Author Archives: HISD Communications

Family Learning Academy ‘Super Saturdays’ continue until Nov. 8

HISD families from throughout the district are encouraged to attend one of four remaining “Super Saturday” sessions held throughout the months of October and November by the HISD Family and Community Engagement Department. The free sessions are part of the district’s Family Learning Academy (FLA), which is designed to give HISD parents and families the tools they need to help their child graduate from high school, enroll in college, and pursue a rewarding career.

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Several hundred parents and their children attended the FLA event this past at Saturday at Furr High School which included sessions on a variety of district and community resources including: connecting kids to healthcare, navigating the HISD school choice application process, healthy eating, and how to help your student decide what to do after high school. Continue reading →

Want to teach in HISD? Attend an information session

Are you interested in joining Team HISD as a teacher? We have an information session Tuesday for you to learn about the district’s teacher selection process.

The session will be held at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St., from 5-6 p.m. tomorrow. Candidates may register online and check-in begins at 4:30 p.m., as the session will begin promptly at 5 p.m.

The teacher recruitment team will explain what happens after a teacher has been approved for the district’s “teacher pool” and answer your questions.  Candidates are encouraged to bring copies of their resumes.

ALERT: Some sports canceled due to weather

Due to strong storms throughout the Houston region, the Houston ISD athletics department has canceled all seventh-grade football and seventh- and eighth-grade volleyball games scheduled for Mon., Oct, 13, 2014.

Schools may elect to cancel afterschool activities, including athletic practices. Please contact your school directly to determine if planned activities will go on as scheduled.

Waltrip HS junior chosen to serve on Souper Bowl of Caring’s youth advisory board

(Houston Independent School District)Jonathan Simmons, a student at HISD’s Waltrip High School, has been chosen to serve on the Souper Bowl of Caring’s (SBOC) national youth advisory board this year.

The junior was one of only 14 students selected from across the nation to participate, and Jonathan was chosen after completing a rigorous application process that required students to submit a number of essays explaining why they wanted to serve.

As a part of his board duties, Jonathan delivered a speech in front of 500 guests—including Houston Texans CEO Bob McNair—at that organization’s Tackle Hunger Houston luncheon on Sept. 30. Continue reading →

Westside teachers putting the HUB to the test

Students at Westside High School won’t be getting their PowerUp laptops until January, but that’s not stopping teachers on campus from using the PowerUp:HUB with their students.

With the help and encouragement of their campus instructional technologist, Westside teachers are starting to use the online teaching and learning platform for various instructional routines with their students including homework assignments and tests.

“Initially I had negative thoughts about the HUB, but now I like it because I and I am not so scared of it,” says Westside Advanced Placement World History Heather Barrow, who is using the HUB for homework assignments that she previously would have assigned to her students to do from a textbook. Continue reading →

Aged to perfection

Marina Palmer thought she was going to a meeting, but when she turned the corner, she saw two huge silver balloons – a 9 and a 0 – flanking the break room, as well as a crowd of coworkers from the HISD Human Resources Department.

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“Surprise,” they yelled, as everyone captured her reaction on cell phones and cameras. Inside the break room was a big chocolate cake that said, “Happy 90th Birthday Mrs. Palmer,” a large bouquet of flowers, more balloons, presents, cookies, and other snacks. Continue reading →

Benbrook ES students celebrate their library makeover

Excitement was in the air as the faculty and staff of Benbrook Elementary School awaited the grand opening of their new library. Target, in partnership with the Heart of America Foundation, funded a total makeover for the school’s library. Volunteers from local Target stores put the finishing touches on the furnishings and shelved the last of the new books just moments before HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, Heather Cook from U.S. Rep. Ted Poe’s office and State Rep. Jessica Farrar joined the celebration.

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“When you can look across a big wonderful city like Houston and you can find corporate sponsors like Target who care, who care about the kids, who care about the communities in which their stores are located,” said Grier, “it just makes Houston a can-do, special kind of place.” Continue reading →

North Forest homecoming to be made more memorable by giveaway

Remember when Houston ISD auctioned off North Forest ISD memorabilia? Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones purchased much of it and is giving it back to the community Saturday.

North Forest High School’s homecoming game against Austin HS is set to kickoff at 6 p.m., but three hours before that, at 3 p.m., Skillern-Jones, along with State Rep. Senfronia Thompson and Houston Vice Mayor Pro Tem Jerry V. Davis, will host a tailgate party, complete with refreshments, a DJ, and door prizes. Skillern-Jones also be giving away all the district memorabilia to alumni or students who want it. Continue reading →

HISD preschool parenting program reports higher student achievement in reading and math

Children of parents who participated in the Houston Independent School District’s Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program have outperformed their peers on the 2014 Aprenda 3 exam in reading and mathematics in the first, second, and third grades.

This marks the fourth consecutive evaluation in which HIPPY students have significantly outperformed their peers on the standardized exam for English Language Learners.

The annual HISD evaluation of the program looked at test results of 99 elementary school students whose parents participated during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 year. The most significant differences between HIPPY students and non-HIPPY students were in second-grade mathematics and third-grade reading. On these exams, HIPPY students outscored their peers by 12.7 and 10.6 normal curve equivalents (NCEs), respectively. Continue reading →

Challenge Early College HS students learn about cybersafety and digital citizenship peer-to-peer

Underclassmen at Challenge Early College High School took their recent lesson about cybersafety and digital citizenship very seriously. As one of the Phase II PowerUp schools, Challenge students will get laptops by the end of October and must undergo digital citizenship training. At Challenge they are doing the training a little differently. Challenge ECHS seniors were trained by HISD instructional techs, and they, in turn, are training the 9th-, 10th- and 11th-graders during their Advisory class.

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“They’re actually getting the information from the perspective of a student, and it’s from a facilitator in their own advisory, so it’s someone they’ll actually listen to,” said Challenge senior Sandra Torres. “They won’t tune out the student because they’re so connected to them, so they’re actually going to pay attention and take into account what they say.” Continue reading →