Summary:
Hays has six schools: three elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one alternative school, with results that vary widely across the area. The most important finding for families is that Kathryn O’Loughlin McCarthy Elementary leads the group in all three tested subjects, while achievement at other schools is often much lower.
McCarthy is the clearest standout: 76% of students were proficient in ELA, 71% in math and 61% in science—30, 30 and 23 percentage points above state results, respectively. Hays Middle School also exceeded the state in all three subjects, by 4 points in ELA, 9 in math and 6 in science. At the lower end, Hays Virtual School recorded 15% proficiency in ELA and 0% in math, though its 36% in science was close to the state’s 38%. Hays High had the lowest science result, at 29%. The gap between the highest and lowest school results was 61 percentage points in ELA, 71 in math and 32 in science.
Recent results show different patterns depending on whether Virtual is included: its scores fell 32 points in ELA and 18 in math, while the five other schools’ averages slipped just 1 point in each subject. Meanwhile, Hays Middle gained 11 points in math, and McCarthy gained 10; science trends were mixed, from a 7-point gain at Hays Middle to a 7-point decline at McCarthy. SchoolDigger ranks McCarthy 29th of 657 schools (96th percentile) and Hays Middle 83rd of 368 (77th percentile), while Hays High fell from the 77th to the 42nd percentile. Elementary schools have similar reported enrollment, ratios of 14.1–14.7 students per teacher and free/reduced-lunch rates of 38%–41%, but their results differ considerably. These figures describe the schools but do not explain why their results differ.
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