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How has PSJA THOMAS JEFFERSON T-STEM EARLY COLLEGE H S changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
553
High
DISTRICT 1,150 · STATE 796
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD·NCES 483486012225
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School
714 E BUSINESS HWY 83, PHARR, TX 78577 · (956) 784-8525 · Hidalgo County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL553 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 94% of Texas public high schools
- ATest 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.
- 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
95%
528 students
DISTRICT 94% · STATE 65%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 118 | 21% |
| Grade 10 | 140 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 154 | 28% |
| Grade 12 | 141 | 25% |
Student demographics
4%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 2% · 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
80.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +23.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
77.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +39.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 80 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 77 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 23 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 39 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 20.0% | 60.0% | 11.0% | 9.0% |
| Mathematics | 35.0% | 42.0% | 13.0% | 10.0% |
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 | 80.0% | 77.0% |
| 2024-25 | 80.0% | 69.0% |
| 2023-24 | 78.0% | 73.0% |
| 2022-23 | 52.0% | 64.0% |
| 2021-22 | 50.0% | 42.0% |
| 2020-21 | 57.0% | 38.0% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of TX schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
74.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.9%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+41.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 75% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 33% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 42 points, placing it in Texas's top 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 Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School's state test result (74.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School this school | 553 | 95.5% | 74.5% |
| Thelma Rosa Salinas STEM Early College High School LA JOYA | 471 | 93.8% | 81.3% |
| Energized for STEM Academy High School HOUSTON | 520 | 96.3% | 69.2% |
| Iltexas Liberty High School CLEVELAND | 421 | 96.0% | 27.9% |
| Grulla High School RIO GRANDE CITY | 716 | 96.8% | 44.7% |
| IDEA College Preparatory Alamo ALAMO | 737 | 95.8% | 45.3% |
Matched among Texas high 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 Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Hidalgo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 74.5% | #159 of 1,385 | #9 of 56 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 77.0% | #78 of 1,425 ▲ 45 | #4 of 56 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 80.0% | #187 of 1,425 ▼ 28 | #9 of 56 ▼ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +20.5pp | #396 of 1,184 | #8 of 56 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 553 | #842 of 2,107 | #44 of 84 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #538 of 1,344 | #21 of 56 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 3.9% | #1,281 of 1,346 | #31 of 56 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 95.5% | #65 of 1,522 | #12 of 65 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -28.6% | #62 of 557 | #2 of 31 |
Ranked against other public high 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
553
-118 (-18%) vs 2020
+87% since 2010-11, when it was 295
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
was 16.0:1
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 | 553 | 40 | 13.8:1 | 95% (528) |
| 2023-24 | 524 | 43.3 | 12.1:1 | 99% (517) |
| 2022-23 | 539 | 42.6 | 12.6:1 | 97% (521) |
| 2020-21 | 671 | 42 | 16.0:1 | 93% (625) |
| 2017-18 | 775 | 40.5 | 19.2:1 | 84% (650) |
| 2015-16 | 608 | 36 | 16.9:1 | 75% (455) |
| 2010-11 | 295 | 21 | 14.1:1 | 0% (0) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 29% (775 to 553); teachers down 1% (40.5 to 40).
About Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is a public high school in PHARR, Texas. It has an enrollment of 553 students in grades 9 through 12. High schools in Texas average about 796 students, which makes this school 31% below average.
PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD has 29,749 students in 44 schools, and Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is one of those schools.
The share of students at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School who are Hispanic is 98%. The diversity index for Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is 4%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
There are about 13.8 students for every full-time-equivalent teacher at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School, which has 40. High schools in Texas average 15.1:1, 1.2 more students per teacher than here. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is about 95%. That is higher than the 85% average for public schools in Hidalgo County.
On the allk12 Grade, Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School lands at A, ahead of 94% of Texas public high schools.
On allk12's BeatsExpectations measure, Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is among the top 10% of schools in Texas. Predicted: 32.9%. Actual: 74.5%.
Census data for Hidalgo County show median household income comes to about $54,338, about 21% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 23%. The county has 364 public schools and about 212,859 students.
The closest school to Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is Elvis J Ballew High School, located about 0.3 miles away. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School. On proficiency, Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is ahead of the 45.3% nearby average, ranking 1st of 5.
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School falls in the City: Small locale category, used for schools inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
From 671 students in 2020-21, enrollment fell to 553 by 2024-25. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio dropped to 13.8:1, from 16.0:1.
On allk12, people connected to Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School can post about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Hidalgo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
891,977
Census ACS
Median income
$54,338
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
23%
Below federal line
Schools in county
364
212,859 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD
- Psja Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,300 students
- Psja North Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,166 students
- Psja Memorial Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,997 students
- Psja Southwest Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,588 students
- Lyndon B Johnson Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,006 students
- Austin Middle SchoolMiddle · 833 students
Other schools in PHARR
- Psja North Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,166 students
- Vanguard RembrandtCombined · 1,978 students
- Psja Southwest Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,588 students
- Vanguard Van GoghCombined · 1,048 students
- Lyndon B Johnson Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,006 students
- IDEA College Preparatory PharrHigh · 848 students
Nearby schools
- Elvis J Ballew High School0.3 mi · 136
- Vanguard Rembrandt0.4 mi · 1,978
- Buell Central DAEP0.5 mi · 117
- Kelly-Pharr Elementary School0.5 mi · 587
- Psja Early Start0.7 mi · 527
- Vanguard Picasso0.7 mi · 572
Frequently asked questions
About Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High SchoolHow many students attend Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School?
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School enrolls approximately 553 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School serve?
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many students per teacher at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School?
Approximately 13.8:1 students per teacher at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School.
What is the student diversity at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School?
Student demographics at Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School are roughly 1% White, 98% Hispanic, 0% Black, 0% Asian.
Is Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School public or private?
Psja Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.