Types of Schools

Are you searching for the right school for your child? Are you confused about all the different types of schools out there in Houston? Here are some basic definitions you will want to keep in mind:

Traditional public schools – No matter where you live, the address where you put your head down at night is used to determine your “zoned” or “neighborhood” public elementary, middle, and high school. Public schools are operated using government funding at no cost to the family. 

Magnet schools - Public schools or programs with a specialized focus or theme, like performing arts, math & science, or gifted & talented, that offer advanced coursework or specialized training to selected students from throughout the school district, without regard to individual school attendance boundaries. There is no cost to the family.

Charter schools - Publicly funded, privately managed schools that operate semi-autonomously, meaning they’re free from some rules applicable to other public schools (such as those related to teacher hiring, budgets, and other operations). These schools, like other public schools, operate without tuition from the family.

Public virtual/online schools – Not to be confused with the virtual option many schools opted for during COVID shut-downs, these schools operate year round, offering free public education online, with a lot of flexibility for scheduling and pace. These options are particularly attractive to students who are elite athletes and others with specific need for more flexible school hours. Many of these schools also offer a tuition-based program for students who do not meet the residential requirements for free public education.

Traditional private schools – Schools that run independently of government entities and charge families tuition to cover the costs of the child’s education. These schools are not required to adhere to state-mandated curricula or regulations. 

Private special needs schools – These schools focus on programs that serve populations with learning differences. Some work with a broader range of disabilities, and others are specific about the type of learning challenges they address. Most often, the schools are much smaller than more mainstream private schools, and that can increase the cost of tuition for families seeking this type of placement. 

Faith-based private schools – These are private schools with a religious focus. Sometimes religion is offered as a supplement to the academic program, and sometimes it is interwoven throughout the academic curriculum. Some schools are parochial – they are associated with a specific church; others are associated with religious organizations. 

Montessori schools – Schools that use a child-centered educational approach that includes mixed-age classrooms, student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options, uninterrupted blocks of work time, and a “discovery" model where students learn concepts from working with specialized educational materials rather than by direct instruction. 

Language immersion schools - an approach to foreign language learning in which at least 50% of the usual curricular instruction (generally the same curricula used in other non-immersion schools) is conducted in a foreign language. The new language is the medium of instruction as well as the object of instruction. Some schools use a Two-way Dual Language approach that integrates English-speakers with English Language Learners, designed to fully develop and maintain their primary language while learning the new language.

Advanced Placement (AP) – the College Board program that allows high school students the opportunity to take college-level courses. At the end of each course, the student can take a standardized test to receive university credit for their work during high school. Most public and private high schools offer some AP course options. 

International Baccalaureate (IB) – an educational program for students from age 3 to 19 that focuses on teaching students to think critically and independently, and how to inquire with care and logic. At the high school level, IB courses, like AP courses, can transfer to university credit. There are a select few public and private schools that offer the IB program. 

Finding other educational jargon difficult to understand? Contact us for more information here.