Just for the Kids selected four schools from Friendswood ISD as 2008 Just for the Kids Higher Performing Schools in Texas.

Friendswood High School, Junior High, Windsong Intermediate and Bales Intermediate  were chosen for this honor.
Friendswood High School is spotlighted for all five categories offered. These include Reading, Math, Writing, Social Studies, and Science.
Friendswood Junior High is showcased for all five categories also. These are Reading, Math, Writing, Social Studies, and Science.
Windsong Intermediate is Higher Performing in Reading.  Also Zue S Bales Intermediate is Higher Performing in Reading.
These schools were selected as higher performing based on analyses conducted by the National Center for Educational Achievement, sponsor of the Just for the Kids Campaign.
There are two ways to be designated as a 2008 JFTK Higher Performing School in Texas. First, schools whose students perform better than predicted for schools with similar demographics were included. Second, schools whose student performance was in the top five percent in the state as measured by NCEA's College and Career Readiness Benchmarks in math, reading, and science, or TEA's Commended Standard in social studies and writing were highlighted as a 2008 Just for the Kids Higher Performing School.
         Sharing insights into what makes schools successful is an important aspect of the Just for the Kids Campaign. Their Core Practice Framework is the foundation of which is built upon eight-years of study of more than 500 schools across 20 states. The Framework identifies the core practices important to district leaders, school leaders, and teachers. 
Since Just for the Kids was first established in 1995, its mission has been to inform, inspire and  improve student achievement.  It has done so by  using achievement data as a means to shine a  light on what high-performing schools and  districts are doing to find success. 
The National Center for Educational Achievement identifies consistently higher performing schools in many states across the country. The schools identified by NCEA are those that exhibit outstanding performance across multiple grades and years. As the foundation of NCEA's Best Practice research, the behaviors of these high-performers are compared with those of average-performing schools in order to determine the unique practices of the most successful campuses. At the core of the NCEA identification process are two fundamental beliefs about the qualities of a higher performing school:

   1. Consistency: Higher performing schools meet a more stringent set of criteria than the schools listed in each of the top comparable schools tables, some of which only appear successful in that single grade or year.
   2. Fairness:
          * Higher Performing Schools are compared with other schools in the same state with similar school-wide demographic levels.
          * The analysis of performance focuses on students who have been in the school for long enough for their achievement level to reflect the effects of that school. In the middle and high school analyses, the prior achievement of each school's students is considered, so that the "value-added" of the school can be assessed.