Mimi Swartz of the Texas Monthly said "But these outstanding academic programs created, over time, a school within a school, in which the smartest kids with the most advantages took the IB and AP tracks, while everyone else was relegated to classes that, for various reasons--discipline problems, less talented teachers, lower standards--just weren't as good.

[11] By the 2000s Bellaire placed on the lists of the top performing high schools in the United States.

[13] In 2007, 13 percent of high school-aged children zoned to Bellaire chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.

[16] A small portion of Bellaire High School attendance zone became a part of the district.

[17] In 2014, HISD superintendent Terry Grier stated that Bellaire should reduce its enrollment to around 3,000 students.

[22] The district attorney of Harris County stated that the evidence so far supports that the suspect had no intention of committing murder.

[23] HISD interim superintendent Grenita Latham stated that the district was exploring plans for metal detectors.

[24] Around April 2021, the school announced there would be 9 students tied in the place for valedictorian [25] for the spring graduating class of 2021.

Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly said in 2006 that Bellaire was "arguably the city's best public school" and "prestigious.

323 students at Bellaire High School in the 2004–2005 academic year earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams.

The Bellaire Theatre Department won 1st place at the state UIL One-Act Play Competition in 2004.

Bellaire led the Houston Independent School District in number of National Merit Program Finalists.

Bellaire High School is denoted as a Magnet school for foreign languages, offering a wide array of languages taught from Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian, and Latin.

All languages are available at the IB level; and AP courses are taught in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Latin.

In the 2004–2005 school year, the TAKS passing percentages for all Magnet students in reading, math, science, and social studies were 100%, 99%, 96%, and 100% respectively.

Bellaire High School has Advanced Placement and IB Diploma Programme (International Baccalaureate) programs.

In the last examination session, students completed the following exams (in both standard and higher levels): Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, English A1, French B, Geography, German B, Hindi B, Italian B, Latin, Mandarin B, Mathematics, Music, Physics, Psychology, Russian B, Spanish Ab., Spanish B, Theory of Knowledge, and Visual Arts.

Drugs were everywhere, as socially segmented and niche marketed--bars (Xanax) for the rich kids, weed for the gang bangers, meth for the goths--as the designer sneakers and expensive handbags the students coveted.

[42] In 2006 Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly said that Bellaire "still looks like the only high school in a small town.

[citation needed] In 2006 Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly said "in the halls you see whites, blacks, Hispanics, and East and Central Asians.

[45][46] Several parts of Houston that are around the city of Bellaire, including Meyerland,[47] Braesmont, parts of Braeswood Place that are west of Stella Link and parts that are south of South Braeswood (including the subdivisions of Ayrshire and Braes Terrace), Linkwood,[citation needed] Knollwood Village,[48] Woodshire, Woodside, Westridge,[citation needed] Maplewood,[49] Maplewood North,[50] about half of Westwood,[51] a small portion of Westbury,[52] Flack Estates,[citation needed] and a small portion of Willow Meadows,[53] are zoned to Bellaire High School.

[54] In addition a section of the city of Houston-defined Gulfton Super Neighborhood is zoned to Bellaire High.