Summary:
Zip code 77016 in Houston, Texas, is served by three schools within the Houston Independent School District (Isd): Shadydale Elementary, Forest Brook Middle, and Cook Junior Elementary, serving a total of 1,575 students from elementary through middle school in a high-need area where nearly 98% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Forest Brook Middle stands out for a remarkable achievement in advanced math: its Algebra I End-of-Course exam proficiency rate of 83.08% far exceeds both the district (57.63%) and state (54.03%) averages, even though its general math scores for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades lag behind state averages. This suggests a highly effective advanced math program for select students. In contrast, Cook Junior Elementary shows a bright spot in bilingual education, with 3rd-grade students taking the STAAR Math test in Spanish achieving a 68.18% proficiency rate—more than double the state average. However, Cook also has the lowest overall ranking in the area (24th percentile) and struggles significantly in 5th-grade Science, where only 10.94% of students are proficient.
Spending per student varies notably, with Cook Junior Elementary spending the most at $11,524 yet showing the lowest performance, while Shadydale Elementary and Forest Brook Middle spend about $1,500 less per student but achieve higher rankings. Despite the challenges of serving a high-poverty population, both Forest Brook Middle and Cook Junior Elementary show upward trends in their state percentile rankings over the past two years, indicating incremental progress. Student-teacher ratios are relatively low across all schools, ranging from 13.2:1 at Forest Brook to 15.2:1 at Cook, which may support more individualized attention.
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