HISD Foundation supports the event for third year in a row
Nearly 1,000 recent graduates will have the chance to enter a drawing to win a brand new car and more than $10,000 in scholarships at the upcoming third annual Cool to Be Smart celebration on Aug. 4 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Bayou City Event Center, 9401 Knight Road.
HISD students at three high schools say they are more confident and prepared to take the SAT thanks to a summer boot camp that raised their practice test scores by double digits.
“At first I found it really difficult,” said Sharpstown sophomore Giovanna Deleon. “Now, after taking the practice tests and seeing my score increase week after week, I am very proud and optimistic.”
Tiffany Dávila-Dunne
Tiffany Dávila-Dunne, a veteran corporate communications executive, has been named Chief Communications Officer for the Houston Independent School District.
Davila-Dunne replaces Aggie Alvez, who is returning to the Washington, D.C. area to spend more time with family there. Alvez served three years as HISD Chief Communications Officer.
Dávila-Dunne served as the Director of Communications and Corporate Responsibility at BBVA Compass – which ranks among the top 25 largest commercial banks. During her tenure there, she led communications and public relations during five acquisitions and the organization’s rebranding. She established the BBVA Compass Foundation and the organization’s current corporate responsibility practices. Additionally, Dávila-Dunne, who reported to the CEO, was responsible for internal communications, executive messaging, crisis management, reputation management, and special events and protocol.
A teacher pours water into a tub to examine its flow through a dirt pile.
The key to a successful future for children may not come in the answers, but in the questions.
For the third year in a five-year research project known as Investing in Innovation, more than 400 HISD teachers in first through eighth grades are undergoing intense science training to study how children learn with inquiry-based instruction through the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s LASER i3 program.
Rather than spend their summer watching TV and keeping cool, nearly two dozen students from Austin, Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, Challenge Early College, DeBakey, Lamar, Lee, Milby and Westbury high schools are helping create trails in area parks as part of the six-week Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) summer program.
Editor’s note: This is the third in an occasional series of profiles on minority or women-owned companies that do business with HISD. The district’s minimum M/WBE goal levels are 20 percent for all levels of purchasing and construction, and 25 percent for professional services. In the 2007 bond program, that commitment reached nearly 34 percent. In the 2012 program, the contracts awarded to date reflect a nearly 51 percent M/WBE commitment.
Berry Elementary School, built under the 2007 bond program, has earned LEED Silver certification.
Water-collection systems, recyclable materials and healthier learning and teaching spaces are among the topics to be discussed at HISD’s “Sustaining Momentum” workshop for architect and engineering teams working under the 2012 bond program.
Ideas shared during the half-day workshop on Monday, July 29, will help district officials set sustainability goals for schools under the $1.89 billion construction program, which will replace or rebuild 40 schools across the city.
HISD’s Millionaire Club is a literacy initiative designed to encourage students to read for pleasure during the summer months. Each week, we’ll catch up with one HISD librarian to find out what’s on his or her reading list. This week, we spoke with Rowena Verdin, a librarian at Milby High School.
What are you reading right now?
I just finished reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth and I started The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.
Insurgent is actually the second book in the series by Veronica Roth. The first book, Divergent, was in last year’s Name That Book list. I enjoyed the first book; it’s like Hunger Games. Plus, I really like dystopian novels, so I just had to read the second book. The third book is supposed to come out in October.
Dog Stars is on the Name That Book (NTB) list.
Nearly a century ago, famed educator John Dewey said, “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” Dewey’s words of wisdom resonated among 150 HISD school leaders, central office staff members, and teachers as they gathered this month for a four-day retreat to officially launch and learn more about PowerUp, HISD’s groundbreaking initiative that will eventually give every high school student a laptop computer.
Principals and teachers involved in phase 1, or the pilot phase of PowerUp, along with members of curriculum, professional development, and instructional technology, met July 15-18 at Sharpstown High School to train with over a dozen educators from the Mooresville Graded School District located in Mooresville, N.C. MGSD has received national recognition for undertaking a digital technology initiative that provides every student in grades 4-12 with a computer to use at school and at home.
The average Houston Independent School District campus earned a grade of B- after results were tabulated for the most comprehensive stakeholder satisfaction survey in HISD history.