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.

Research shows that students who move more than three times before the eighth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school, Kaler pointed out.

“In sports, a home field advantage is the boost a team gets from supporters and from being in familiar surroundings when they play in their own stadium,” said Kaler. “This is the same concept — that children will be more successful with the people who understand their learning needs and in a place they know, with their friends and established routines.”

“Children need stability in their lives and that is exactly what this program is about,” Grier said. “When we can get our kids off to a solid start, we put them on the path to accomplishing great things.”

Elementary schools designated for the “Home Field Advantage” are: