Sealy Elementary just received a nationwide honor when it comes to public education. US News World Report named Sealy Elementary one of the best elementary schools in Texas.

'Mrs. Sarah Winkleman and her team do an outstanding job at Sealy Elementary. Great administrators and passionate teachers committed to working together to ensure student success is the perfect recipe for success,” said Sealy Independent School District Superintendent Bryan Hallmark. “They have built very sound systems and processes that allow them to know their students and content deeply. The academic turnaround at SES over the last four years has been amazing. When you go from needs improvement to knocking on the door of an A rating every year, you are doing many things at a very high level.' According to US News World Report, Sealy Elementary placed among the top 40% of elementary schools in the state of Texas, making it a U.S. News Best Elementary School.

For each state, schools were assessed on their pupils’ proficiencies in mathematics and reading, as measured by state assessment tests. Half of the ranking formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics.

In other words, the top-ranked schools are high-achieving ones that succeeded in educating all of their students. U.S. News published distinct elementary and middle school rankings calculated at the state and district levels, as well as state rankings specific to charter and magnet schools.

Winkleman admitted that she didn’t even know the school was up for consideration for the honor by the national magazine.

“We had no idea until we received an email about it,” Winkleman said. “We are super excited to receive this honor. The first year this school opened we struggled as underperforming with the state, but we were able to take the school grade from a 69 to an 89 in school ratings.”

Winkleman credited the work of her staff as a reason for the honor.

“We have to credit the work or our teachers who underwent hours of research to develop a program for our students,” Winkleman said. “We also couldn’t have done this without the support of our parents as well. And we also thank our students. I am so proud of our students who did what was asked of them. I’m very proud of our students and the hard work they put in as well.”

Sealy Elementary is a public school with a student population of 668 and the school serves PK-5. At Sealy Elementary, 47% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and 39% scored at or above that level for reading.

The school’s minority student enrollment is 66%. The student- teacher ratio is 14:1. The student population is made up of 48% female students and 52% male students. The school enrolls 62% of economically disadvantaged students. There are 49 equivalent full-time teachers.