Best DFW School Districts for Homebuyers: What Rankings Don’t Tell You

You're scrolling through house listings on your phone, and you see it - the perfect home. Four bedrooms, that open concept kitchen you wanted, and the price is actually within budget. But then you notice the school ratings: 6 out of 10 on one website, but 8 out of 10 on another. And when you check the state's official ratings? It shows something completely different.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. So often, I sit with families in looking to move to the Dallas-Fort Worth area who are trying to solve what feels like an impossible puzzle: finding a great home in a great school district. And almost every time, they ask me the same question: "Which schools are actually good?"

It seems like it should be simple, right? Just look up the ratings and pick the highest ones. But in Dallas-Fort Worth, with our 156 different school districts (plus or minus depending on the map you’re using) and multiple ranking systems, it's about as straightforward as navigating downtown during rush hour with your GPS off.

Here's what nobody tells you: those school ranking websites you're looking at? They're all measuring different things. And sometimes, they completely disagree with each other. A school that's "excellent" according to one system might be just "average" in another.

As a real estate agent in DFW, I've helped tons of families navigate this maze. And today, I'm going to show you exactly how these different ranking systems work, which districts consistently perform well across all of them, and most importantly - how to figure out which schools will actually be the best fit for your family.

Let's talk about these school ranking systems - and why they sometimes seem like they're speaking different languages. There are FOUR (NOTE: I think in the video I say Five, this needs to have the number 4 or FOUR written on the screen) major ones you'll encounter during your home search, and trust me, understanding their differences is going to save you a lot of late-night confusion.

First up: The Texas Education Agency, or TEA. This is the official state reporting agency. They, offer comprehensive reporting on each school and strictly report on testing data and demographic data. 

It used to be they would grade schools just like teachers grade students - A through F. Pretty straightforward, right? 

These A through F scores looked at three main things: how well students perform on standardized tests, how much students improve year over year, and how well schools close performance gaps between different student groups. They're basically the strict teacher who grades purely on test scores and measurable progress.

But that system was put on hold after the 2022 ratings came out and the release of the ratings for subsequent years is actually being held up in the court system right now.

So now, having a simple list of highest ranking schools provided from the epicenter of school data reporting isn’t there.

A tool I like to recommend on their website is a school and school district comparison tool. Let’s say you know you need to be on the north side of the metroplex because of the commute to your job, but you can’t decide on Plano, McKinney, or Allen.

You can compare these three to see which one works best for what you’re looking for. You can see their state testing performance. 

So we can see that 90% of kids in Allen ISD are in the ‘approaches grade level’ category.

This means that based on standardized testing, 90% of students in Allen ISD are likely to succeed in the next grade or course with targeted acedemic intervention.

Seventy-three percent of students in Allen ISD meet their grade level, which means they have a high likelihood of success in the next grade but may still need some short-term academic intervention.

Fourty-three percent mastered the grade level which means 43% of students in Allen ISD are expected to succeed in the next grade with little or no academic intervention.

You can also switch over to get a profile of each district.

Maybe a lower student-to-teacher ratio is important to you. Or you want teachers with more experience. Or maybe you want to be in a smaller school district. 

These are all things you can figure out from here.

And then if you want to drill down your search further, you can search by schools. So let’s say you want to be in Plano ISD, you can then compare the different high schools or middle or elementary schools.

If you want to see the current data for a school or a district, you can go to the TAPR reports on the TEA website. https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/perfreport/tapr/tapr_srch.html?srch=C

But here's where there were some challenges with the TEA site - while TEA ratings are important, they don't tell you anything about things like school culture, sports programs, or whether your kid who loves robotics will have a chance to build robots.

That's where our second player comes in: Niche.com. The Texas Education Agency and Niche.com are the two that give you ratings on School Districts overall. So this helps if you’re starting with a broad search area. 

