Valle Verde Early College High School ranked No. 1 among El Paso high schools

Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times
·2 min read

Valle Verde Early College High School has been ranked No. 1 among El Paso public high schools, according to U.S. News & World Report of the Best High Schools for 2024.

The magazine evaluated nearly 18,000 eligible public high schools at the national, state, and local levels. Valle Verde Early College High School was ranked 35th in Texas, and 241st in the nation.

The magazine also named five high schools in the Ysleta Independent School District among the top 20 best public/magnet/charter schools in El Paso. The schools are Young Women’s Leadership Academy (YWLA) No. 8, Eastwood High School (12th), Del Valle High School (15th) and Bel Air High School (20th).

More: See photos of the Young Women's Leadership Academy graduation ceremony

These campuses also ranked among the top one-third of high schools in Texas and the nation, according to U.S. News.

The Valle Verde Early College High School was ranked No. 1 for the following reasons: With a 100% graduation rate, the 328-student Valle Verde ECHS earned a score of 98.64 out of a possible 100 in the annual rankings and 100% of students took at least one Advanced Placement (AP) test.

Valle Verde Early College High School’s Class of 2023 graduates at the Plaza Theater in Downtown El Paso on Thursday, June 1, 2023.
Valle Verde Early College High School’s Class of 2023 graduates at the Plaza Theater in Downtown El Paso on Thursday, June 1, 2023.

The highest-ranked U.S. public schools on this year’s Best High Schools list are those whose students achieved exceptional scores on state assessments for math, reading, and science, U.S. News officials said in a news release.

These schools also had strong underserved student performance, college readiness and curriculum breadth, and high graduation rates — an important indicator of how well a school serves its students. The list numerically ranks high schools nationally and within each state based on six areas: College readiness (30%); State assessment proficiency (20%); State assessment performance (20%); Underserved student performance (10%); College curriculum breadth (10%); and Graduation rate (10%).

Also making an appearance on the 2024 Best High Schools list among El Paso public schools were Hanks High School (No. 23), Parkland High School (No. 29), Riverside High School (No. 30) and Ysleta High School (No. 35).

For more information on the rankings, visit https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/rankings-overview

María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com, @EPTMaria on Twitter; eptmariacg on TikTok.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Valle Verde Early College High tops El Paso rankings