Author Archives: HISD Communications

‘See to Succeed’ provides vision screening, eyeglasses for 11,000 students

A combined $200,000 commitment from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the Houston Independent School District will allow 11,000 area students to receive the vision screening and eye examinations they need in the coming year.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker publicly thanked the Arnold Foundation and HISD for the contribution on Monday, March 5, during a visit to the city’s Good Neighbor Health Care Center in The Heights.

“This is truly a case of many hands sharing the load,” Mayor Parker said of the See to Succeed program, which has been providing free eye examinations and prescription eyewear for Houston-area children since 2007. Established by OneSight, a Luxottica Group foundation, See to Succeed partners include Berkley Eye Center, Essilor Foundation, University of Houston Eye Institute, Wal-Mart, Eye Care for Kids, Kids Vision for Life, San Jacinto College, and HISD.

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Education Week: Houston schools take a page from best charters

In an article in Education Week, “Accelerating Education: Houston Schools Take a Page from Best Charters,” writer Christina Samuels takes a look at HISD’s Apollo 20 program, which incorporates the best practices from successful charters into low-performing schools:

Searching for innovations from charter schools was a natural fit for Houston: Two of the best-regarded charter networks, the Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, and YES (Youth Engaged in Service) Prep, were founded in the city. And, because Texas is a right-to-work state, the district has more latitude than districts in some other parts of the country in shifting teachers’ workloads and instituting such controversial changes as performance pay.

A year into the three-year effort, the roughly 7,000 students in the Apollo middle and high schools have posted measurably higher results in mathematics on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS, compared with their previous performance. In reading, the picture is more modest: A drop in scores at the middle school level was balanced by a slight increase in high schools. (Eleven elementary schools were added to Apollo 20 in the 2011-12 school year, and their test results are not yet available.)

But the program’s supporters say the tenets of the Apollo 20 program can be a starting point for improving other schools in the district and nationwide.

“These results prove the first proof point that charter school practices can be used systematically in previously failing traditional public schools to significantly increase student achievement in ways similar to the most successful charter schools,” wrote Mr. Fryer, who is the faculty director of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory, in a January 2012 progress reportRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader on Apollo 20.

Click here for the full article.

Grier, Lunceford to dedicate Horn Elementary – a magnet academy focused on development of “whole child”

Administrators, staff and students will be joined by HISD Board of Education President Michael Lunceford and Superintendent Terry Grier during the official dedication ceremony for the new Paul W. Horn Elementary today at 9 a.m. at the new campus, 4530 Holly Street.

All building systems on the new campus were designed to yield a projected increase of 24.6 percent in energy efficiency. Click image above for video tour.

“Being a former Horn parent myself, I can’t tell you how delighted I am to see this new building,” said Lunceford.  “This is the kind of facility that every student in HISD deserves.  It saves energy, fits perfectly with the surrounding community, and will prove to be a hub of achievement that parents, students and teachers can be proud of.” 

The new Horn facility is built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and all building materials were made using 41 percent recycled content.  All building systems on the new campus were designed to yield a projected increase of 24.6 percent in energy efficiency.  The district has committed to build all new construction projects to LEED standards.                  

The $805 million bond referendum approved by voters in 2007 made this project possible. The new school includes:

  • New library;
  • Bioswale to reduce potable water use;
  • New science labs;
  • New computer lab; and
  • Smart Board technology in all classrooms.

“Our new facility truly supports our focus on a holistic curriculum that speaks to the needs of the whole child,” said Horn Principal Sarah Harrington referring to the academy’s mission as a magnet school.  “With Smart Board technology, our new library and computer lab, we are well poised to meet the needs of all our students.” 

For more information about other school construction projects district wide, visit www.hisdprojects.org.

HISD reaches out to Hispanic community with live STAAR forum in Spanish

Panelists will be taking questions from studio audience and callers

The Houston Independent School District is reaching out to its Spanish-speaking community and familiarizing them with the new state-mandated STAAR exam by broadcasting a live STAAR Forum in Spanish on Tuesday, March 6, from 7 to 8 p.m. on HISD TV.

