September is National Attendance Awareness Month, and HISD’s goal this year, and every year, is to ensure every HISD student attends school regularly.
If students miss too much school – regardless of the reason – it can cause them to fall behind academically.
Campuses, principals, and teachers are encouraged to share how they’re promoting attendance in their classrooms using #SchoolEveryDay. Also, Sunday, Sept. 10’s #HISDAdminChat discussion on Twitter will feature campus leaders sharing their best practices to ensure students are school each day. read more…
ALL TEACHERS
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jX686X5OIw”]
Dear Team HISD Member,
At the start of every new school year, I would get “butterflies,” whether I was a parent sending my child off to a new grade, a teacher meeting my next crop of young scholars, or a principal in charge of an entire campus. It’s no different as superintendent, but I promise you these are good butterflies – they signal excitement and anticipation about the great possibilities of what’s ahead.
The 2016-17 school year has begun, and my first act as your new superintendent was visiting several HISD campuses across this vast and diverse district on the first day of classes. read more…
All HISD employees need to be aware of email scams that look like official messages from the district.
Please remember that the Office of Information Technology or other district offices will never ask for your log-in information or ask you to verify it through emails or websites. If you receive a suspicious email that asks you to provide your username and password – which is called a phishing email – you should immediately delete it before clicking on any links. read more…
HISD’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Department sent all HISD campuses a collection of books to support and sustain the common use of research-based, effective best practices in engaging parents and families. These resources were delivered during the summer, just in time for the beginning of the new school year.
The collection – consisting of nine books by well-known authors in the parent and caregiver engagement field – were provided to support to every school in their effort to enhance family and community engagement in their respective communities. Publications such as “Beyond the Bake Sale” by Henderson, et. al and “Engaging Every Family” by Dr. Steven Constantino provide specific strategies and effective practices to implement caregiver engagement policies and activities in schools. read more…
School leaders, counselors, and other campus staff members are invited to attend the district’s Wrap-Around Services Summit to help identify resources that support student academic achievement and progress towards high school graduation.
The summit is scheduled from Wednesday, Sept. 7 at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center. Principals will tour the summit from 10:30 a.m. to noon following the general session of the September principals’ meeting, but other school staff members are invited to attend between 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. read more…
Due to concerns about lead in drinking water in various states across the nation, HISD is taking precautionary measures to ensure that all water consumed by students is of a quality nature. read more…
School viewing of autism documentary helps staff understand needs of all students
A recent trip to the movie theater has the staff at Patterson Elementary thinking differently about how to serve all their students, particularly those with special needs. During in-service week, Patterson Principal Juan Gonzalez took his entire faculty to see the documentary LIFE, ANIMATED. Based on the bestselling book, the film explores the life of a young man with autism and how he was able to make sense of the world through Disney characters. read more…
ALL TEACHERS
Benchmark Running Record Assessment
As an integral part of Literacy By 3, students are to complete a Beginning-Of-Year (BOY) Benchmark Running Record Assessment. Results from the benchmark running record assessment provide data about individual student reading behaviors. By administering the assessment in a one-to-one setting, teachers are able to identify reading strengths as well as instructional needs for each student.
The BOY assessment should be administered to all students in grades one through five during the administration window which opens Aug. 22, 2016 and closes Sept. 23, 2016. This early window provides teachers with ample time to administer the running record as well as maximize instructional time for the remainder of the school year. read more…