CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S

CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S, a tight-knit high school in HOUSTON, Texas, part of HOUSTON ISD, serves 485 students, covering grades 9 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 39% leaner than the state mean of about 796.

Within HOUSTON ISD, which oversees 273 schools and 176,727 students, CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S is one campus in the system.

On demographics, CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S shows that nearly all students (80%) are Hispanic. Other groups include 9% Black, 6% White, 5% Asian. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 44%.

Looking at school resources, On paper, CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S has 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 19.1:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 15.1:1 average. About 81% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Harris County (around 70%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 38.3%; this one delivers 88.3%, a residual of +49.9 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Harris County) shows that median household income runs about $74,983, roughly 34% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 13%. In all, Harris County runs 1205 public schools (combined enrollment of about 886,911 students), of which CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S is one.

Nearest neighbor: PIN OAK MIDDLE, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts CHALLENGE EARLY COLLEGE H S at 1st of 7; the average score across the group is 57.8%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count increased 4%: 468 students in 2018 compared to 485 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share edged up from 73% to 80%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 24.6:1 in 2018 to 19.1:1 in 2025.

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