"The Washington Post" included seven of IDEA's eligible College Preparatory schools in its 2016 ranking of "America's Most Challenging High Schools". IDEA Mission ranked 11 in the nation and 4 in Texas and IDEA Frontier ranked 15 in America and 5 in Texas. Other campuses included San Benito, Quest, San Juan, Alamo, and Donna. Each school also made the list the year prior. Jay Mathews commented on the ranking in the Post: "Even more startling is the appearance of six public charter high schools in some of the poorest parts of Texas among the top 50 schools on our list, which I have produced for The Post (and previously for "Newsweek") for 18 years. Those six schools, and a seventh that ranks No. 106, are all part of the Idea (sic) Public Schools charter network."