Tag Archives: Foster ES

Summer STEM Institute helps teachers infuse learning with fun

More than five dozen HISD science, technology, engineering, and math teachers took part in a summer institute recently that was designed to help boost students’ math and science scores by incorporating more fun into their lessons.

The educators came from 23 HISD elementary and middle schools that received part of a TIF4 STEM grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant also provides resources such as equipment and technology, and participating teachers will receive additional training opportunities throughout the school year and share what they have learned with other faculty members at their campuses.

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Second annual career day at Foster Elementary

More than a dozen careers were represented by attendees at the second annual Career Day at Foster Elementary recently. Attending the event were engineers, police officers, a sheriff, an attorney, a counselor, insurance agents, dental representatives, and even a snake-handler from Texas Snakes.

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‘Home Field Advantage’ program building educational stability for students

Students whose families move during the middle of the school year are being allowed to stay at their “home school,” or the one they enrolled in at the beginning of the academic year, thanks to a innovative HISD program called Home Field Advantage.  Since May 2014, schools involved in the program have seen their overall mobility rate drop by an average of 10 percentage points.

During his State of the Schools address last February, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier promised to create a program to build educational stability among highly mobile students. Subsequently, students at 13 elementary schools, where roughly 30 percent of families move in any given year, were offered transportation to their “home” school, even if their parents moved. Continue reading

Giving high mobility students the ‘Home Field Advantage’

Living up to a promise made by Superintendent Terry Grier during February’s State of the Schools address, HISD is enacting “Home Field Advantage,” a program to create educational stability among highly mobile student populations.

Students at 13 elementary schools where families are most transient are being offered transportation to continue to allow them to make that school their home, even if their families move. General mobility rates in the selected schools is about 30 percent annually, according to Susan Kaler, Student Services officer. Continue reading

I Am HISD: Meet the man who helped bring lacrosse to HISD

Dave Vollmer

By day, Dave Vollmer is a senior manager in HISD’s IT department, but by night, he serves as a boys’ head lacrosse coach for Lamar High School—a volunteer position he has held for 25 years.

Learn more about why he’s so passionate about the sport and how he helped bring it to HISD schools in this week’s “I Am HISD” profile. Or check out the full edition of eNews online.

Other highlights from this week’s issue include:

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‘Kids with Character’ mentoring program rolls out to 20 schools

Twenty students at Sherman Elementary School received their certificates and sticker badges Monday as they were recognized during a special lunch for being a “Kid with Character.”

Fourth-grader Alicia Sierra was recognized for her outstanding behavior. “I feel good and want to encourage my other friends so they can sit on stage with me,” she said. Continue reading