Report card

2 prestigious Dallas high schools make the grade as best in Texas for 2021

St. Mark's School is ranked the top private high school in Texas.

Facebook/St. Mark's School of Texas

Two Dallas schools are at the top of their class among public and private high schools in Texas.

New rankings from education website Niche put Dallas ISD’s School for the Talented and Gifted at No. 1 among public high schools in the state and St. Mark’s School of Texas at No. 1 among private high schools in the state.

Niche ranks public high schools based on factors such as state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, and Niche user ratings.

Niche ranks private high schools based on factors like SAT/ACT scores, quality of colleges that students consider, student-teacher ratio, and Niche user ratings.

“Our 2022 rankings come at a time when so many parents are curious about the different options for their children’s education, including some they may never have considered before,” Luke Skurman, founder and CEO of Niche, says in a news release.

A few other local schools also ranked well.

Behind the School for the Talented and Gifted in the public high school category for Texas are:

Second-ranked Liberal Arts & Science Academy (Austin ISD).
Third-ranked School of Science and Engineering (Dallas ISD).
Fourth-ranked Westlake High School (Eanes ISD).
Fifth-ranked Carnegie Vanguard High School (Houston ISD).
Sixth-ranked DeBakey High School for Health Professions (Houston ISD).
Seventh-ranked Carroll Senior High School (Carroll ISD).
Eighth-ranked Westwood High School (Round Rock ISD).
Ninth-ranked Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Houston ISD).
10th-ranked Vandegrift High School (Leander ISD).

Behind St. Mark’s School Texas in the private high school category for Texas are:

Second-ranked St. John’s School in Houston.
Third-ranked Greenhill School in Addison.
Fourth-ranked The Hockaday School in Dallas.
Fifth-ranked St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin.
Sixth-ranked The John Cooper School in The Woodlands.
Seventh-ranked The Awty International School in Houston.
Eighth-ranked Keystone School in San Antonio.
Ninth-ranked Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving.
10th-ranked The Kincaid School in Houston.

As for the best school districts in Texas, the Austin area’s Eanes ISD grabs the top spot, but Dallas-Fort Worth dominates the rest of the top 10:

Second-ranked South Texas ISD in Mercedes.
Third-ranked Highland Park ISD in Dallas.
Fourth-ranked Carroll ISD in Southlake.
Fifth-ranked Coppell ISD in Coppell.
Sixth-ranked Lovejoy ISD in Allen.
Seventh-ranked Frisco ISD in Frisco.
Eighth-ranked Argyle ISD in Argyle.
Ninth-ranked Grapevine-Colleyville ISD in Grapevine.
10th-ranked Allen ISD in Allen.

education rankings

power play

Dallas Stars skate from downtown toward Plano with new arena plans

Dallas Stars Facebook

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The Dallas Stars are planning to move north, out of downtown and to the suburb of Plano in five years after the lease is up at the NHL team's current home arena.

Stars officials announced Tuesday, June 2 the signing of a nonbinding letter of intent to build a new hockey-specific arena and entertainment district about 20 miles north of the downtown American Airlines Center, which they have shared with the Dallas Mavericks since it opened in 2001.

The leases at the AAC for both teams expire in 2031. The two franchises have been in a legal dispute about their partnership agreement and management of the building.

The Stars made their intentions known a day after the Mavericks said they have a preliminary agreement on a site for their own new arena about 10 miles north of downtown, but still within the Dallas city limits. The NBA's team deal is for 104 acres on the former site of Valley View Mall, which was demolished three years ago.

A new arena for the Stars is expected to be part of a large-scale redevelopment project at The Shops at Willow Bend, where the last enclosed mall built in Texas is set for demolition.

The Stars submitted their letter of intent to the city of Plano, which placed it on the City Council agenda for consideration at its next meeting Monday. The letter includes plans for the mixed-used project as well as design and construction of the arena.

“This project would present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our franchise,” Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said in a statement. “We eagerly await the vote by the Plano City Council and look forward to continuing the conversation to be part of the redevelopment of The Shops at Willow Bend.”

That mall on about 90 acres opened in 2001, and there are open restaurants and parking garages in the area. The new arena would anchor the redevelopment that could include sports, entertainment, retail, dining and public gathering spaces.

The NHL franchise was known as the North Stars before moving south from Minnesota and beginning play in Dallas for the 1993-94 season. The Stars in 1999 became the first of hockey's Sun Belt teams to win a Stanley Cup title.

The Stars won that championship while still playing at Reunion Arena, a building they also shared with the Mavericks after first moving to Dallas. The site of that downtown arena, which was fully demolished in 2009, is about a mile from the AAC.

The NFL's Cowboys were in Dallas during the franchise's first 11 seasons at the city's Cotton Bowl (1960-70), but moved to Texas Stadium in Irving in 1971, the season of their first Super Bowl title. They have played since 2009 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Arlington is also home to the Texas Rangers, the franchise that began as the Washington Senators in 1961. The Rangers are in their third stadium in Arlington since moving there in 1972. Globe Life Field, their retractable-roof stadium adjacent to AT&T Stadium, opened in 2020.