Category Archives: College Readiness

Upperclassmen invited to attend Top-Tier College Night Oct. 6

High-achieving HISD juniors and seniors who want information about opportunities at the nation’s most-prestigious institutions of higher learning should mark their calendars, as HISD’s Top-Tier College Night has been scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. The event will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at Washington High School (119 E. 39th, 77018).

Formally known as “Ivy-Plus College Night,” this event allows students to interact directly with admissions representatives from top-tier schools across the nation, as well as participate in hands-on workshops on the following topics:

  • Personal statements
  • Financial aid
  • Branding yourself as top-tier student
  • Liberal arts colleges
  • National research universities

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Bellaire HS senior aces both SAT and ACT

September 30, 2015 – Bellaire High School senior Antony Yun has officially earned bragging rights after receiving a perfect score on both the SAT and the ACT college entrance exams.

Antony Yun

Antony Yun

Yun was among four Houston Independent School District students from two schools to earn perfect scores on the SAT during the 2014-2015 school year. Three seniors from DeBakey High School for Health Professions —Anushka Madhuvarshi, Sasha Raman, and Gary Zhang — also earned the highest possible score on the SAT. Continue reading →

63 HISD students named National Merit semifinalists

Sixty-three seniors from six Houston Independent School District high schools qualified as semifinalists this week in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. HISD had 56 semifinalists last year.

The HISD students are among 16,000 from across the country to earn the semifinalist designation, allowing them the opportunity to continue in the academic competition and vie for more than $32 million in scholarships that will be awarded in the spring.

They attend Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, and Lamar high schools, DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Eastwood Academy, and the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts. Continue reading →

HISD kicks off 2015-2016 school year with emphasis on producing global graduates

The Houston Independent School District will begin the 2015-2016 academic year on Monday with the opening of the nation’s first public Arabic language immersion school, significantly expanded dual language opportunities and a continued shift to digital learning.

The Arabic Immersion Magnet School (AIMS) is among 283 HISD campuses that will throw open their doors on Monday and welcome back nearly 215,000 students from across the district. Bus drivers will begin transporting nearly 34,000 students to and from school, and cafeteria workers will begin cooking the 288,000 meals that they serve each day. Continue reading →

HISD earns “Met Standard” rating from state for the 2014-2015 school year

Almost 80 percent of HISD campuses also receive “Met Standard” designation.

The Houston Independent School District earned an overall “Met Standard” rating, according to 2015 state accountability data released Friday by the Texas Education Agency.

The district received the rating — the highest offered under the state’s current accountability system — despite increasing performance targets on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test.

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HISD Class of 2015 receives record-breaking scholarship and financial aid offers

The Houston Independent School District’s Class of 2015 has received almost $265 million in scholarship and financial aid offers, a record-breaking amount that surpasses last year’s total by $10 million.

Nearly all HISD high schools — 82 percent — saw increases in scholarship offers at the campus level, with the biggest boost at Scarborough High School, where scholarship offers jumped by nearly 1,000 percent, increasing from less than $200,000 last year to almost $2 million this year.

Record increases also were seen at Mount Carmel Academy, the Houston Academy for International Studies and Worthing and Booker T. Washington high schools. Continue reading →

Six more HISD students win National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarships

Six more Houston Independent School District students were selected this week to win National Merit scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities, bringing the total number of HISD winners up to 23 this year.

The students — Afton Widdershins from Bellaire High School; Ariel Hayes, David Lee, and Camille Potts from Carnegie Vanguard High School; and Sloan Lalinde-Barnes and Jessica Rollinson from DeBakey High School for Health Professions — received college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships from the College of Wooster, University of Houston, University of Southern California, Texas A&M University and Trinity University. Continue reading →

Class of 2015 beats previous year’s scholarship offers by $10 million

Several HISD schools saw significant increases in the amount of scholarship and financial aid offers their seniors received this year. Recent HAIS graduates Karina Barbosa (left) and Rynique Lucas received more than $1.7M between them.

Several HISD schools saw significant increases in the amount of scholarship and financial aid offers their seniors received this year. Recent HAIS graduates Karina Barbosa (left) and Rynique Lucas received more than $1.7M in scholarship and financial aid offers between them.

The numbers are in, and HISD’s Class of 2015 has received almost $265 million in scholarship and financial aid offers.

At $10 million more than the Class of 2014, Director of College Readiness David Johnston called the figure “a testament to the district’s college readiness efforts.” A handful of campuses have also seen significant increases in the amount of money their seniors have been offered from last year to this one.

College Success Manager Pamela Joyce Williams attributes Washington High School’s jump from about $2,360,000 in 2014 to more than $7,223,000 in 2015 to a year-long outreach campaign, in which she sent students and their parents regular progress reports and email reminders about deadlines through Naviance. Continue reading →

Want students to complete their financial aid applications? Text them.

Research project shows texting is an effective technique for motivating students

 During the 2014–2015 school year, HISD participated in a text-messaging research project with the University of Pittsburgh aimed at improving FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) submission and completion rates among high school seniors at 17 district high schools. One group of students received the texts and another group did not.

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Texas legislative session yields victories for public education

The Texas Legislature convened from January to June of 2015. More than 100 bills passed related to public education.

According to Government Relations Director Ashlea Graves, one of the biggest victories for HISD was the passage of Senate Bill 1004, which gives all school districts in Harris County the ability to work with the four community college systems operating inside its boundaries: Houston Community College, Lone Star, San Jacinto, and Lee.

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