Summary:
The Highland Park Independent School District (ISD) in Amarillo, TX, contains a single high school, Highland Park High School, which serves grades 9 through 12 with a small enrollment of 213 students. This school stands out for its strong performance in science and history, but also reveals a notable weakness in math, creating a clear academic dichotomy for parents to consider.
Highland Park High School excels in Biology and U.S. History, with proficiency rates of 88.64% and 85.11% respectively, significantly outpacing state averages by over 14 percentage points. However, it is the only subject where the school falls below the state average: Algebra I, where just 51.11% of students are proficient compared to the state's 54.03%. The school also boasts a very low student-teacher ratio of 9.5:1 and per-student spending of $14,077, indicating substantial resource investment. Despite these resources, the school's state ranking is volatile, jumping from 530th to 299th and then settling at 466th over recent years, though it consistently earns a 4-star rating. The graduation rate is solid at 89.8%, but the dropout rate of 2.2% is 57% higher than the district average, a red flag that suggests a small but significant group of students may need additional support.
For parents, the key takeaway is that Highland Park High School offers a personalized learning environment with strong outcomes in specific subjects, but struggles with math proficiency and retaining all students through graduation. The school's small size means year-to-year performance can fluctuate dramatically based on a single cohort, so parents should look beyond the ranking to the specific academic strengths and weaknesses. The high spending and low class sizes are positive indicators, but the mixed results in Algebra I and the elevated dropout rate suggest that families should inquire about math support programs and dropout prevention initiatives to ensure their child's success.
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