This live Spanish forum will provide parents and students the opportunity to ask questions and share their concerns about STAAR with a panel of bilingual experts, including administrators and school principals. The panelists will also outline the chief differences between the previous state exam, TAKS, and STAAR, and discuss the state’s recent decision giving school districts the option of deferring implementation of the requirement that high school students’ scores on STAAR end-of-course exams count toward their class grades

Viewers can participate by submitting questions through HISD’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, via e-mail to STAAR@houstonisd.org or by calling during the forum to 713-556-8901. 

What:         Live STAAR Forum in Spanish

Who:          HISD parents, students and STAAR panelists

When:        Tuesday, March 6, from 7 to 8 p.m.

Where:       HISD-TV (Comcast, Ch. 18 and AT&T U-Verse, Ch. 99) and online at www.houstonisd.org/HISDTV.

Upgrades transform medical building into kid-friendly early childhood center (w/ video)

In 2007, Houston voters passed a $805 million bond referendum to build new schools, renovate and repair others, and upgrade and improve campus safety and security districtwide. Since then, HISD crews have been hard at work building over 15 new campuses and renovating over 100 others. Every week, a different campus based construction project will be featured here to showcase some of the amazing facility upgrades happening across HISD and to demonstrate the district’s commitment to taxpayers.

One of four outdoor classrooms at Bellfort Early Childhood Center (click image above for virtual tour).

Bellfort Early Childhood Center received major renovations as part part of the 2007 bond referendum. The former medical building was remodeled to be kid friendly in order to accommodate nearly 400 pre-k and kindergarten students. Major updates were also made to the building’s mechanical, lighting, and security systems.

Click here for more information on the Bellfort Early Childhood Center bond project.

Horn Elementary moved into a brand new campus at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year as a result of the HISD Bond Program. The new building was designed with input from the school’s staff and includes larger classrooms, a brand new computer lab, and two science labs. Since the new building opened, enrollment is now up at the school.

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Join HISD for noontime chat on STAAR – March 7 on houstonisd.org

Parents, teachers and community members can visit houstonisd.org for an interactive web chat on STAAR on Wednesday, March 7, from noon to 1.

A chat window will display a running feed of questions and answers during the live event. Viewers can simply watch, or actively participate by typing questions into the chat window. Selected questions will appear along with a response from HISD’s panel of STAAR experts.

On the Q&A panel: Curriculum Director Nancy Gregory, Director of High School Office Mark Shenker, and Middle School Accountability Manager Richard Blair.

Dr. Terry Grier commends “courage” displayed by HISD staff in the face of dwindling state support

Delivering his annual HISD State of the Schools address to a sold-out crowd of 2,000 today, Superintendent Terry Grier said the district took significant steps in 2011 toward raising the level of academic achievement at every campus and meeting parents’ expectations.

And while HISD lays claim to some of the top-performing schools in the nation, Dr. Grier said, too many of Houston’s neighborhood schools are not improving fast enough.

“We’re proud of the schools that reliably produce graduates prepared to excel in college and in the workplace. But we also know that too many of our schools don’t fit into that category,” Dr. Grier told the crowd of community leaders, educators, and business organizations. “We must be able to look every parent in the eye and tell them we’d be proud to send our own children to any school in Houston. That’s the kind of consistency I’m talking about.”

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Sterling HS student: “I’m proof that HISD offers a great education”

Sterling High School senior George Smith Jr.:

Thank you for the opportunity to be here this afternoon. I’m a senior in the aviation magnet program at Sterling High School. And, I am very happy to tell you that as of February 25th, I am a licensed pilot!

I transferred from the Aldine school district to attend Sterling High School as a sophomore because I wanted to be in the aviation program. It’s the best decision I ever made.

It’s been an incredible experience, and I’m proof that HISD offers a great education for anyone willing to take advantage of it. I placed all my pride into my new school and strived for excellence, as I was not just representing myself and my family, but I was also representing my school and my district. I have taken AP and dual-credit courses and with much hard work, I’m proud to tell you that I am the salutatorian of my graduating class.

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