Houston ISD School Rankings 2015
Approximately 10% of Houston ISD's (HISD) population participated in the magnet school lottery for the 2015 - 2016 school year. 20,086 students submitted 68,830 applications during the first, primary round of HISD's annual magnet school admissions process. Representing an increase of over 13% from the previous year, HISD's magnet schools are more enticing than ever before. For perspective, HISD's total enrollment of 215,157 for 2014 - 2015 represented just 1.7% growth from the year before.

This analysis is for a previous year; for information on the 2016-2017 lottery, click here.

This section explains the results of Houston ISD's magnet lottery for the 2015 - 2016 academic year.

If you are unsure what this lottery is even all about, click here to learn about the process.

Most Competitive Magnets

Qualified applicants had about a 22% change of admission to HISD's most competitive schools.

Most Popular Magnets

An average of 2,250 students applied to HISD's most popular magnet schools.

Most Coveted Magnets

About 90% of admitted students accepted their offers at HISD's most coveted schools.

Highest Achieving

Nearly 22% of students aced the STAAR tests at HISD's highest achieving schools.

General Findings

14% Growth in Participating Students
20,086 students participated in the 2015 - 2016 lottery versus 17,674 in the previous year.

44% Growth in Applications
These 20,086 students applied to an average of 3.43 schools each yielding a total of 68,830 applications versus last year's 2.7 applications per student.

60% More Demand than Available Seats
Only 12,532 seats were available to the 20,086 students participating in the lottery. However, only 5,646 seats were more desirable than average.

6 New Options in 2015
For the 2014-15 academic year, there were 102 campuses including 55 elementary, 25 middle, and 30 high school program options; the number of programs exceeds the number of campuses since campuses sometimes include multiple programs (i.e. middle and high school or elementary and middle school).

3 Popular Schools Getting the Axe
Roberts, Horn, and Twain Elementary Schools have all but lost their magnet status. The extremely popular schools had no seats available for out-of-neighborhood magnet transfer students in this year's lottery. As a result of their crowding, they will almost certainly lose their magnet school status within the next 1 to 2 years.

Only 67% of Applications are Qualified
HISD schools discard nearly one-third of applications because they do not meet their minimum qualifications. The three main reasons for not meeting a school's qualifying criteria include a) residency, b) gifted and talented testing and c) special auditions or academic testing.

Nearly Half of Schools Undesirable
Out of 104 school options, 48 of them had below average yield rates, meaning that parents rejected offers when they were made.

Nineteen schools received half of all applications submitted; the top 61 schools received 90% of all applications.

Different Schools for Different Folks
There was no single, primary reason why families preferred to apply to the schools that they did.

There was a 50% correlation between a school's popularity and its waiting list, meaning that families wanted what they couldn't get.

There was a 47% correlation between application numbers and low-income demographics, meaning that many families were trying to get into schools in wealthier neighborhoods. 

Finally, there was only a 34% correlation between school popularity and STAAR test scores meaning that higher test scores weren't a particularly high motivator.

For our analysis on the 2014 - 2015 academic year, click here. Our data set is available for download here.
Article last updated on May 4, 2015.

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