Lamar High School

3325 Westheimer Road

School District

Houston Independent
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:21
Type

public

School Map for Houston Independent School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on May 09, 2024

This rating tracks APs but not IB tests. Lamar is the world's largest IB school. The IB diploma and career tracks are great options for kids who choose that pathway.
Submitted by other on June 11, 2023

UNDER-QUALIFIED. I was a transfer student who came from a A+ honor roll school, Tomball Memorial High School. Lamar High School was such a big adjustment, but I looked past and saw the potential. Within the first week, my schedule was disorganized, and had to be corrected multiple times which led me to eventually give up on administration. Administration completely ignored me and my parents requests, and disregarded the transcripts and plans given. The learning environment also need improvements. Classes are taught as seminars which is completely fine minus the fact that multiple “classrooms” are combined into one shared room. It is distracting, extremely hard to learn, and difficult to digest information. With these shared rooms, there is about 100 students to one restroom. Student restroom facilities are limited to two stalls for girls and 1 stall, 1 urinal for boys which makes the wait in the restroom intolerable. There is normally herds of people trying to fit into the restrooms before or during class. There’s also a problem with students behaviors in which the administrative team do not take seriously. There has been multiple occurrences where punishment was not reasonable and students were let off easy; this led to continuous in school distractions. Overall not a recommended school of my choice.
Submitted by parent on September 01, 2022

This year we have classes with no actual teachers. There has already been a bomb threat and sweep of the school. 3 days of special Ed bus not showing up or leaving the campus before my student was dismissed from class. The office told him, " call your parents or find a ride" when he inquired and office staff didn't even have access to his route number. We have spent well over $200 on branded specialty uniforms, yet he is threatened with ISS if we don't arrive in 10 minutes with new jeans because his are the wrong color. It is his birthday and they rather pull a special needs student out of class and away from his support to put him in isolated in school suspension, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, than allow him to learn. All in all, caters to the wealthy families in the zoning area and neglects everyone else.
Submitted by student on March 22, 2022

The school is good, the way things are taught are effective and I can genuinely understand topics that I had trouble with. Most of the teachers are very friendly and care for the students. There also isn't much bullying at this school which surprised me, students here are relatively friendly if you don't bother them. If you do your work on time and put effort you will pass and if you don't you obviously fail and I like that about this school, it doesn't spare anyone who misses out on their work. The only problem I have is with the bathrooms, the bathrooms aren't the issue it's the people who use it to skip and vape; but even then I've begun to see a little less of that though I would prefer if the school did something about vapes more.
Submitted by parent on August 11, 2019

This school is effective for children who are already motivated and like learning. If your child is lazy, they will not excel and will drop to the wayside.
Submitted by parent on July 21, 2019

This high school is a lot like college. You get out of it what you put in it. If you choose not to pay attention, choose not to do homework and choose not to be a student, you will have a bad time and probably write a bad review. It has been my experience that the great majority of teachers (there are a few bad ones-most get counseled out) try to reach every student. It has also been my experience that there a small but vocal number of students that put zero into being a student and when things don't work out for them, they complain.
Submitted by student on March 28, 2019

My experience at this school was a lot worse than I expected
Submitted by student on March 23, 2019

I would rate my experience at this school a 7/10.
Submitted by parent on February 07, 2019

Very bad I am disgusted the staff were highly unprofessional when I tried to talk to them about being racist towards my child during summer camp
Submitted by student on November 15, 2016

My dad went to Lamar High School 30 years ago. Here I am, a sophomore at Lamar High School today in 2016. Lamar is filled with many opportunities for students ranging from professional and creative levels. There are a handful of clubs and a handful of leading chances for every student. Lamar is a fun and safe community for all students. The teachers are extremely dedicated. They always strive for educating students, preparing them for the real world. Teachers at Lamar seem to constantly impress my mom every time she visits! My mother graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Finance and my father graduated from the University of Houston with a BBA in Finance and a bachelors in Accounting. Lamar has setup a huge opportunity for my family and I with professional and money making careers, just like a school should. I have found myself to be the president of multiple clubs at Lamar as well as eyes open for my own personal professional career in the future.
Submitted by parent on September 21, 2016

LHS is true college prep. All classes are IB, but doing the work (academic and extracurricular) necessary to earn the full IB diploma is an accomplishment of which any high school student (and parent) can be proud. I personally know seniors who have attended Harvard, Stanford... and have excelled in those revered institutions. Naysayers simply did not apply themselves or fell short for some other personal reason. Those folks wanted a diploma handed to them and became bitter when they were asked to dig deep and learn what was being offered. Don't listen to them. Water will seek its level whatever the environment. If you want true college prep, get thee to Lamar!
Submitted by other on June 21, 2016

I had a very positive experience at Lamar. I graduated in 2008 with the IB Diploma and went on to attend a top ten university. I formed lifelong friendships at Lamar, appreciated the diverse student body that only a large public school can offer, and had some great teachers. I think Lamar provides a great opportunity to prepare yourself for college and for life.
Submitted by parent on October 18, 2014

