SFA Charter School ranked No. 1 in Texas

NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) - The Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School has been ranked the best charter elementary school in Texas.

Niche is an organization which ranks schools and districts based on statistics and reviews from students and parents. It recently ranked 315 Texas charter elementary schools, and SFA’s Charter School came out on top.

“This was the first year that we scored advanced in all areas of our STARR,” said Lysa Hagan, the director of the SFA Charter School. “We’ve always had one area that was a little bit lower. When you have really high scores, it’s hard to improve on that. This year was just a great year where we were able to have advanced in all of those areas, and I’m sure that’s what is linked to this ranking.”

Hagan attributes the SFA Charter School’s success in part to all the support it receives from the university that other charter schools may not get. She recognizes that it’s not always a level playing field among all charter schools across the state.

“SFA has long been a leader in teacher education,” Dr. Judy Abbott, dean of SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education in a SFA, said in a press release. “SFA began as a teachers' college, and we remain among the top teacher education programs in the state. As such, we attract high-quality teacher candidates. The charter school students certainly benefit from this. If you want to be a teacher, it’s widely known that SFA is the place to be.”

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