Best High Schools in Cleveland, TX

This analysis examines three high schools serving the Cleveland, Texas area, which includes two traditional comprehensive high schools and one alternative campus, serving grades 9 through 12 across two school districts.

For parents, the standout school in this area is Tarkington High School, which is the only school performing at or above state averages in key subjects like English II Reading and U.S. History. It boasts an exceptional 98.3% graduation rate and a 0.0% dropout rate, with a favorable student-teacher ratio of 15.2:1 and the lowest per-student spending ($12,778). In contrast, Cleveland High School, a much larger school with 3,627 students, faces significant challenges with academic proficiency rates consistently 20-30 percentage points below the state average, despite serving a student body where over 90% are economically disadvantaged. The most challenged campus is Frederick A Douglass Learning Academy, an alternative school that recorded 0% proficiency in Algebra I and English II Reading, and has the highest dropout rate (3.3%) despite spending a staggering $20,803 per student—the highest in the dataset.

Both Cleveland High and Douglass Academy are part of the Cleveland Independent School District (Isd), which ranks in the bottom 5% of all Texas districts, while Tarkington High belongs to the Tarkington Independent School District (Isd). A key takeaway is the dramatic year-over-year volatility in Algebra I proficiency, which jumped from 6.87% to 19.59% at Cleveland High and from 6.67% to 33.91% at Tarkington High, suggesting possible changes in curriculum or testing. Overall, Tarkington High School clearly outperforms its peers, while the Cleveland ISD schools demonstrate the immense challenges of educating a highly economically disadvantaged population, with high spending at Douglass Academy not translating into better outcomes.