[2] The John Cooper School was funded by corporate and private benefactors, parents, and other supporters in The Woodlands and the Houston metropolitan area.

[1] Cooper officially opened on September 6, 1988, on a 43-acre campus designated for this purpose by the principal founder of The Woodlands, businessman and philanthropist George P.

[10] A non-profit corporation governed by a Board of Trustees, Cooper earned its first accreditation by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS)[11] in 1998.

[11] The School also holds memberships in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC),[12] the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE),[13] the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB),[14] the Educational Records Bureau (ERB), and the Cum Laude Society of America.

[17] Since 2004, varsity teams have competed in the highly regarded Southwest Preparatory Conference that comprises 18 independent schools in Texas and Oklahoma.

[18] Cooper's first state championship was achieved by the varsity girls tennis team, who won the 1992 TAPPS Class A title.

[23] The school community contributes to the greater community through a wide variety club and service projects in all divisions as well as school-wide efforts such as the Habitat for Humanity Project that has partially funded and constructed Habitat homes each year since 1999, the Empty Bowls Project held each February to support and fund local hunger relief efforts, and the Dig Pink week held each October to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer.

Each year the Cooper chapter is one of the largest in Texas and has had many students involved on a state and national level through elections and leadership conferences.