Yearly Archives: 2012

STAAR info session planned for Feb. 16 at HISD administration building

Mark your calendars for upcoming STAAR events, starting with this info session:

Join HISD and the Council of PTAs for a STAAR info session
Thursday, Feb. 16, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center
Board Auditorium
4400 West 18th Street

DETAILS: Get the latest updates on the state’s new accountability test. Our panel of experts is ready to take all of your questions. Plus, we will present information on how the test will affect elementary, middle, and high school students, and explain how the district is implementing the new requirements (such as the 15 percent rule).

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS: If you have questions about STAAR, you can ask them in person or via email before the event: STAAR@houstonisd.org.

Other upcoming events:

STAAR programs on HISDTV:

Feb. 28 parent forum, in English (Program flier: STAAR_onTV)

March 6 parent forum, in Spanish (Program flier: STAAR_onTV (Spanish)

HISD gets down to the grain, talks school lunch reform

Brian Giles, Houston ISD Food Services Administrator, was a guest on Great Day Houston today. Giles talks about the new Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which limits calories, trans fat, and sodium in school meals, while adding fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. HISD has already added healthy options to the district’s cafeterias and is working hard to curb childhood obesity.

It’s National Signing Day for HISD seniors – find out who’s going where

 

More than 100 student athletes from football, basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming, and wrestling, are at HISD’s Delmar Field House today to make their college and university choices official. Click here to see who’s going where.

UPDATE:

 Click here to view photos from event.

Students, parents and school administrators said they were incredibly proud of the athletes who attended HISD’s National Signing Day Ceremony. Former NFL Player Antonio Armstrong reminded students that they are part of the small fraction of students who get to play college sports.

 “You don’t know how special you are,” he said. “Someone looked at you on that floor and said ‘I want that kid on my team.’”

  Continue reading →

Chronicle editorial: HISD ‘willing to lead in the right direction’ with proposed Houston Innovative Learning Zone

An editorial in the Houston Chronicle praised the Houston Independent School District for showing that it understands the need for strategic vocational education in high schools.

For decades most people assumed that a college education meant a good career. As we have learned, that isn’t necessarily true, and there has been a push to return vocational training to high school classrooms. We have advocated for more strategic vocational education in high schools (“Jobs under the radar,” Page B6, Jan. 8), and we’re pleased that the Houston Independent School District, with its proposed Houston Innovative Learning Zone, shows that it understands this current conversation and is willing to lead in the right direction.

Under the proposal, students at five HISD campuses would have the chance to earn associate’s degrees and receive career training in high-demand technical fields. The editorial pointed out that HILZ goes beyond classroom training and includes steps to “help students get a foot in the door for future jobs.” For students who pursue college after HILZ, the resulting associate’s degree will leave them “well-placed to apply to a four-year program.”

And while HILZ promises to be an excellent job-training program, its proposal also demonstrates that HISD has been listening to its constituents. The push for greater career and technology education offerings hasn’t just been from politicians, but from students and the Houston community. HISD has heard this call and responded appropriately. We hope that school leaders maintain this program at top standards, turning it into one of the school district’s key achievements.

Click here for the full editorial.

Click here to learn more about HILZ.

100 HISD high school athletes to make it official on National Signing Day

Decision time arrives for more than 100 HISD Prep-School Athletes who have braved the courtship of college recruiters seeking their talents in sports including football, basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming, and wrestling. The students will seal their commitments to colleges and universities of their choice on National Signing Day, Wednesday, February 1, 2012.

HISD will hold its National Signing Day Ceremony at 1 p.m. at the Delmar Field House located at 2020 Mangum. (Watch video of Bellaire standout Bianca Winslow.)

National Signing Day is the first day students can sign a letter of intent to play sports for colleges and universities of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The day is widely anticipated by the athletes and fans of college sports.

“We are very excited for our students who have the opportunity to further their education in this way,” said HISD Superintendent Terry Grier. “We want our scholar-athletes to be prepared for the academic rigor and to make the responsible decisions that come along with this opportunity.”

Continue reading →

Report on school breakfast shows Texas outperforms most states; Houston ISD third among big cities

The Center for Public Policy Priorities highlighted two national reports on the National School Breakfast Program. Among the findings:

  • Texas has the highest percentage of schools offering breakfast to students of any state in the nation, with 100 percent of schools offering a School Breakfast Program.
  • The Houston Independent School District ranks 3rd among urban school districts in the percentage of eligible students eating breakfast at school. In the 2010-2011 school year, almost four out of five (78.1 percent) low-income students at Houston ISD participated in the school breakfast program, compared to just over half (56.2 percent) in the previous year.

Click here for the full press release.  

 

 

HISD names new chief high school officer

Orlando Riddick brings experience as teacher, principal, and district administrator to new post

January 30, 2012 – Orlando Riddick, the Austin Independent School District’s director of high school operations, has been named Houston ISD’s chief high school officer.

In Austin, Riddick oversaw 16 high schools serving 15,000 students. Riddick will now guide 67 Houston Independent School District campuses with a combined enrollment of 55,000 students.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said Riddick has a history of raising academic achievement levels for students from all backgrounds.

