Yearly Archives: 2014

2012 bond schools celebrating construction with December ceremonies

Construction work is underway at the Worthing HS campus.

Construction work is underway at the Worthing HS campus.

Several schools will be celebrating major construction milestones in December as they hold groundbreaking or beam-signing ceremonies for their bond projects.

The Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School is hosting a groundbreaking at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, to mark the start of work on a new $32.2 million facility in the Galleria area. The new school, located at 5440 W. Alabama, will be a K-8 campus with the goal of creating bilingual students.

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All-girls engineering class learning to code, solve hacking challenges

Thirty eighth-graders in an all-girls engineering class at Clifton Middle School are learning how to write computer code and solve a series of web security and computer science challenges as part of HISD’s efforts to prepare students for college and career success in science and technology.

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Eighth-grader Nancy Perez says the class has taught her how to encrypt and decrypt code, the difference between a bit versus a byte and how to group bits into bytes for efficiency, so the computer knows to send packets of information together. Continue reading →

National expert assisting HISD educators on harnessing the power of Guided Reading

Some 475 HISD literary specialists, principals, and teachers packed the conference room at the Kingdom Builders Center on Nov. 13 to hear from literacy specialist Jan Richardson on “How to Harness the Power of Guided Reading.”

For two hours, Richardson shared practical suggestions and lesson plans on how to increase the impact of Guided Reading in support of Literacy By 3, HISD’s movement to have every child reading and writing with fluency by the end of grade 3. The plan calls for more than classroom work — it includes volunteers who read to students on a regular basis as part of Read Houston Read. Continue reading →

The Culinary Institute of America to offer college-level courses to HISD culinary students

The Houston Independent School District and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) announced an educational partnership Friday at Westside High School that will allow students in the culinary arts program to earn a semester of college credit from a world-renowned culinary college.

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“HISD is excited to announce a new relationship with The Culinary Institute of America that will feed into the passion our culinary arts students have for cooking and give them more hands-on culinary experience and skills to  prepare them for college and a career,” said HISD Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier.

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Math and science to take center stage at two weekend events

HISD students to compete at STEM Symposium and Education Rainbow Challenge Nov. 15

As part of HISD’s efforts to strengthen students’ skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), more than 1,500 students are expected to explore future career options in those areas at two weekend events — the HISD STEM Symposium and the Education Rainbow Challenge.

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Student teams to compete at VEX Robotics tournament at Space Center Houston

The robotics club at the newly-renamed Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men is hosting a VEX robotics tournament on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Space Center Houston (1601 NASA Parkway, 77058). Now in its third year, the Knights of Engineering Robotics Club at the all-boys academy is inviting families from throughout HISD to attend the tournament, which is expected to last most of the day.

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eNews Highlight: Furr HS alumna on the value of ‘the road less-traveled’

EMERGE graduate gives advice on the importance of taking risks in this week’s edition

Graduating seniors face a dizzying array of choices when considering a college to attend. In addition to selecting programs and possible majors, students have to decide whether to stay close to home or leave everything familiar behind by enrolling in a university thousands of miles away.

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HISD Board of Education approves creation of
Arabic Language Immersion Magnet School

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to approve plans for the district’s first-ever Arabic Language Immersion Magnet School.

The school is set to open its doors in the fall of 2015, with two pre-kindergarten and two kindergarten classes. A new grade level would be added each year as the students progress through the fifth grade.

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M/WBE architectural firm designing new 21st century Furr HS

mwbe_snapshot1_rev1Editor’s note: This profile is part of an occasional series on minority- or women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs) 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, contracts awarded are expected to top 53 percent. Continue reading →

North Carolina teachers finding growth opportunities in HISD

Six months ago, Lauren Paquette was teaching in North Carolina and living at the poverty level with her husband and son. Now, that’s all changed.

“We started realizing, ‘We can’t afford to live here anymore,’” explains the Hobby Elementary School fourth-grade teacher. “I saw that HISD was coming back to Charlotte, and I said, ‘You know what, let’s just go and see what happens.’”

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That was this past July, and within weeks of meeting with HISD’s Teacher Recruitment team, Paquette had packed up her classroom and headed to Houston.

“For me, it was a $20,000 raise, and that’s huge,” said Paquette. “It’s almost a whole other salary.”
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