Think of Niche.com as the cool teacher who looks at the whole picture. They factor in things like:

Academic performance (yes, including those state test scores)

Teacher quality

Clubs and activities

Diversity

And something really valuable but also tricky - Parent and Student reviews

Now, let's talk about those reviews for a second, because this is really important. While parent and student feedback can provide valuable insights, we need to take them with a grain of salt. Here's why:

First, the numbers. In a school of 2,000 students, you might only see 20 or 30 reviews. That's like trying to judge a restaurant based on what three people at one table ordered.

Plus, think about when people usually write reviews - when they're either really happy or really upset. A parent whose child is thriving in the chess club might leave a glowing five-star review. Meanwhile, another parent whose child struggled with a particular teacher might give one star. Both experiences are valid, but neither tells the complete story of what day-to-day life at that school is actually like.

And here's something else to consider - what makes a school "good" is incredibly personal. One parent might give a low rating because the football team isn't competitive enough, while another might give five stars for the same school's amazing arts program. It all depends on what matters to your family.

In the top 10 list of Dallas-Fort Worth area school districts for niche.com and for the Texas Education agency, there are seven schools that rank on both lists.

They are:
Lovejoy ISD
Carroll ISD
Highland Park ISD
Coppell ISD
Argyle ISD
Wylie ISD and
Frisco ISD

Now our third major rating system is GreatSchools.org. They're like the guidance counselor of ranking systems - focused on how well schools prepare students for the next step. Their 1-10 scale looks at:

• Test scores

• College readiness

• Equity (how well schools serve all students)

• Advanced courses offered

Greatschools gives a rating to individual schools and not overall school districts. They also don’t have a generic ranking list of the area, so you have to look at schools or districts independently to see which schools rank the highest.

Now, here's something interesting - and I see this confuse buyers all the time. A school might get an A from TEA, but only a 7 out of 10 on GreatSchools. Or it might get rave reviews on Niche but have a lower TEA rating. Why? Because they're all measuring different things and weighing them differently.

U.S. News & World Report, a fourth ranking system, also ranks our high schools, focusing heavily on college readiness and AP/IB participation.

Now this may feel like a lot of sources. I tell my clients to think of these rankings as just one piece of the puzzle. They're useful tools, absolutely. But they each have their blind spots:

• TEA can't measure school culture or student happiness

• GreatSchools might miss recent improvements or changes

• Niche's review system can be skewed by a small number of very vocal parents

• U.S. News focuses heavily on college prep, which might not be your primary concern if you're looking at elementary schools

The real magic happens when you learn to use these rankings together. When a school performs well across multiple systems, that's usually a good sign. The truly exceptional school districts in DFW tend to perform well across ALL these ranking systems. 

Now if you look at a map of the schools from the latest A-F reporting from the Texas education Agency, you can see these top-performing districts tend to exist in the northern suburbs of the metroplex.

However, here's what the rankings don't show you: There are excellent schools in nearly every DFW district. Even in districts that might not top the overall rankings, you'll find individual schools performing just as well as those in the highest-rated districts.

Finding the right home in the right school district shouldn't require hours of cross-referencing different ranking systems. That's why I've created something special for you - a free cheat sheet that does a lot of that work for you.

This isn't just any list.

I've compiled the top 25 school districts in DFW according to both Niche.com AND the Texas Education Agency. Plus, you'll get a bonus - the top 25 high schools according to U.S. News & World Report, complete with their GreatSchools.org ratings right alongside them. It's like having all the major ranking systems in one easy-to-reference document.

Oh because I’ll also have links to homes for sale that feed into each of those districts.

Just visit schools.thecrestedgegroup.com to get your copy. 

Remember, these rankings are just the starting point. But having them all in one place? That's going to make your home search so much easier. Download the cheat sheet, and when you're ready to start looking at homes in these top-rated districts, let’s talk.

If we haven’t met yet, I’m Jennifer Shannon Templeton. I’m a Realtor and Broker Associate with The Crestedge Group at Keller Williams Rockwall and we work with buyers and sellers all over the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. If you’re thinking about relocating to Dallas or making a move this year, I’d love to be your real estate resource and earn your business. You can call or text me at 214-803-4444 or send an email to jennifer@thecrestedgegroup.com to get started.