Best Public Schools in Zip Code 77085

The seven schools in Houston's 77085 zip code serve elementary and middle school students exclusively, with no high schools present, and are managed by three districts: Houston Independent School District (Isd), KIPP Texas Public Schools, and Accelerated Intermediate Academy. The area is characterized by high economic disadvantage, with an average free/reduced lunch rate of 93.8% across all schools.

The standout performer is Accelerated Intermediate Charter School, a tiny middle school with only 21 students that earned a 5-star rating and ranks in the 95th percentile among Texas middle schools, with 90% proficiency in Mathematics versus the state average of 44.81%. Its sister school, Accelerated Interdisciplinary Academy, also performs well despite small enrollment. Among Houston ISD elementary schools, Hines-Caldwell is a strong and improving performer, climbing from the 53rd to the 78th percentile and earning a 4-star rating, while Windsor Village Elementary also achieves 4-star status. In contrast, Fondren Elementary is the lowest-performing school, with a 2-star rating and only 7.14% of 5th graders proficient in Science. The two KIPP Texas Public Schools show a mixed picture: KIPP Mosaic Academy School (middle) performs solidly, but KIPP Mosaic Pri (elementary) ranks in the bottom 10th percentile.

Key takeaways include that small schools like those in the Accelerated Intermediate Academy district can overcome high poverty through individualized learning, while Science proficiency is a universal weakness across nearly all schools. There is no clear correlation between spending and performance, as the highest-spending school, Fondren Elementary ($11,960/student), is the lowest-performing. Additionally, bilingual instruction appears to be a strength at Hines-Caldwell and Windsor Village, where students taking the STAAR test in Spanish often outperform both state averages for Spanish test-takers and English test-takers at their own schools.