Students are at the heart of everything we do...

Who We Are

The Texas Academy is an accelerated program for gifted and talented high school students in Texas who desire enhanced student learning and leadership in a variety of academic areas, including Humanities, STEAM and Liberal Arts. Established in 1993, Texas Academy is a special legislative independent school recognized by the Texas State Legislature, Lamar University and the Texas Education Agency.

Academy Goals

We inspire students to transform their passion into their purpose through rigorous academics, innovative research and service leadership. To do this, we offer high-impact educational experiences by supporting significant learning environments that offer choice, ownership and voice through authentic learning opportunities. We prepare successful high school graduates who have their choice of top-tier undergraduate schools where they will impact and inspire others through their leadership and innovation.

WHY

We inspire students to transform their passion into their purpose through rigorous academics, innovative research and service leadership.

HOW

To do this, we offer high-impact educational experiences by supporting significant learning environments that offer choice, ownership and voice through authentic learning opportunities. 

WHAT

We prepare successful high school graduates who have their choice of top-tier undergraduate schools where they will impact and inspire others through innovation and leadership.

Origin of the Texas Academy

The Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities (Texas Academy) was created by the Legislature of the State of Texas (H.B. 1940) in 1993 to offer intellectually advanced, gifted high school-aged students in Texas the opportunity to pursue the ideals of academic excellence, ethical leadership and community service within the context of a university setting. All students admitted to our unique program receive full-tuition scholarships for 15 credit hours per semester from the state of Texas through the Texas Education Agency. Texas Academy operates as an independent, special legislative school district under the auspices of the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System. In its capacity as a special legislative school district, the academy has been authorized to confer its own diploma at graduation. Many of our Texas Academy students continue their undergraduate studies at Lamar University after graduating the academy, while some attend institutions that specialize in a particular field of study. 

As per the Board of Regents and the Texas State University System, the goals of the Texas Academy are to:

• Provide gifted and talented secondary school students with accelerated academic experiences to ensure success as undergraduates with advanced standing;
• Encourage those students to develop their full leadership potential and their ethical decision-making capabilities;
• Provide those students with academic and social role models and mentors to motivate them to pursue academic excellence and self-direction;
• Provide a model setting for the training of teachers in the educational materials and methods appropriate for gifted learners;
• Encourage the cooperation of business leaders and Lamar University staff to provide practical settings and experiences for those students through independent study, shadowing and mentorship;
• Establish a setting to support necessary research to determine the academy’s effectiveness and to disseminate results of that research; and
• Promote the active involvement of parents in all educational programs of the academy.