Category Archives: High Schools

Ready, set, Name That Book!

From “Go, Dog, Go” for pre-K and kindergartners to “Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick” for 12th-graders, the reading lists for the 2014-2015 Name That Book competition are online — just in time for leisurely summer reading.

There’s an added incentive to tackle the lists now: Books read from the Name That Book selections will count toward HISD students’ summer reading program goals, and if they’re checked out from a local public library, toward the library’s summer reading program levels.

The Name That Book competition is sponsored each spring by HISD’s Department of Library Services. It’s a program designed to familiarize students with classic literature as well as contemporary, award-winning books across a variety of genres. Teams of students are asked questions about books in their reading level that will test their comprehension of characters and plotlines.

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14 Austin HS students earn welding certificates

Fourteen Houston ISD students are certified welders thanks to a partnership between the district and Houston Community College.

Four seniors and 10 juniors from Austin High School graduated with Basic Welding Helper Certificates on Saturday. How did juniors earn the certificate? The courses the students took at Austin HS were dual credit and the juniors also completed required classes at HCC Southeast, which made them eligible for the certificate.

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Bellaire HS students win National Economics Challenge

A group of Bellaire High School students skipped their prom to compete in the National Economics Challenge and won!

Seniors Patrick Giradet, Ridge Liu, Laura Zhang and Jinchen Zou flew to New York City for the quiz bowl, which aired live on CNBC on Monday. In addition to receiving a trophy, the team was awarded the honor of ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

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Waltrip HS senior wins car at Cool to Be Smart

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Nearly 2,000 HISD sophomores, juniors and seniors got together Sunday to let the world know it’s Cool to Be Smart. It also pays to be smart – many students left with prizes — and one senior won a brand new car.

The event honored students who have taken Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or dual language courses and their corresponding exams.

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Moving forward: Everything you should know about HISD promotion standards

It’s that time of year when parents and students may be concerned about whether they have met requirements to advance to the next grade, and HISD is making promotion standards – as well as a series of frequently asked questions – easily accessible to find answers.

In addition to appearing here, the standards can be located on each school website, in the Student Requirements section of this www.houstonisd.org website, and on the Plan Your Path web section that addresses overall education planning and requirements for graduation. The FAQs are available in the Student Requirements section and on the Plan Your Path area, by clicking the Questions bar.

Here are HISD promotion standards:

Grade Level Promotion Standards
1 and 2
  • Students must pass High Frequency Word Test – Recognizing and reading words that appear very often in written and spoken language.
  • State requirement of overall yearly average of 70 or above and local requirement of an average of 70 or above in reading, other language arts, mathematics, and science or social studies.
  • Students must have sufficient attendance*
3, 4 and 5
  • Students must pass STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness) in reading and math.
  • State requirement of overall yearly average of 70 or above and local requirement of an average of 70 or above in reading, other language arts, mathematics, and science or social studies.
  • Students must have sufficient attendance*
6, 7 and 8
  • Students must pass STAAR in reading and math.
  • State requirement of overall yearly average of 70 or above and a local requirement of an average of 70 or above in three of the four core courses: Language arts (average of reading and English), mathematics, science, and social studies.
  • Students must have sufficient attendance*
9 – 12
  • Students are promoted based on their total accumulated course credits prior to the beginning of the next school year.
  • Individual course credit is earned through a passing grade of 70% or above and sufficient attendance*

*Sufficient attendance: A student’s total number of unexcused absences cannot exceed 10% of class meetings.

Students explore drug-resistant bacteria at Rice U.’s ‘Shamoo Lab’

Post-doc student Dr. Troy Hammerstrom explains the drug-resistance work the Shamoo Lab is doing to students from the Jane Long Academy.

With more infectious agents becoming immune to standard antibiotics, the study of how bacteria develop resistance to various drugs is becoming more critical than ever.

That’s one reason why more than 100 students from four HISD high schools got an up-close and personal look at almost a dozen different STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)-related career fields last month, thanks to the Rice Empower program’s second annual STEM expo.

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30 seniors share $550,000 in Broad Prize scholarships

Thirty Houston ISD seniors will have help paying for college, thanks to $550,000 worth of scholarships the district received when it won The Broad Prize for Urban Education in 2013.

Seniors throughout the district were encouraged to apply for the two- and four-year scholarships. Winning students who enroll in a four-year college will receive $20,000 scholarships that will be paid out over four years ($5,000 per year), and students who enroll in a two-year college or technical program will receive $5,000 scholarships paid out over two years ($2,500 per year).

The following students were awarded scholarships from The Broad Foundation:

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Cool To Be Smart event is bigger and better than ever

Eligible HISD high school students will have the opportunity to win iPads, Google Chromebooks, gift cards and more – including a car — at the annual Cool To Be Smart event hosted by the district’s College Readiness department.

As in past years, eligible seniors will be in the running to win a new car—a 2013 Ford Fiesta Sedan Special Edition, valued at $17,735. New this year, eligible sophomores and juniors will be invited and can participate in games to win prizes.

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Nine CTE students awarded Wilbern Heritage scholarships

Nine HISD students from three southwest Houston high schools will be awarded Wilbern Heritage scholarships at a ceremony on Thursday, May 15. The Wilbern Heritage Scholarship is awarded to Career and Technology Education (CTE) students who attend classes for part of the day, then spend the rest of the day at jobs or internships.

To be eligible for the Wilbern Heritage scholarship, students must:
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