About YES

1995

Concerned parents, teachers, and community leaders at Rusk Elementary create Project YES to address the high rates of illiteracy, truancy and juvenile crime consuming students in the East End. The new program enrolls 58 students.

1998

Parents and staff decide to apply for a state charter, move to a new site, and enlarge the program to include high school.
Project YES becomes YES College Preparatory School: an open-enrollment state charter school for middle and high school students.

2000

Despite its campus only consisting of small modular campus in a previously deserted parking lot, YES is the top performing high school in the state.

2001

First class of YES seniors graduate. 100% of these graduates are accepted to a four-year college or university. 86% are first-generation college bound.

Through a generous gift from the Brown Foundation, YES moves to a permanent site in Southeast Houston.

2003

YES Prep opens its second campus, YES North Central, in a renovated warehouse with 110 sixth-grade students. The school will grow by one grade level each year until its first class of seniors graduates in 2010.

The George Foundation of Fort Bend County provides YES Prep with a three-year start-up grant as well as the facilities to create a third school in the Richmond/Rosenberg community.

2004

This third campus, YES Prep Southwest, opens with 100 sixth-grade students.

With three schools in operation, and the creation of a central Home Office, YES Prep completes Phase I of its Growth Plan.

2005

YES Prep completes a strategic planning process (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and initiates a $15 million capital campaign to fund facility needs and prepare for future expansion.

2006

Newsweek ranks YES Prep as one of the nation’s top 100 high schools.

YES College Preparatory Schools changes its name to YES Prep Public Schools.

YES Prep opens a fourth campus, YES East End, to serve the neighborhood where the school first began in 1995. The school opens with 110 sixth graders and a long waiting list.

Through a gift from the Brown Foundation, YES North Central moves into a permanent facility in north Houston with a  gym, auditorium, and 22 acres of land.

2007

Newsweek ranks YES as one of the top 100 schools in the nation for the second year in a row.

U.S. News & World Report ranks YES Prep as one of the top 100 schools in the nation and the best school in Houston.

Through an innovative partnership with Houston ISD, YES opens its fifth campus inside Lee High School. YES Prep Lee serves 130 students in sixth grade in a dedicated wing on the Lee High School campus.

YES completes construction on a sorely needed community and athletic center at YES Prep Southeast.

2008

The nonprofit research and advocacy group, Children at Risk, spotlighted by the Houston Chronicle, ranks YES Prep as the BEST public school in Houston.

U.S. News & World Report ranks YES Prep as one of the top 100 public schools in the nation.

YES Prep serves 2,600 students on five area campuses. For the 10th year in a row, all YES schools are rated Exemplary and Recognized by the Texas Education Agency, and for the eighth consecutive year, 100% of YES Prep's graduating seniors are accepted into four-year colleges and universities.

2009

 
2010

2011

Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report once again rank YES Prep as one of the top 100 schools in the nation.

YES Prep publicly announces its plan to grow to 13 schools to educate 10,000 students.

All YES schools are rated Exemplary by the Texas Education Agency.

YES Prep opens two new schools, YES Prep Brays Oaks and YES Prep West, in July 2009.

YES Prep Lee changes its name to YES Prep Gulfton and moves to its permanent location at 6565 DeMoss.

YES Prep graduates 126 seniors, including students from the first graduating class of YES Prep North Central.

For the tenth year in a row, 100% of graduating seniors are accepted to four-year colleges.

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan is the keynote speaker at the annual Senior Signing Day celebration and declares: "We need to shine a national spotlight on the work you are doing to change education."

YES Prep North Forest opens in July 2010, with YES Prep poised to serve over 4,000 low-income students for the first time in its history.