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What's the biggest difference between HIGHLANDS EL and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
541
Elementary
DISTRICT 638 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FORT BEND ISD·NCES 481965006255
Highlands Elementary School
2022 COLONIST PARK DR, SUGAR LAND, TX 77478 · (281) 634-4160 · Fort Bend County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL541 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 85% of Texas public elementary schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- B+Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Texas public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.4:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
224 students
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 65%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 41 | 8% |
| Kindergarten | 75 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 83 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 90 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 78 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 90 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (75) is 17% smaller than its 5th grade class (90).
Student demographics
77%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 63% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
75.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +11.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
72.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +5.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 75 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 72 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 11 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 5 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 46.0% | 29.0% | 16.0% | 9.0% |
| Mathematics | 44.0% | 28.0% | 16.0% | 12.0% |
Share of tested students at each STAAR level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
STAAR results by year
| School year | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 75.0% | 72.0% |
| 2024-25 | 65.0% | 65.0% |
| 2023-24 | 69.0% | 63.0% |
| 2022-23 | 58.0% | 64.0% |
| 2021-22 | 71.0% | 56.0% |
| 2020-21 | 64.0% | 67.0% |
% Meets Grade Level or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: STAAR. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
60.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.0%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 61% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Texas's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Highlands Elementary School
Highlands Elementary School's state test result (60.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands Elementary School this school | 541 | 41.4% | 60.8% |
| Colony Bend Elementary School SUGAR LAND | 526 | 41.3% | 59.5% |
| Briarmeadow Charter HOUSTON | 591 | 42.8% | 72.6% |
| Sunset Valley Elementary School FORT WORTH | 592 | 42.7% | 48.9% |
| STEM Academy at Polser Elementary School CARROLLTON | 506 | 34.2% | 60.0% |
| Hickey Elementary School PLANO | 497 | 36.6% | 56.6% |
Matched among Texas elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Highlands Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Fort Bend County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 60.8% | #723 of 4,401 | #52 of 113 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 72.0% | #347 of 4,466 ▲ 249 | #31 of 113 ▲ 14 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 75.0% | #472 of 4,466 ▲ 561 | #40 of 113 ▲ 27 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +12.5pp | #1,120 of 3,998 | #17 of 104 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 541 | #2,122 of 4,938 | #85 of 119 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.6:1 | #1,190 of 4,622 | #35 of 116 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 76.8% | #36 of 4,628 | #5 of 116 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.4% | #3,895 of 4,789 | #66 of 117 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.8% | #1,608 of 2,838 | #38 of 61 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
541
-29 (-5%) vs 2020
-41% since 1990-91, when it was 915
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
was 13.6:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 541 | 39.9 | 13.6:1 | 41% (224) |
| 2023-24 | 610 | 39.9 | 15.3:1 | 41% (253) |
| 2022-23 | 588 | 41.4 | 14.2:1 | 43% (251) |
| 2020-21 | 570 | 42 | 13.6:1 | 36% (205) |
| 2017-18 | 635 | 37.1 | 17.1:1 | 25% (158) |
| 2015-16 | 611 | 38 | 16.1:1 | 18% (112) |
| 2010-11 | 577 | 36 | 16.0:1 | 18% (101) |
| 2000-01 | 718 | 44 | 16.3:1 | 6% (44) |
| 1990-91 | 915 | 40 | 22.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highlands Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (635 to 541); teachers up 7% (37.1 to 39.9).
About Highlands Elementary School
Highlands Elementary School runs as a mid-sized elementary school in SUGAR LAND, Texas. Its grade span covers pre-K through 5, with 541 students on the rolls.
FORT BEND ISD has 83 schools and 79,663 students, and Highlands Elementary School is one of those schools.
About 29% of students at Highlands Elementary School are Asian, the largest single group. Other reported shares: 25% Hispanic, 24% White, 16% Black, and 6% multiracial. A diversity index of 77% means there is a 77% chance two randomly chosen students at Highlands Elementary School are from different groups.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 13.6:1. The school has 39.9 full-time-equivalent teachers. The school's 13.6:1 compares with an average of 15.1:1 for elementary schools in Texas. Federal data show 41% of students (224) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is in line with the 42% average for public schools in Fort Bend County.
Among Texas public elementary schools, Highlands Elementary School outscored 85%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
Highlands Elementary School is 4.8 points above its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results (60.8% versus 56.0%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Texas.
In the surrounding county, Fort Bend County, the median household earns about $114,041 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 50%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Fort Bend County has 217 public schools with about 191,372 students, including Highlands Elementary School.
Colony Bend Elementary School is the nearest public school to Highlands Elementary School, about 1.2 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Highlands Elementary School is ahead of the 60.1% nearby average, ranking 6th of 9.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Mid-size, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 541, from 570 in 2020-21.
This page is set up for the Highlands Elementary School community to discuss open houses, carpools, and field trips. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Fort Bend County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
893,767
Census ACS
Median income
$114,041
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
50%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
217
191,372 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in FORT BEND ISD
- William B Travis High SchoolHigh · 3,114 students
- Lawrence E Elkins High SchoolHigh · 2,848 students
- Ridge Point High SchoolHigh · 2,816 students
- Stephen F Austin High SchoolHigh · 2,655 students
- Clements High SchoolHigh · 2,641 students
- George Bush High SchoolHigh · 2,428 students
Other schools in SUGAR LAND
- Stephen F Austin High SchoolHigh · 2,655 students
- Clements High SchoolHigh · 2,641 students
- Dulles High SchoolHigh · 2,165 students
- Kempner High SchoolHigh · 1,850 students
- Fort Settlement Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,504 students
- Harmony School of Excellence - Sugar LandElementary · 1,471 students
Other Highlands Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 13 states are named Highlands Elementary. Highlands Elementary School is the 8th largest of the 25.
- Highlands Elementary SchoolHIGHLANDS, TX · 868 students
- Highlands Elementary SchoolCEDAR HILL, TX · 419 students
- Highlands ElementarySaugus, CA · 666 students
- HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLIMMOKALEE, FL · 599 students
- Highlands Elementary SchoolLa Grange Highlands, IL · 565 students
Nearby schools
- Colony Bend Elementary School1.2 mi · 526
- Lexington Creek Elementary School1.5 mi · 506
- Settlers Way Elementary School1.5 mi · 698
- First Colony Middle School1.6 mi · 1,270
- Dulles Elementary School1.7 mi · 675
- Dulles High School1.9 mi · 2,165
Frequently asked questions
About Highlands Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Highlands Elementary School?
Highlands Elementary School enrolls approximately 541 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Highlands Elementary School serve?
Highlands Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Highlands Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Highlands Elementary School is approximately 13.6:1 (40 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Highlands Elementary School?
Student demographics at Highlands Elementary School are roughly 24% White, 25% Hispanic, 16% Black, 29% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Highlands Elementary School in?
Highlands Elementary School is part of FORT BEND ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.