has consistently ranked as one of the top two U.S. hospitals specializing in cancer care by U.S. News & World Report since 1990. [3] [4] The Menninger Clinic, a renowned psychiatric treatment center, is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital System. [5] With hospital locations nationwide and headquarters in Houston, the Triumph Healthcare hospital system is the third largest long term acute care provider nationally. [6]

Higher education

University of Houston Ezekiel W. Cullen Building, University of Houston in 2012.JPG
University of Houston

Four separate and distinct state universities are located in Houston. The University of Houston is a nationally recognized Tier One research university and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. [7] [8] [9] The third-largest university in Texas, the University of Houston has nearly 44,000 students on its 667-acre campus in southeast Houston as of 2017. [10] The University of Houston–Clear Lake and the University of Houston–Downtown are stand-alone universities; they are not branch campuses of the University of Houston. Located in the historic community of Third Ward is Texas Southern University, one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black institutions in the United States.

The University of Houston System's annual impact on the Houston-area's economy equates to that of a major corporation: $1.1 billion in new funds attracted annually to the Houston area, $3.13 billion in total economic benefit, and 24,000 local jobs generated according to studies in 2006. [11] [12] This is in addition to the 12,500 new graduates the UH System produces every year who enter the workforce in Houston and throughout Texas. These degree-holders tend to stay in Houston. After five years, 80.5 percent of graduates are still living and working in the region. [12]

Several private institutions of higher learning—ranging from liberal arts colleges to a nationally recognized research university—are located within the city. Most notably, Rice University, which is one of the leading teaching and research universities in the United States and consistently ranks in the top 20 of best overall universities as of 2009 by U.S. News & World Report. [13]

Three community college districts exist with campuses in and around Houston. The Houston Community College System serves most of Houston. The northwestern through northeastern parts of the city are served by various campuses of the Lone Star College System, while the southeastern portion of Houston is served by San Jacinto College,[ citation needed ] and portions in the northeast are served by Lee College. [14] The Houston Community College and Lone Star College systems are within the 10 largest institutions of higher learning in the United States.

Primary and secondary education

A 2007 Money survey stated that 91.1% of the students attending schools within the city limits go to public schools and 8.9 percent go to private schools. [15]

Public schools

Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center is the headquarters of the Houston Independent School District. Hisd-hmw-008.JPG
Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center is the headquarters of the Houston Independent School District.
Lamar High School, in central Houston, is of Houston ISD HoustonLamarHighSchool.JPG
Lamar High School, in central Houston, is of Houston ISD
Clear Lake High School, in southeast Houston, is of the Clear Creek ISD ClearLakeHighSchoolHouston.JPG
Clear Lake High School, in southeast Houston, is of the Clear Creek ISD

All public school systems in Texas are administered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). As of 2018 24 school districts serve different sections of the city of Houston. [16] The largest school district serving the city limits is the Houston Independent School District (HISD), which serves a large majority of the area within the city limits. [17] A portion of west Houston falls under the Spring Branch and Alief independent school districts. Aldine takes parts of northern Houston. Parts of Pasadena, Clear Creek, Conroe, Crosby, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Galena Park, Huffman, Humble, Katy, Klein, New Caney, Sheldon, and Spring independent school districts also take students from the city limits of Houston or otherwise cover parts of the Houston city limits. [18]

The North Forest Independent School District served portions of Houston until its July 1, 2013 closure, when it was absorbed by Houston ISD. [19]

There are also many charter schools that are run separately from school districts, but are administered by the Texas Education Agency. In addition, public school districts—such as Houston ISD and Spring Branch ISD—also have their own charter schools.

State-chartered charter schools

Since 1995 the state of Texas allowed the formation of charter schools. [20] Some charter schools are overseen by traditional school districts while others only have oversight by the State of Texas.

In 2003 charter schools in the Houston area had a combined total of 15,428 students. [21] In 2006, over 25% of charter schools in Texas were located in Greater Houston. [22] In 2006, Todd Ziebarth, a researcher of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said that charter schools may have as many as 15% of the market share of students in Greater Houston. During that year Houston Independent School District (HISD) officials estimated that 12,000 to 13,000 pupils living within the HISD boundaries attend state charter schools. In 2006 around 10,000 students attended HISD-affiliated charter schools. [20]

In 2015 there were over 125 charter school campuses in the area. [23] As of 2017 KIPP Houston had 12,100 students, [24] Harmony Public Schools's Houston-area campuses had 11,000 students, [25] Yes Prep had 9,500 students, Houston Gateway Academy had about 1,900 students, Promise Community School had about 1,700 students, The Varnett School had about 1,700 students, and Excel Academy had 500 students. [24]

History of public education

In the Jim Crow era African-Americans had inferior K-12 educational conditions, with fewer resources in general and less financial support from the state government and from local governments, compared to other races. Teachers of black African origin had, on average, around 70% of the pay of a white teacher, and black students had fewer teachers per capita compared to white and other racial-ethnic peers. [26]

Private schools

St. Thomas High School St.ThomasHighSchoolHoustonFront.JPG
St. Thomas High School

Houston has numerous private schools of all types, including non-sectarian, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant, and Muslim. The Texas Education Agency has no authority over private school operations; private schools may or may not be accredited, and achievement tests are not required for private school graduating seniors. Many private schools will obtain accreditation and perform achievement tests as a means of demonstrating that the school is genuinely interested in educational performance. The Houston area is home to more than 300 private schools and several are well-known. Many of the schools are accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC).[ citation needed ] In addition, Houston area Catholic schools are operated by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

