Author Archives: HISD Communications

Teacher attributes his own ‘value-added’ growth to principal’s guidance

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When Tiffany Chenier became the new principal of McNamara Elementary School back in 2006, one of the first things she did was analyze her student data. That led to a series of “serious conversations” with teacher Pang-Cheng Liu, whose student passing rate at the time was only around 50 percent. Continue reading

Spring 2015 testing date changes for STAAR math test for grades 5, 8

Texas Commissioner of Education Michael Williams has notified Texas school districts and charters that the spring testing date for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) grades 5 and 8 mathematics will be shifted for the 2014–2015 school year.

The spring testing date for STAAR grades 5 and 8 mathematics will change from March 30, 2015, to April 20, 2015. Continue reading

Students learn what it takes to run the City of Houston

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Twenty-one seniors from Barbara Jordan High School for Careers were recognized Tuesday, Dec. 9 by the City of Houston for their commitment to job shadowing with more than 10 city departments to get a comprehensive look at what it takes to provide services to residents of the nation’s fourth largest city. Continue reading

HISD employees donate more than $309,000 to Combined Charities

Top contributors saluted for Combined Charities participation

Top contributors saluted for Combined Charities participation

HISD’s Combined Charities Campaign concluded on Oct. 31 this year, and when all of the pledges were tallied, district employees had contributed more than $309,000 to support their favorite causes.

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Day 3: Middle school students connect creatively with Hour of Code

Eighth-graders at Fonville Middle School joined the districtwide coding challenge for the Hour of Code with a tutorial in programming. This is the second year that Fonville students have participated in the international initiative designed to generate awareness about computer programming. [su_vimeo url=”http://vimeo.com/114140296″ responsive=”no”]

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Students explore similarities of medicine, energy, aerospace at Pumps & Pipes

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Forty HISD students experienced what it would be like to be a surgeon and an engineer at  Pumps and Pipes, where thousands of medicine, energy and aerospace professionals and researchers exchanged ideas and explored crossover technologies in each industry.

“The aerospace, energy and medical fields have different techniques, but they basically use the same concepts,” said Energy Institute High School sophomore Shawn Attar.

Students from Energy, Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan, DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Furr High School, Kashmere High School, Lamar High School, M.C. Williams Middle School, and South Early College High School attended the annual event Monday, Dec. 8 at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. The event is organized by ExxonMobil, Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, University of Houston, and NASA. Continue reading

Teaching language arts helps one educator publish his first book

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When Mark Dostert was hired as a “children’s attendant” at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center back in 1997, he didn’t realize that meant he would actually be serving as an unarmed guard of the facility’s inmates.

But the seventh-grade English language arts teacher, now in his eleventh year at HISD’s Johnston Middle School, said the year-long experience in Chicago taught him some valuable lessons about working with at-risk youth—and now he is sharing those lessons with other educators. Continue reading

Day 2: Hour of Code teaches students new web programs

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Kindergartners work on coding problems at Briargrove Elementary School on Monday, Dec. 8.

Kindergartners at Briargrove Elementary School collaborated to create an interactive character, coordinating his movements, look and sound for their Hour of Code activity. On Monday, Dec. 8, Cleopatra Jones’ ESL kindergarten class used Scratch, a web programming language tool used to create interactive art, stories and simulations to create an interactive character and build its environment.

More than 100 HISD schools are participating in the Hour of Code as part of Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 8–14. The week-long global initiative encourages students of all ages to learn the basics of coding, engineering, computer programming, and gaming. Continue reading

Westside Lady Wolves bring home the trophy at annual girls’ basketball tournament

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The Westside High School girls’ basketball team racked up multiple victories to finish as the overall champion of the HISD girls’ varsity basketball tournament. Fans were treated to three days of exciting and competitive basketball at the 31st annual tournament, which included 39 games held Dec. 4-6.

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Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School breaks ground for new facility

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Stakeholders for the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School gathered Saturday at the school’s new site in the Galleria area to break ground on a new 21st century building. The $32 million campus is being built as part of the HISD’s 2012 bond program.

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