South+Texas+High+School+for+Health+Professions+Mercedes,+Texas

Status: NOT a miracle school Main Reason(s): Low representation of Special Ed and LEP. Is also a magnet school so selective enrollment.

Texas seems to be a haven for "miracle schools" with two of the six Texas schools contained in the only Independent School District (ISD) in Texas made up of only Magnet Schools. As most readers are aware, Magnet Schools are nearly always high performing schools drawing their small populations from much larger groups of students. For example, this [|South Texas Independent School District] draws students from three counties and 28 school districts. The South Texas Academy of Medical Professions, while having a higher graduation rate than the Academy of Medical Technology, shares a couple of key characteristics with other schools in this unusual district. Located along the Rio Grande only miles from the border with Mexico, both schools have very small percentages of "limited English proficient" (LEP) students and students qualifying for special education services. Again, there is a clear sense that the schools are attracting and maintaining a less than representative population of students than would be found at non-selective local schools. All of the Texas schools on the list are schools of choice, meaning that students have to apply to these schools, and meet all requirements, in order to be enrolled. It is puzzling why some are even on the list, since they don't seem to even be complete schools yet. For example, a cohort dropout rate (a cohort dropout rate is basically determined by dividing the totally number of students in the ninth grade by the number of students who fail to graduate with that class four years later) of zero for a high school would be a wonderful statistic, unless, as is the case of Harmony Science Academy of North Austin, it is based on the fact that there is no graduation class, since it had no 11th or 12th grade when Newsweek highlighted the school! Like many schools of choice, this school also had a lower percent of low-income students than comparable local schools.

Number 2 on the Newsweek list http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/21/ten-miracle-high-schools/south-texas-high-school-for-health-professions-mercedes-texas.html LEP 0.6% Special Ed Graduates 0 Economically Disadvantaged 64% Went from 206 9th graders in 2007 (includes people left back) to 165 graduates in 2010.
 * 1) 2 on list South Texas High School For Health Professions (Magnet School)