1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at HIGHTOWER EL right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
448
Elementary
DISTRICT 438 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PLANO ISD·NCES 483510007836
Hightower Elementary School
2601 DECATUR DR, PLANO, TX 75093 · (469) 752-1800 · Collin County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL448 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 88% 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.
- A-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C-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
14.0:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
21%
94 students
DISTRICT 39% · 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 | 17 | 4% |
| Kindergarten | 56 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 58 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 76 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 80 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (56) is 30% smaller than its 5th grade class (80).
Student demographics
75%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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Hightower Elementary School→Frankford Middle School→Shepton High School→Plano West Senior High School
Based on published attendance-zone data from PLANO ISD. Zones change; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
78.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +9.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
73.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +11.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 78 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 73 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 9 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 11 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 52.0% | 26.0% | 11.0% | 11.0% |
| Mathematics | 42.0% | 31.0% | 16.0% | 11.0% |
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 | 78.0% | 73.0% |
| 2024-25 | 86.0% | 80.0% |
| 2023-24 | 81.0% | 77.0% |
| 2022-23 | 75.0% | 83.0% |
| 2021-22 | 84.0% | 82.0% |
| 2020-21 | 69.0% | 62.0% |
% 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
74.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
64.7%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 75% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 65% 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 Hightower Elementary School
Hightower Elementary School's state test result (74.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hightower Elementary School this school | 448 | 21.0% | 74.5% |
| Sunnyvale Elementary School SUNNYVALE | 503 | 22.9% | N/A |
| Sunnyvale Intermediate School SUNNYVALE | 509 | 21.8% | 65.0% |
| Aldridge Elementary School RICHARDSON | 462 | 22.3% | 53.9% |
| Flossie Floyd Green Elementary School ALLEN | 553 | 22.2% | 62.4% |
| Coppell Classical Academy COPPELL | 432 | 21.8% | 58.4% |
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 Hightower Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Collin County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 74.5% | #205 of 4,401 | #36 of 164 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 73.0% | #332 of 4,466 ▼ 182 | #42 of 165 ▼ 19 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 78.0% | #354 of 4,466 ▼ 247 | #48 of 165 ▼ 35 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -3.5pp | #815 of 3,998 | #36 of 154 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 448 | #3,037 of 4,938 | #132 of 181 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.0:1 | #1,519 of 4,622 | #84 of 177 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 75.2% | #105 of 4,628 | #20 of 177 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 21.0% | #4,414 of 4,789 | #97 of 177 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.8% | #1,110 of 2,838 | #36 of 94 |
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
448
-36 (-7%) vs 2020
-26% since 2000-01, when it was 608
Student : Teacher
14.0:1
was 12.7:1
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 | 448 | 32 | 14.0:1 | 21% (94) |
| 2023-24 | 431 | 34.6 | 12.4:1 | 25% (106) |
| 2022-23 | 477 | 36.7 | 13.0:1 | 22% (105) |
| 2020-21 | 484 | 38 | 12.7:1 | 21% (104) |
| 2017-18 | 566 | 40 | 14.2:1 | 16% (88) |
| 2015-16 | 552 | 41 | 13.5:1 | 14% (80) |
| 2010-11 | 498 | 37 | 13.5:1 | 10% (50) |
| 2000-01 | 608 | 42 | 14.5:1 | 3% (19) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Hightower Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (566 to 448); teachers down 20% (40 to 32).
About Hightower Elementary School
Hightower Elementary School, located in PLANO, Texas, is a mid-sized elementary school. It had 448 students in 2024-25, spanning pre-K through 5.
PLANO ISD enrolls 46,612 students, and its 73 schools include Hightower Elementary School.
At Hightower Elementary School, White students make up the biggest share, 38%. Enrollment also includes 22% Asian, 17% Hispanic, 13% Black, and 10% multiracial. Among people living in Collin County, the White share is about 54%. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 75, compared with 70 nationally.
The school had 32 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 14.0:1. Across elementary schools in Texas, the average ratio is 15.1:1. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 21%. The average for public schools in Collin County is 30%.
Hightower Elementary School earns an A on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 88% of Texas public elementary schools.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Hightower Elementary School falls in the middle 80% of Texas schools: 74.5% actual against 64.7% predicted.
Collin County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $121,600 a year, roughly 56% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Hightower Elementary School shares Collin County with 337 other public schools.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Beaty Early Childhood School, is about 0.8 miles. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Hightower Elementary School places 1st out of 8 schools in its immediate area.
Locale data from NCES put Hightower Elementary School inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more (City: Large).
Federal enrollment counts fell from 484 (2020-21) to 448 (2024-25). Federal data show the ratio rising from 12.7:1 to 14.0:1.
This page is set up for the Hightower Elementary School community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Collin County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,163,337
Census ACS
Median income
$121,600
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
56%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
338
227,575 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in PLANO ISD
- Plano East Sr High SchoolHigh · 3,033 students
- Plano West Senior High SchoolHigh · 2,559 students
- Plano Sr High SchoolHigh · 2,267 students
- Shepton High SchoolHigh · 1,360 students
- Jasper High SchoolHigh · 1,301 students
- Renner Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,137 students
Other schools in PLANO
- Plano East Sr High SchoolHigh · 3,033 students
- Plano West Senior High SchoolHigh · 2,559 students
- Plano Sr High SchoolHigh · 2,267 students
- Shepton High SchoolHigh · 1,360 students
- Jasper High SchoolHigh · 1,301 students
- Renner Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,137 students
Other Hightower Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Hightower Elementary. Hightower Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Hightower Elementary SchoolDoraville, GA · 604 students
Nearby schools
- Beaty Early Childhood School0.8 mi · 281
- Centennial Elementary School0.9 mi · 462
- Daffron Elementary School1.1 mi · 604
- Saigling Elementary School1.3 mi · 309
- Wells Elementary School1.6 mi · 463
- Harmony Science Academy - Plano1.7 mi · 627
Frequently asked questions
About Hightower Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Hightower Elementary School?
Hightower Elementary School enrolls approximately 448 students in grades PK-05.
Is Hightower Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Hightower Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Hightower Elementary School?
Approximately 14.0:1 students per teacher at Hightower Elementary School.
How diverse is Hightower Elementary School?
Hightower Elementary School reports a student body of 38% White, 17% Hispanic, 13% Black, 22% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Is Hightower Elementary School public or private?
Hightower Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by PLANO ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.