Campus · Traditional
University HS
McLennan County · Region 12: Waco · 1,744 students
University HS is rated B by TEA, scoring 80 out of 100 for 2025-26 — above the 77.4 average of the 2,391 schools serving a similar share of economically disadvantaged students, and below the statewide average of 81.3. It is up 15 points since 2021-22 — both years scored under TEA's current rules, since TEA rewrote them in 2023; under the rules in force back then it scored 79.
Ranks 4,402nd of 7,646 Texas schools (tied with 276 others), and 143rd of 301 in Region 12: Waco (tied with 16 others).
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5 years of ratings
2021-22 is shown under the refreshed methodology TEA adopted in 2023, so it is comparable with later years. Under the original scoring it was rated C with 79 that year.
| Year | Rating | Score | Similar | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | B | 80 | 77.4 | 81.3 |
| 2024-25 | C | 74 | 77.1 | 81.2 |
| 2023-24 | C | 73 | 73.9 | 78.9 |
| 2022-23 | C | 72 | 74.0 | 79.1 |
| 2021-22 | D | 65 | 81.7 | 83.7 |
How this school's change over time is ranked
TEA publishes most measures for one year only, so a change ranking exists just where the same figure is published across years — the overall score, the five score domains, and per-student spending. This page does not yet state where University HS itself places on these lists, only that the lists exist; open one to find this school's own row.
Texas schools
Where the score comes from
Texas builds the overall rating from the better of Student Achievement and School Progress, weighted 70%, plus Closing the Gaps at 30%. School Progress is itself the better of Academic Growth and Relative Performance. The 60, 70, 80 and 90 rules mark the letter-grade thresholds.
- University HS
- Similar student population (2,391)
- Region 12: Waco (301)
| Domain | Score | Grade | Points to next grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student Achievement | 76 | C | 4 |
| School Progress | 82 | B | 8 |
| Closing the Gaps | 74 | C | 6 |
| Academic Growth | 65 | D | 5 |
| Relative Performance | 82 | B | 8 |
Closest to moving up: Closing the Gaps, 6 points below B in that domain — the nearest of the measures that count toward the overall rating.
TEA does not add the domains up. The overall score is the better of Student Achievement and School Progress at 70%, plus Closing the Gaps at 30%. For this school that better measure is School Progress (82), so Student Achievement (76) is published above but does not enter the overall score at all — gaining points there changes nothing until it passes 82.
Student outcomes
STAAR performance
- Approaches grade level
- Meets grade level
- Masters grade level
- Tick: Similar student population (2,391)
Percentage of tests at or above each level. Masters is a subset of Meets, which is a subset of Approaches. The tick on each bar marks the average for Similar student population (2,391 schools) — a comparison TEA does not publish.
Graduation
- Four-Year
- 93.3%+2.8 pts vs similar
- Five-Year
- 89.8%−1.1 pts vs similar
- Six-Year
- 89.5%−0.8 pts vs similar
- Dropout Rate
- 1.8%+0.2 pts vs similar
College, career and military readiness
| Criterion | This school | similar | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total credit for CCMR criteria | 88.0% | 83.8% | +4.2 |
| Scored at or above the college ready standard on SAT, ACT, TSIA, or earned credit for a college prep course | 70.1% | 56.8% | +13.3 |
| Scored at or above the college ready standard on SAT, ACT, TSIA | 13.3% | 21.0% | −7.7 |
| Met criterion score on AP/IB exam(s) | 12.6% | 12.6% | +0.0 |
| Earned college credit for a dual credit course | 8.9% | 27.9% | −19.0 |
| Earned an industry-based certification | 47.0% | 33.8% | +13.2 |
| Earned a level I or level II certificate | 0.0% | 2.6% | −2.6 |
| Earned an associate degree | 3.0% | 7.0% | −4.0 |
| Completed an OnRamps course and qualified for college credit | 0.0% | 6.6% | −6.6 |
| Graduated with completed individualized education program (IEP) and workforce readiness | 3.5% | 3.0% | +0.5 |
| Graduated under an advanced diploma plan and identified as a current special education student | 7.5% | 7.5% | +0.0 |
| Enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces | 2.1% | 2.8% | −0.7 |
Who this school serves
Placed after the results deliberately: this is context for reading them, not an explanation of them.
- Students
- 1,744
- Economically disadvantaged
- 86.9%−0.6 pts vs similar
- English learners
- 25.2%−11.4 pts vs similar
- Special education
- 13.5%−4.7 pts vs similar
- Attendance
- 89.6%−3.4 pts vs similar
- Chronically absent
- 37.1%+14.7 pts vs similar
Student demographics
- African American 23%
- Hispanic 70.7%
- White 4.5%
- American Indian 0.1%
- Asian 0.2%
- Two or More Races 1.5%
Spending per student
Compared against TEA's own peer group, which controls for size and student population, and against the state.
- University HS
- TEA peer group
- Texas average
TEA's published file does not include peer-group spending for this entity, so no comparison is shown.
Not reported by TEA for this entity: peer.
Teachers
- Average salary
- $64,251−$3,559 vs similar
- Teachers
- 124
- Students per staff member
- 14.1
Teaching experience
- Beginning 9.5%
- 1 to 5 years 28.2%
- 6 to 10 years 28.1%
- 11 to 20 years 21.1%
- 21 to 30 years 7.8%
- Over 30 years 5.1%
Where this school ranks best
Out of 164 rankings computed across every published metric and every comparison group, these are the placements that stand out. Press Copy for a citable sentence.
-
2of 18
Earned an associate degree
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure
-
6of 18
Earned an industry-based certification
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure
-
7of 18
Met criterion score on AP/IB exam(s)
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure
-
10of 35
Social Studies — Meets
McLennan County · of the 35 that report this measure
-
10of 18
Graduated under an advanced diploma plan and identified as a current special education student
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure
-
10of 18
Enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure · tied with 2
-
2of 18
Earned a level I or level II certificate
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure · tied with 16
-
3of 18
Completed an OnRamps course and qualified for college credit
McLennan County · of the 18 that report this measure · tied with 15
These are selected high placements, not a summary. Every figure above this section is the full picture, including where this campus ranks poorly. Each statement below states its cohort and its denominator so it can be checked — a rank without an n is a boast, not a fact. Ties are shown because a shared ceiling is not a sole first place. Every ranking this site publishes, including the ones no school would put in a press release.
Where this comes from
Every figure on this page comes from data the Texas Education Agency publishes at txschools.gov, fetched 15 August 2026 and archived with a checksum so each number stays traceable to the bytes TEA served.
Download the full dataset · this campus's district
Single-file records are pre-built for districts only, so there is no per-campus CSV to
link here — 9,086 entities in two formats is 18,172 assets, on top of everything else this site
publishes, and that is past the 20,000-asset limit this site is published under. This campus is a row
in the bulk files on the download page, keyed by its TEA id 161914003.