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Students make their way to class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Students stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during the ribbon cutting ceremony at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Students make their way to class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Brittnee Love works with her students during her language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Brittnee Love works with her students during her language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Students work on writing a story in Brittnee Love\u2019s language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Zainab Jabak, left, works with her students in a \u201cSister Circle\u201d during a language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Zainab Jabak, left, works with her students in a \u201cSister Circle\u201d during a language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Students sits in a \u201cSister Circle\u201d during Zainab Jabak\u2019s language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Zainab Jabak, left, works with her students in a \u201cSister Circle\u201d during a language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n
Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Alief ISD has opened an all-girls college-preparatory school<\/a>,\u00a0expanding the southwest Houston district’s school-choice offerings as it confronts falling enrollment.<\/p>\n The Young Women\u2019s Leadership School opened Aug. 12 with 120 sixth- and seventh-grade students and will eventually serve grades six through 12, with a focus on STEM, college preparation and leadership. It is part of a network of Texas districts that partner with the nonprofit Young Women\u2019s Preparatory Network to operate all-girls, college-preparatory public schools, including Aldine and Houston ISDs.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: Superintendent Mike Miles says HISD\u2019s state takeover could end after 2026-27 school year<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Across the region, public school districts have been losing enrollment amid expanded school choice, demographic changes and other factors. At Alief, the enrollment decline has sharpened the district\u2019s focus on offering specialized programs that families might otherwise seek elsewhere.<\/p>\n Alief enrolled 36,441 students last school year \u2014 down 5,283 students, or about 13%, from five years earlier. District leaders say the all-girls model can\u00a0give students more opportunities in STEM and leadership and help keep families from looking elsewhere.<\/p>\n “Our students have been hungry for this opportunity,” said Tamara Albury, the school’s principal. “They want to do everything. They want to start everything. They really want to be leaders, and it’s as if this program, this school has sort of answered the desire in their hearts to be heard.”<\/p>\n Brittnee Love works with her students during her language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Superintendent Anthony Mays said one of the main reason reasons for opening the school was to provide Alief ISD families with another school choice option. He said he saw it as an opportunity for the district to to retain student enrollment, as well as keep current students and attract new ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “It’s a competitive environment out there,” Mays said. “(Families wonder) why don’t I have this opportunity in Alief that I can go and take advantage of in a neighboring district? So the biggest thing we’ve been working to do is be responsive to school choice.”<\/p>\n Albury\u00a0said when she started recruiting for the school last year, students as young as fourth grade were already showing interest. She said the Young Women’s Leadership School has enrolled students from neighboring districts as well, including Fort Bend, Houston and Klein ISDs.<\/p>\n RANKINGS: Explore the Houston area’s top 50 high schools per U.S. News, from Sugar Land to The Woodlands<\/a><\/p>\n “We have students from all over, and so that is that’s a testament that this model really is something that people are wanting,” Albury said.<\/p>\n Mays said he’s heard other districts in the Houston area\u00a0express interest in opening similar schools.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He\u00a0said Alief ISD also received a\u00a0$1 million gift from the Young Women’s Preparatory Network for student and professional development resources.<\/p>\n Students work on their assignments during a college prep class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n At Aldine ISD’s Young Women’s Leadership Academy, Principal Jericah Jackson said the district\u00a0opened the campus because it provided another school choice option\u00a0and gave students the chance to enroll in academically rigorous classes.<\/p>\n The north Houston district’s all-girls school currently has 444 students.<\/p>\n Jackson said offering advanced classes at all-girls schools are intended to encourage students to challenge themselves academically.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n OTHER NEWS: Sunnyside community members blindsided by HISD decision to build on Grimes Park<\/a><\/p>\n “You see students who are in engineering classes, robotics, computer science, where it’s usually considered as masculine,” Jackson said. “But you see a girl with her lip gloss and her purse, and she is building this massive prototype that she’s about to present at a competition. So it’s heartwarming to see the girls be girls, and to be okay with themselves and be happy.”<\/p>\n Albury said one of the main draws of an all-girls environment is that it gives students\u00a0room to take more academic risks and leadership roles.<\/p>\n Zainab Jabak, left, works with her students in a \u201cSister Circle\u201d during a language arts class at Alief ISD\u2019s The Young Women’s Leadership School in Houston, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. TYWLS is the area’s third all-girls school opened up by a public school district.<\/p>\n Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n “Everyone that they see is a leader and is a woman, and they see who they can be,”\u00a0Albury said. “And so you have this school of cheerleaders that want you to be great.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n According to a 2013 <\/a>survey of students<\/a> at single-gender and co-ed schools,\u00a0girls at all-girls schools reported higher levels of classroom engagement than girls at coeducational schools.\u00a0Nearly 87% of students surveyed also said they felt their opinions were respected at their all-girls school, as opposed to 83% of girls at coeducational independent schools and 58% at coeducational public schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n Albury said the goal\u00a0of the Young Women’s Leadership School is\u00a0not just to get students into college but to help them become leaders in any industry they pursue.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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