Head of the Class

Dallas high school ranks among 10 best in nation — and No. 1 in Texas

These Texas high schools get an A-plus.

iStock

Dallas' School for the Talented and Gifted is no stranger to accolades, and now it can add one more to its trophy shelf. U.S. News & World Report recently named it not only the No. 1 high school in Texas, but the fourth-best in the nation.

And with four more Texas schools joining it at the top, it's in good company. The School of Science and Engineering in Dallas places third in Texas and No. 9 in the country, while Houston's Carnegie Vanguard High School (No. 2 in Texas, No. 8 in the U.S.) and DeBakey High School for Health Professions (fourth in Texas and No. 18 nationally) also earn high marks. Austin's Liberal Arts and Science Academy squeezes into the national list at No. 28, and gets a solid fifth in the Lone Star State.

All told, 589 Texas schools are in the 2017 list, which ranked 2,609 schools total.

Four factors went into the news site's rankings. The first is that the students must perform better on proficiency tests than expected in their state, and the second is that disadvantaged students (black, Hispanic, and low-income, according to the study) also exceed their state's averages in math and reading proficiency.

Then the graduation rates must have met or exceeded national standards, with schools possessing a rate of lower than 75 percent being excluded. That's actually a higher threshold than federal law requires — 67 percent — for a school to receive extra resources from its state.

The last step calculated the College Readiness index, which is based on a school's AP participation rate and how well its students did on those tests. If one or more schools received the same CRI score, unspecified tiebreakers were used to determine rankings.

If you're really after the best education in America, then it seems you should move to Arizona. The Grand Canyon State swept the top 10 with five of the highest rankings, including overall No. 1 high school, BASIS Scottsdale.

bests education rankings

Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

politics