Category Archives: Achievement/Recognition

HISD schools claim spots on TEA Title I Reward Schools List

12 schools earn recognition for both high performance and progress

The Texas Education Agency has recognized several HISD schools for high performance and high progress for the 2013-2014 school year. Seventeen HISD schools were included on the agency’s list of Title I High Performing Schools and 17 schools were named as High Progress schools.

“The students and staff of the schools included on this list are focused on implementing innovative programs to affect student outcomes in a positive way,” said HISD Superintendent Terry Grier. “Their successes are models that can be used by all schools across the district to ensure that each of our students are not only receiving good grades and scoring well on tests, but are exposed to an academically rigorous education that creates learning leaders.”

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HISD recognized for going ‘Above and Beyond’ for military personnel

Board of EducationThe Houston Independent School District recently was honored for its outstanding service and dedication in supporting military personnel working for the district.

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve organization (ESGR), a U.S. Department of Defense office, presented the district with its “Above and Beyond Award” at the June 12 regular Board meeting.

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T. H. Rogers students win National History Bee’s Team Bowl Championship

A love of knowledge and a taste for trivia have brought two students from HISD’s T.H. Rogers School recognition on the national stage.

Gram Brinson, who will enter HISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions as a freshman this fall, and Shomik Ghose, now an eighth-grader at T. H. Rogers, won the 2014 Team Bowl Championship coordinated by the National History Bee over the weekend.

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Ortíz MS campus leader named regional Principal of the Year by TASSP

(Houston Independent School District)

Noelia Longoria

Noelia Longoria, who is one of HISD’s Principals of the Year for 2014, is now one step closer to being recognized at the state level for her exemplary campus leadership, after recently being named the Region 4 Principal of the Year by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals (TASSP).

Longoria, who has led Ortíz Middle School since 2009, is a veteran educator with more than 30 years’ of experience. She serves as the lead principal for two other campuses, and her school was one of those selected to showcase the district’s best practices during the Broad Prize selection committee’s site visit in 2012. Continue reading →

Helms ES fourth-grader earns perfect math score on STAAR exam

Natalie Nichols

Natalie Nichols has seen a lot of tragedy in her short life. Given up for adoption by her dying mother when she was just four years old, she lost both her mother and her younger sister in Guatemala before being adopted by a couple from the U.S.

Assimilating to life in a foreign country is a formidable task on its own, but that hasn’t stopped the plucky Helms Elementary fourth-grader from taking on additional challenges. Natalie wants to excel academically as well—and now, she has done so—earning a perfect score on the math portion of the recent STAAR exam.

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Pomp and circumstance for Class of 2014: 48 hours, 40 HISD graduations

Houston ISD’s Class of 2014 is big – the graduates attend a total of 42 high schools. In less than 48 hours between Friday and Sunday, the district held 40 graduation ceremonies.

Team HISD made sure that each ceremony was special for the graduates and their families. The district used 10 facilities across the city, including Reliant Arena, Reliant Stadium, and the George R. Brown Convention Center, to accommodate all of the celebrations.

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Milby HS educator named HISD’s 2014 Librarian of the Year

HISD’s 2014 Librarian of the Year Rowena Verdin (center) with Principal Roy de la Garza (left) and School Support Officer Justin Fuentes

Rowena Verdin has been finding innovative ways to do her job since practically the minute she stepped onto the Milby High School campus. After only a year of fielding requests for copies of old yearbooks from dozens of alumni, she launched an effort to digitize them for easier access. And to entice students to read more, she set up her own version of the Red Box movie-rental kiosk in a display window, adorning popular books with bright red covers that say, “Have you ‘red’ any good books lately?”

It is these efforts and more that have earned Verdin the title of HISD’s Librarian of the Year for 2014.
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HISD announces Nurses of the Year for 2014

A commitment to making every student feel valued and a refusal to limit care to an eight-hour work day have garnered two HISD nurses the district’s highest honors for medical professionals in a school setting.

Lashawnda Harris, who serves at Lyons Elementary School, and Karen Adams, who serves at Sharpstown International School (SIS), have been named HISD’s Elementary and Secondary Nurses of the Year (respectively) for 2014.

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Students’ achievements celebrated on Academic Signing Day

Hundreds of Houston ISD seniors got together on Friday, May 23, to celebrate their acceptance to two- and four-year colleges and universities.

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HISD students awarded nearly $2M worth of HLSR scholarships

(JACKRIGBY HudsonOH)

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo awarded more than $7 million worth of scholarships to 394 students in 77 school districts. More than 100 Houston ISD students received scholarships worth $18,000 each.

More than 100 students from the Houston Independent School District were awarded a total of $1,836,000 worth of scholarships from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Wednesday.

Fifty-eight students were awarded “metropolitan” scholarships, each worth $18,000 over four years. Students had to be in the top 25 percent of their class, score 1350 on the SAT, or score 19 on the ACT to qualify.

Forty-four students were awarded “opportunity” scholarships, each worth $18,000 over four years. Students had to be in the top 50 percent of their class, score 1300 on the SAT, or score 18 on the ACT to qualify.

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