Summary:
The seven public schools in Houston's 77045 zip code, all part of the Houston Independent School District (Isd), serve a predominantly elementary-aged population with five elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, all facing significant socioeconomic challenges as indicated by an average of nearly 95% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.
The standout story is Grissom Elementary, which made a dramatic 37-percentile-point leap from a 1-star to a 3-star school, now ranking as the highest-performing school in the zip code at the 55th percentile. In contrast, Lawson Middle presents a paradox: while it ranks lowest overall (32nd percentile) and struggles with core subjects like 7th-grade Math (8% proficient), its advanced Algebra I students achieve an 80% proficiency rate, far exceeding district and state averages. Madison High School has a graduation rate of 78.2% and a dropout rate of 5.8%, both worse than the district average. Among elementary schools, Montgomery Elementary (39th percentile) and Petersen Elementary (38th percentile) perform similarly, while Hobby Elementary (24th percentile) and King Early Childhood Center (serving only Pre-K and Kindergarten) rank lower.
A critical weakness across the zip code is a "5th Grade Wall" in science, where proficiency rates at all four elementary schools with data range from just 7.46% at Grissom to 20.37% at Hobby, well below the state average of 29.57%. Notably, higher spending does not guarantee better results: Petersen Elementary spends $10,997 per student but ranks lower than Grissom Elementary, which spends only $9,569. The data consistently shows that schools with the highest poverty rates, like Hobby (97% economically disadvantaged), struggle to meet state averages, with its 3rd-grade Math proficiency (19%) being less than half the state average (44%).
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