Summary:
The Shepherd Independent School District (Isd) is served by a single high school, Shepherd High School, which enrolls 616 students in grades 9-12 and is located in a rural area with a high level of economic disadvantage, as 74.35% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
Shepherd High School stands out for its exceptional graduation rate of 96.5%, a remarkable achievement given that over three-quarters of its students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This suggests the school has strong support systems that help students persist to graduation, even when academic proficiency lags behind state averages. The school's strongest subject is U.S. History, where 66.67% of students are proficient—close to the state average of 70.17%—and this represents a significant improvement from the prior year. However, Algebra I remains a critical weakness, with only 24.41% of students proficient, which is less than half the state average of 54.03%. While the school has shown year-over-year improvement in all subjects, it still trails the state in every tested area, with gaps ranging from 3.5 points in U.S. History to 29.6 points in Algebra I.
Key metrics include a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13.5:1, which supports individualized attention, and a spending level of $12,786 per student. Despite these resources, the district ranks in the 11th percentile statewide (843 out of 951), indicating significant academic challenges. A notable nuance is the school's dropout rate of 1.9%, which is higher than the district average of 1.3%—since this is the only high school, it means the school's dropout rate is the primary driver of the district's figure. For parents, this means Shepherd High School excels at keeping students on track to graduate, but families should be aware that foundational subjects like math and reading require targeted support to close persistent gaps with state averages.
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