Best Public Schools in Denton, TX

The city of Denton, Texas, is home to 28 schools, primarily within the Denton Independent School District (Isd), serving students from Pre-K through 12th grade, with a mix of traditional elementary, middle, and high schools alongside alternative and charter campuses.

Performance across Denton schools varies dramatically. Guyer High School is the clear standout, earning a 4-star rating and ranking in the top 17% of Texas high schools, far outperforming Denton High School and Ryan High School, which rank near the middle of the pack. At the elementary level, Nette Shultz, McNair Elementary, and Ryan Elementary consistently earn 4-star ratings, while Rivera Elementary and Hodge Elementary are among the lowest-performing in the state. A critical weakness is middle school math, where proficiency rates at Strickland Middle, Calhoun Middle, and McMath Middle are drastically below state averages. The two charter schools, Denton Classical Academy and North Texas Collegiate Academy-North Campus, show mixed and fluctuating performance.

Overall, the district's average ranking masks a deep divide between high-performing, lower-poverty schools and struggling, high-poverty campuses. For example, Ginnings Elementary and Alice Moore Alexander face significant challenges. The data also reveals that per-student spending does not directly correlate with success, as Borman Elementary spends more per student than McNair Elementary but ranks much lower. Alternative schools like Lester Davis and Denton County J J A E P have very high per-student costs due to their specialized, low student-to-teacher ratio programs for students with significant needs.