Great Hearts Texas
Educating the Whole Child
Great Hearts is a nonprofit network of K-12 public charter schools dedicated to improving education through a curriculum built on the classical liberal arts tradition. Its mission is to cultivate the minds and hearts of students through the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty, and it operates on the belief that the highest goal of education is to become good, intellectually and morally. Great Hearts focuses on preparing students for success in college, leadership, and a life filled with purpose. In San Antonio, it currently serves more than 4,000 students in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade across five academies – Great Hearts Forest Heights, Great Hearts Live Oak, Great Hearts Monte Vista, Great Hearts Northern Oaks, and Great Hearts Western Hills.
All Great Hearts students:
▪ Take 12 years of art, music and foreign language, including Latin.
▪ Take two years of physics and two years of calculus.
▪ Read over 150 classic works of literature, philosophy and history,
in their entirety.
▪ Learn handwriting and penmanship.
▪ Memorize and recite poetry.
▪ Participate in drama and theatre - every student performs in at least one play.
▪ Participate in P.E., athletics and extracurricular activities.
▪ Write and defend a Senior Thesis.
▪ Receive college counseling services to ensure they are prepared and understand why they are going to college.
High school sports include football, volleyball, cross-country, track and field, swimming and basketball. Middle school sports include softball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, basketball and flag football. Clubs vary by campus and include chess, art, gardening, drama, robotics, leadership, competitive math, choir, and swing dance.
Notable Achievements
Great Hearts was recognized as an ‘B’ rated school district by the TEA for the 2018-19 school year.
Great Hearts Texas’ students outscored their Texas peers overall on the 2018-19 STAAR exams. In particular, the mastery rates for Great Hearts Texas were 37% in Reading (compared to 21% statewide), 36% in Math (compared to 26% statewide), 32% in Science (compared to 25% statewide), 47% in Social Studies (compared to 33% statewide), and 22% in Writing (compared to 14% statewide).
Great Hearts Texas also received a rating of 86% for college, career, and military readiness compared to 65% statewide.
50 percent of 7th graders and 50 percent of 8th graders take the high school Algebra I and Algebra II End of Course exams, respectively.
9th graders will take four End of Course exams, including the U.S. History exam typically taken by 11th graders in Texas.