Education proficiency in America has always been a standard measure of quality of schools. Each year states, districts and schools are examined and ranked by their different levels of achievement, proficiency, safety and other important factors.
USA Today reported the results of the 2018 edition of the Quality Counts report, provided by Education Week. The report ranks states from best to worst public schools. States were judged on graduation rates, public school spending, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), adults with at least a bachelor’s degree and adults aged 25-64 with incomes above national median.

Massachusetts leads the nation according to EdWeek’s latest report. Followed by New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut respectively. Nevada bottoms out the list.

Texas sits in 40th place.

There is a high school graduation rate of 89.1 percent, which is the fifth highest in the nation.

Texas also spends $8,485 per pupil (4th lowest), 28.9 percent of adults have at least a bachelor’s degree: this is the 22nd lowest. 49.3 percent of people aged 25-64 have an income above national median (22nd lowest). The eighth grade NAEP proficiency is 32.2 percent in math and 28 percent in reading.

While there are several advantages to Texas public school education, such as a high graduation rate, a serious disadvantage is funding, or lack thereof. The average spending per pupil is $4,000 less than the national average.

While Texas as a whole may struggle in rankings, Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, CFISD, tends to rank well. According to Niche, in the category of best school districts, CFISD ranks 359 out of 10,574 nationally, 40 of 985 in Texas and 5 of 38 in the Houston area.

In the safety category, CFISD ranks 353 of 985 in Texas and was ranked as the eighth most diverse district in the state.

When results are narrowed down even more, Cypress Woods High School ranks relatively high on the national, state and Houston-area levels. Ranked 348 of 17,867 for best public high school in the nation. Cy Woods was ranked 22nd best public school in Texas. The faculty is ranked 16 out of 1,548 in Texas.

Both CFISD and Cypress Woods received an overall grade of “A” from Niche.