“Mr. Riddick has high expectations for all children and a genuine belief that any student can succeed under the guidance of a quality teacher working in a school led by a great principal,” Dr. Grier said. “He is the ideal person to lead our efforts to raise the achievement bar at every HISD high school.”

Riddick began his education career in 1997 as an English literature teacher in Dallas. He later served as an assistant principal on the middle school and high school levels in Fort Worth ISD. At Thomas A. Edison High School in San Antonio, Orlando served as the lead instructional coordinator with duties that included budgeting, data analysis, and staff development.

Riddick was appointed principal of Warren Travis White High School in Dallas ISD in 2007. He led that predominantly Hispanic campus of 2,500 students to produce the district’s largest measurable academic gain in all areas, creating an environment in which 82 percent of students were college bound. Sixty percent of the students enrolled in Warren Travis White High School were taking advanced-level courses when Riddick was hired to oversee high schools in Austin.

“I am excited to join HISD and continue the transformative work that is already under way in Houston’s high schools,” Riddick said. “HISD’s efforts to boost the level of rigor at all campuses through the Advanced Placement program, the Houston Innovative Learning Zone, and other innovative initiatives are setting a high standard for the rest of the nation.”

A U.S. Army veteran, Riddick grew up in El Paso and is proficient in Spanish. He and his wife Yvette have three children, ages 14, 12, and 10. Riddick will report for duty in HISD after Spring Break in March.

HISD accepting applications for Mandarin Chinese magnet school in Bellaire

HISD’s first ever Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School will open in time for the 2012-2013 school year. It will be located at 6300 Avenue B in Bellaire and will initially serve students in the early elementary school grades, with additional grades to be added in subsequent years.

HISD Trustee Harvin Moore, who took the lead in proposing the new school, said it will serve students from throughout the city. “This is a program for everyone,” Moore said, adding that such programs in other U.S. cities have drawn heavy interest from families of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world and Texas trade with China has increased more than 600 percent over the past decade. Texas is second only to California among states that do the most business with China.

National leaders in Chinese language and culture education recently visited HISD to discuss the district’s plan to expand programs that teach Chinese language and culture.

Applications are currently being accepted for Pre-K, Kindergarten, first, and second grades for the 2012–2013 school year. Click here for Magnet applications and submit a completed application to the Office of School Choice located at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center. 4400 West 18th St.  Houston, Texas 77092. Telephone: 713-556-6947

Read the full press release (.pdf).

University of Houston partnership gives high school students glimpse of college life

Austin High School student Gwen Martinez has always dreamed of becoming a teacher—and thanks to the school’s magnet program, she is well on her way. Once a week, Martinez and dozens of her classmates visit Cage Elementary School to tutor students and get a feel for what it’s like in the classroom.

 (WATCH VIDEO)

“I believe kids are our future and they deserve the best,” said the high school senior. Martinez plans to attend the University of Houston (UH) in the fall to pursue her career goal. She chose UH in part because of a new collaboration between Austin and the emerging Tier One school.

Through a partnership started this academic year, students at Austin are being paired with students at the local university to get a feel for college life. They’re also getting a chance to interact with professors from the school’s College of Education.

“Not only are the professors collaborating with our students at mini-workshops, but our teachers are being exposed to the university’s research-based strategies,” said Austin Principal Jorge Arredondo. “Our teachers are then putting theory into action, with the goal of raising our standards of instructional delivery and ultimately increasing student achievement.”

Leaders at the University of Houston say they are excited about the opportunities it creates for those pursuing a career in education.

Continue reading →

Peck Elementary among energy-efficient campuses built using $805 million bond program

Peck Elementary, at 5001 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., is LEED certified, with a projected energy savings of 16.5 percent per year.

 HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and Chief Elementary Schools Officer Sam Sarabia joined a host of community notables, activists, elected officials, and former teachers on Jan. 20 to dedicate the new Lora B. Peck Elementary School.

Nearly 350 guests, including former HISD trustee Arthur Gaines, U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, City of Houston Controller Ron Green, Houston Defender Editor Sonceria Jiles, and Melody Ellis, HISD’s first African-American school board president, came to admire the new, energy-efficient campus.

Dr. Grier thanked Peck Principal Carlotta Brown for her dedication and leadership, citing recent challenges with flooding during the weeks leading up to the ceremony. “She was supposed to be celebrating her anniversary, at dinner with her husband,” he said, “but she was here at Peck, making sure each student was safe.”

The dedication program, entitled “Dreams Do Come True,” featured performances by Hanq Neal, minister of music at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, and Ballet Folklorico by Compania Alegria Mexican.

The new Peck campus, which was built with funds from the 2007 Bond Program, is considered a “high-performance” or “green” building, built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

Key features in LEED schools include the installation of water-conserving plumbing, energy efficient systems and controls, improved air quality, and use of natural light. Peck, which will use 38 percent less water than a similarly built, less-energy-efficient elementary school, is projected to have an energy savings of 16.5 percent per year.

 
New Campuses, Renovations Across the District
Major facility upgrades are happening at schools across the city thanks to the $805 million bond proposal that voters approved in 2007. Thousands of students at 15 elementary schools are enjoying newly constructed campuses, and many more students will have the same opportunity as HISD works to complete six new campuses in 2012 and expands an additional 10 campuses in time for the 2012-2013 school year. To see what’s changing in your neighborhood, visit hisdprojects.com.