Around 1993 increasing numbers of parents in Greater Houston sent their children to private schools. Dick Ekdahl, the executive director of the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS), said that a more robust economy, a negative perception of public schools, and increased interest in religious education caused enrollment at private schools to increase. Stephanie Asin of the Houston Chronicle said "[t]here is no central authority over private schools so collecting enrollment statistics is difficult." [27] She added "local headmasters indicate that enrollment is increasing in their schools and believe that holds true throughout the state's estimated 750 private schools." [27] In 1988, the 35 schools of ISAS had a combined enrollment of 16,895. In 1992 the same 35 schools had a combined enrollment of 18,504. [27]

Homeschooling

The greater Houston area is home to a large homeschooling community with an estimated 40 to 50 thousand homeschooled students, based on 300,000 homeschool students in Texas [28] and 2.04 million in the U.S. [29] Over 100 organizations, support groups, and co-ops provide classes and resources for homeschool families. [30]

Libraries

Public libraries

Jesse H. Jones Building of the Houston Public Library JesseJonesBuildingHoustonLibrary0.JPG
Jesse H. Jones Building of the Houston Public Library

Residents of Houston are served by the Houston Public Library and the Harris County Public Library. The Houston Public Library has 36 branches throughout the city, plus the Central Library, located Downtown. The Harris County Public Library has 26 branches (3 of them in Houston), primarily serving areas outside the city limits of Houston.

University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Rice University, and Houston Baptist University also have university libraries.

Private libraries

There is one Japanese-language library in Houston, the Sansui-Kai Center Library (三水会センター・図書館). [31]

The Italian Cultural and Community Center has a library in its Logue House (Milford House) offices. [32]

Miscellaneous education

The Japanese Language Supplementary School of Houston, a supplementary Japanese school, is located in the city. Its classes are held at the Westchester Academy for International Studies. [33] The school is for children between ages 5 and 18 who are Japanese speakers. [34] Many of the students are temporarily residing in the United States. [35]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Roderick Raynor Paige served as the 7th United States Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2005. Paige, who grew up in Mississippi, moved from college football coach and classroom teacher to college dean and school superintendent to be the first African American to serve as the U.S. education chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Medical Center</span> Business district and neighborhood in Harris County, Texas, United States

The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a 2.1-square-mile (5.4 km2) medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrated in a triangular area between Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park, are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation—a non-profit umbrella organization—which constitutes the largest medical center and life science destination in the world. As the world's largest medical center, it's also nicknamed as the "Medical Mini-City". The TMC has the world's highest density of clinical facilities for patient care, basic biomedical sciences, and translational research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Independent School District</span> Public school system in Texas

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and insular municipalities in addition to some unincorporated areas. Like most districts in Texas, it is independent of the city of Houston and all other municipal and county jurisdictions. The district has its headquarters in the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center in Houston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Houston</span> State university in Houston, Texas, US

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pershing Middle School (Houston)</span> Middle school in Houston, Texas

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Forest Independent School District</span> Former school district in Texas

North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) was a school district in northeast Houston, Texas. Established in the early 1920s in a low-income white area, it later became majority-black and black-run. The district had a history of financial and academic issues from the late 1980s until 2013. On July 1, 2013, it was closed by order of the state and absorbed into the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeBakey High School for Health Professions</span> Public magnet high school in Houston, Texas, United States

Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions is a medical secondary school located in the Medical Center area of Houston, Texas, United States. It is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briargrove, Houston</span> Neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Ward, Houston</span> Neighborhood in Houston, Texas

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worthing High School (Houston)</span> Public high school in Houston, Texas, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Texas</span>

Texas has over 1,000 public school districts—all but one of the school districts in Texas are independent, separate from any form of municipal or county government. School districts may cross city and county boundaries. Independent school districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) oversees these districts, providing supplemental funding, but its jurisdiction is limited mostly to intervening in poorly performing districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Forest High School</span> Public school in Texas, United States

North Forest High School (NFHS) is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. The school is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD); it was a part of the North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) until the district closed on July 1, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Community College</span> Community college system in Texas, U.S.

Houston Community College (HCC), also known as Houston Community College System (HCCS), is a community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford in Texas. It is notable for actively recruiting internationally and for the large number of international students enrolled, over 5,700 in 2015. Its open enrollment policies, which do not require proficiency in English, are backed by a full-time 18-month English proficiency program and remedial courses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central College (Texas)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowstone Schools</span> Private school in Houston, Texas, USA

Yellowstone Schools is a school organization based in the Third Ward, Houston, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan</span> Magnet middle school in Houston, Texas

Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan (BCMAR) is a magnet middle school in Houston Independent School District (HISD), located in the Third Ward, Houston, Texas. It is located in the former Ryan Middle School. It is in association with the Baylor College of Medicine. It is south of Downtown Houston, A press release stated that the school was to be modeled after the Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions.

The Houston Independent School District takeover is a 2023 takeover of the state's largest school district by the Texas Education Agency, replacing the superintendent and elected board of trustees with a board of managers and a new superintendent appointed by the Texas commissioner of education.

References

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  24. 1 2 Carpenter, Jacob (August 4, 2017). "Texas charter schools close performance gap, leading researchers find". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  25. Carpenter, Jacob (August 3, 2017). "Charter schools see big gains in new study". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved August 18, 2017.
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