Local DFW Charter High School Ranks Amongst the Top 100 in the Washington Post’s ‘Most Challenging H
International Leadership of Texas ranks No. 75 out of 2,200 high schools in
Washington Post’s national high school ranking
DALLAS – International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas) Garland High School ranks #75 out of 2,200 high schools in the Washington Post’s ‘Most Challenging High School’ list released last Friday. A list prepared and created by Writer Jay Mathews for 18 years, the schools are evaluated by taking the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests given at a school each year and divide that by the number of seniors who graduate.
“I am so very excited for our students, teachers and staff who have put in all the hard work that has resulted in this fantastic national ranking,” shares Superintendent Eddie Conger of ILTexas. “To be ranked 75th out of the 2,200 amongst the top high schools in the country is absolutely incredible.”
ILTexas Garland High School is one out of ten schools within the ILTexas Charter School District. The news comes after the ILTexas Garland High School seniors celebrated the annual Academic College Signing Day. Later this month, ILTexas will commemorate its second graduating class that has received more than $5 million in merit scholarships and have received more than 230 acceptance letters. ILTexas seniors have been accepted into some the ‘Top 100’ schools (according U.S. News & Report) including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Dallas’ own Southern Methodist University.
“So proud of our students, who come to school every day prepared to be challenged and so proud of our teachers, who prepare our students for the challenge through rigorous instruction and high expectations,” said ILTexas Garland High School Principal Tony Palagonia. “From our school community and families, it is this type of support that makes our students dreams become reality. ILTexas is a special place, where words like grit and perseverance are lived out every day on our classrooms by students, teachers and staff.”
Founded in 2012 by former Dallas Independent School District high school principal Eddie Conger, ILTexas opened its first school in 2013 with over 2,500 students, making it the largest first-year charter in the history of Texas and continuing as the fastest charter in the state of Texas. With the largest Chinese curriculum in the nation, ILTexas provides a trilingual, college preparatory education that requires students to master the English, Spanish and Chinese languages with opportunities to study abroad, participate in competitive athletics and graduate with an associate’s degree. This school year, all ILTexas’ current campuses were recognized as ‘Met Standard’ including several of their campuses receiving stars of distinction and a 100 percent high school graduation rate. For the 2017-2018 school year, ILTexas will grow from serving more than 10,000 students to an estimated 15,000 with five new campuses opening in Fort Worth and Houston. For more information, visit iltexas.org.