This school is the most disorganized school.They can never get your schedule right.Even though you give in your absent notes in and they give you a note as proof to show you have given in a note and also your child had all 89 and above grades in that subject they can deny you a credit.When we appealed for the credit it was denied because they want original notes for the absences which had already been given in and it is impossible to go back to a doctor or hospital to get a letter for being absent some six months ago.When the student needs to see a counselor they are given the run around and are not allowed to see them,I don't see what is the point of having a counselor if they can't see them when needed.If you have to sign your child out you are told to go to so many different offices.The teachers just give homework and expect children to just read and answer questions or watch videos online.Teachers never put in grades on time and so it shows your child is failing and missing assignments,students have to keep on emailing teachers everyday to ask if they can please put in their grades because they cannot participate in activities if it shows they are failing.
Submitted by student on October 18, 2014

I go to Lamar High School, and I can't believe the things people say about it. I had the choice of going either to Bellaire or Here, and I chose Lamar. At first, like everyone else i was only going to be with my friends but, now I love it. I love my teachers, I love my classes, I love the students. I love everything about Lamar. I'm proud of my school, and what anyone else has to say about MY school is their opinion. Yes, the school has a lot of students but then again, Which school doesn't? Exactly. The school is old and dirty, I agree. Mostly. But, See they're working to change that. Next year in 2015 they're remodeling the school, okay? The school will look better and nicer than it does now. I, for one, Can not wait for that. The school will look awesome. I love Lamar.
Submitted by student on September 30, 2014

This school is terrible. I am a student here and I have attended this school for three years and there is nothing truly good about this school. I've not learned one single thing since my freshman year, all of my learning has been from websites that goes into thorough explanation about the subject. Some of the teachers simply throw out a guiding question, an assignment and expect us to completely understand. The learning process if complicated because there is no real support. The school is VERY money hungry. They have continuously raised the prices on pretty much everything and none of the money seems to be truly for improving the school. The classes are entirely overcrowded which makes it that much harder to learn. The school is more focused on uniforms than actual education. The grading system would only be fair if teachers actually put in grades. I strongly dislike this school. It is very dirty, hard to learn and it doesn't reach out to everyone because they only focus on memorization instead of actually learning. I would not recommend this school to ANYONE.
Submitted by other on May 30, 2014

I attended Lamar High School. It was very pleasant. However, I warn you, that if you are going only to get the grade, you do not know anything about getting an education. It starts with you, your community, your businesses. Involvement from everybody. My best advice is "Team Up". Get out there and show everybody what Texas does well!
Submitted by student on May 28, 2014

The only reason I'm giving Lamar 3 stars out of five is because my respect for my teachers. The administration deserves a score of below zero! I've heard criticism about the teachers at Lamar and I don't say it's not true, but it is only true about the teachers who teach regular classes. I've had many IB and some AP classes and my teachers were wonderful. They were passionate about what they were teaching and could truly inspire us. I started liking subjects I used to hate after taking them as IB. But of course that's not the case with the regular or even pre-IB classes. I'm not sure I should express my opinion about the administration though! Let me just say that they treat students as cockroaches, don't mind ruining a student's entire future, and intentionally try to be the least helpful! No wonder that every year some of the best IB teachers leave Lamar for DeBakey and other schools... But I really want to say that IB teachers are so nice and supportive that I wish I could stay their student forever. So if you ever decide to go to Lamar (I'm not sure it's a good decision!), don't make the mistake of taking regular classes! Believe it or not, IB is more fun and interesting! :)
Submitted by other on May 14, 2014

I'm a student at Lamar and it's a disgusting to place to come to everyday to "learn". In fact, I've hardly learn anything this year at all. The teachers are extremely disorganized and half of the time aren't prepared or just simply lazy. The campus is old and gross and the staff doesn't do anything about it. We've had toilet paper in our trees and eggs splattered on the ground for over a month now and now has the decency to pick it up. The administrators are rude and don't even try to help students in need at all. It's honestly the worst school I've ever been to and I only came to this school because I thought it seemed fairly organized but wow was I wrong. If you're planning to bring your kids here or applying here, please think again and visit the campus before you come. I wouldn't recommend this school to anyone I know.
Submitted by parent on April 21, 2014

My school is Lamar High School located on Westheimer. I hate it here so much. They have blocked all the fun things on the internet like Netflix, Miniclip, etc. Even when your teacher allows you to use it they continue to block it. They have bars on the windows to make it seem we are in jail. And they also have a rule where if you have to use the restroom, the teacher has to call the A.P. and ask permission with your I.D. number. Then the A.P. makes the decision if you can use the restroom or not. Most of the teachers are rude and dont teach very well and my son has been trying to get into tutorials but there are only 3-4 tutorial teachers for that school. Even though the attendance is about 2,000-3,000 kids. Please!!!! Send your children somewhere else!!!!!
Submitted by student on June 15, 2013

Okay, this is going to explain everything about Lamar. Teachers and Curriculum: -Teachers do their best at what they do, sometimes they are restricted to what they want to teach by the administration. -The IB and regular curriculum are similar, they both involve IB in it, however, the IB curriculum focuses and other things that are more rigorous than the standard curriculum. Administration & Principal: -The Lamar administration has to be one of the most productive and helpful administrations out of many schools in Houston. -The assistant principals/ deans do a lot to help children, but sometimes can go a little far with some rules, I understand that there are rules, but sometimes they go a little too far with some rules. -The principal is definitely not seen very much, but he does a lot for the school that benefits the students. Overall: Lamar is a good choice if your child wants an education, however, there are some students at Lamar that don't have good manners and are disrespectful, but what do you expect for such a big school? Lamar has a lot of resources that most schools do not have, and Lamar is a good place to learn and grow.