Best Public Schools in Zip Code 79765

The five schools in zip code 79765 of Odessa, Texas, serve students from Pre-K through 12th grade, split between the traditional Ector County Independent School District (Isd) and the charter networks of Idea Public Schools and Compass Academy Charter School, with no traditional public high school located within the zip code.

The standout performer is Compass Academy Charter School, an alternative K-12 school with a remarkable 97.5% graduation rate and a 0% dropout rate. It significantly outperforms state averages on high school End of Course exams, particularly in Biology (89.22% vs. 70.51%) and English II (66.96% vs. 59.88%). However, its elementary and middle school scores are mixed, often falling below state averages. In contrast, Idea Yukon College Preparatory (middle school) has earned a 4-star rating for two consecutive years, placing it in the top 27% of Texas middle schools, with exceptional 7th-grade Math (66.1% proficient) and 8th-grade Reading (70.59% proficient) scores. The two Ector County ISD elementary schools, Lee Buice Elementary and Barbara Jordan Elementary, show inconsistent performance, with Barbara Jordan posting a strong 5th-grade Reading score (61.02%) but very low 3rd-grade scores in Reading (29.63%) and Math (21.95%).

A key takeaway is the clear performance gap between charter and traditional public schools, with charter schools consistently outperforming in Reading and Math. Notably, Barbara Jordan Elementary has a highly effective bilingual program, with 4th-grade students taking the Math STAAR test in Spanish achieving a 66.67% proficiency rate—more than double the district and state averages. Compass Academy achieves its high school success with significantly less funding per student ($6,414) compared to the Ector County ISD elementary schools ($8,165 and $8,545), and serves a student population with a very low percentage of economically disadvantaged students (2.63% free/reduced lunch). The absence of a traditional public high school means students from Lee Buice and Barbara Jordan must either leave the zip code or transition to a charter school like Compass Academy.