A new ranking from U.S. News & World Report says Houston is home to the best charter middle school in Texas, and two of the top 10 charter elementary schools in the state.

Cornerstone Academy, an in-district charter in Spring Branch ISD, was ranked No. 1 in the state in the gorup’s 2026 ranking of charter middle schools. It also ranked highly among the state’s best public middle schools, earning the fourth spot in the region after two Houston ISD campuses and one in Stafford MSD. It’s the second time Spring Branch ISD has topped the U.S. News list for charter schools. In August, Westchester Academy, a charter high school also in Spring Branch, was named one of the top 100 charter schools in the U.S.

NEWS: See how Houston-area middle and elementary schools were ranked by U.S. News

Four more local middle schools made the state’s top 10 list for charters. Houston Gateway Academy schools had three of the top 10 in the state. Its Coral Campus ranked as the second best charter middle school in Texas while its main campus and Elite College Prep campus rounded out the list. Harmony School of Excellence in Sugar Land was also featured on the top 10 list for Texas charter middle schools.

Among charter elementary schools, Houston was not as strong. Two charter elementary schools made the state’s top 10 list. Harmony Science Academy in Sugar Land was ranked at No. 7, and Houston Gateway Academy Inc. Elite College Prep – also a top-rated middle school – came in at No. 8. The school serves grades K-12, so it was included in multiple categories.

ALSO READ: U.S. News ranks high schools in Texas. Here are the top Houston-area campuses.

U.S. News & World Report has a directory of all public and private schools, however the group does not assign a ranking to all schools on the list. In the Houston area, 55 charter elementary schools and 65 charter middle schools were ranked on a state level.

While charter schools are also included in the main rankings of area schools, U.S. News & World Report publishes a separate directory just for charter schools to compare alternative educational options across the U.S.

See if your charter school cracked the best in Texas lists.

RELATED: Here are Houston ISD’s top elementary and middle schools for 2026, according to a new ranking

Best charter elementary schools

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Best charter middle schools

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Methodology

The annual rankings look at public schools across the country based student scores in math and reading on state exams, like the STAAR test in Texas. Then, the data analysts adjust half the overall score to account for socioeconomic factors, according to the website. In the case of a tie, student-teacher ratios are used to determind the overall score.

This year, the guide includes over 105,000 public schools nationwide, according to the site’s methodology, but only about 88,000 rankings were assigned to public elementary, middle and high schools.

This article originally published at Houston is home to the best charter middle school in Texas, U.S. News says.