Founded in 1959, S. P. Waltrip High School is a public, magnet school named after Steven Pool Waltrip, who was Houston’s superintendent of schools in 1910. The school served newly-developed post-World War II subdivisions and relieved Reagan High School of many students. Waltrip’s boundaries joined those of Reagan, Scarborough, WilliamsRead More

A private middle school for grades 4 – 8, Trafton Academy was founded in 1973. The school’s philosophy states that low student-teacher ratios work best; therefore, their class sizes do not exceed 20 students. Trafton boasts that it “establishes an atmosphere in which students develop abilities to think originally andRead More

River Oaks Elementary (ROE), an HISD Vanguard magnet and neighborhood school, first opened its doors in 1929 with support from Ima Hogg, Agnese Carter, and Pat Houston. Following a decline in enrollment after court ordered integration of HISD schools, ROE became a magnet-only school in 1986. The neighborhood program wasRead More

The Regis School of the Sacred Heart was founded in 1991 after approval by Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza. Three Catholic families associated with Regis’ sister school, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, formed a corporation in the fall of 1990 called The Catholic Elementary School for Boys. After approval, thisRead More

The HISD Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School (MCLIMS) opened in August 2012, initially serving pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade. Thanks to an HISD bond passed in November 2012, the school will gradually expand to serve kindergarten through 8th grade. It is the first fully immersive Mandarin language magnet program inRead More

In 1973, George and Judy Tenney founded The Tenney School, which uses a one-to-one teaching method. Each student meets with one teacher for each of the following core subjects: Math, Science, English and Social Studies. The Tenneys believe that this one on one format “allows each student to achieve hisRead More

The Joy School (TJS) was founded in 1997 by a team of educators, clinicians, and parents with the goal of meeting the needs of students with learning differences. The founders include parents of a special needs child, an optometrist who spent 40 years researching children with learning differences, and aRead More

The Fay School (TFS) is a private elementary school founded in 1991 by Marie Fay Evnochides in her home along Houston’s Buffalo Bayou.  In its first year, the school worked with early childhood students and added a grade level each year after, culminating in the fifth grade.  The school boastsRead More

The Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Houston, Mother Pauline Gannon, founded St. Agnes Academy in 1905 and welcomed its first students in 1906.  Originally located in modern Midtown Houston, the school relocated to its current location in Sharpstown in 1963.  St. Agnes originally provided 12 years of education andRead More

A Spring Branch ISD application-based charter school, Westchester Academy for International Studies originally opened in 1967 as Westchester High School to accommodate a surge in enrollment for Memorial High School.  Westchester opened with eighteen hundred students and grew to four thousand in seven years, prompting the opening of Stratford HighRead More

James Moody and Marcene Adams founded Northwest Academy in 1970 for families in northwest Houston.  By 1980, Northwest Academy became a ministry of Houston’s First Baptist Church (HFBC) to further meet the “spiritual and educational needs of its students.”  In 1998, HFBC and other local churches established Houston Christian HighRead More

The Emery/Weiner School is an independent, college-preparatory, co-educational day school for students in grades six through twelve.  Founded in 1978, The I. Weiner Jewish Secondary School began with a student population of fewer than 20 students.  In 2001, the school expanded its scope with the establishment of Emery High School.  With the integration ofRead More

Robert M. Beren Academy is the only Jewish day school in Houston to serve students in preschool to 12th grade. It was originally founded in 1969 as The South Texas Hebrew Academy at the corner of South Braeswood and Chimney Rock.  In 1998, the school’s name was changed to RobertRead More

Founded in 1969 by Bob and Maxine Moore, Chinquapin Preparatory School is an independent college preparatory school serving disadvantaged youth, particularly minorities, in grades six through twelve. Bob Moore, former head of the English Department at St. John’s School, wanted to “provide incentive for students who have high potential, butRead More

Corpus Christi Catholic School (CCCS) was founded in 1959 with support from the local Catholic community and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students. In 1990, the school received the prestigious Blue Ribbon School Award from the US Department of Education. This award identifies schoolsRead More

Cornerstone Academy (CSA) is a Title I charter school in Spring Branch ISD serving grades 6-8. CSA was first imagined in 1997 during a meeting of the SBISD Board of Trustees, who then approved a steering committee to create a school that “embodied choice, commitment, community, and collaboration” while relievingRead More