Category Archives: High Schools

Employees give up their holiday break to help students get caught up

While fellow employees are sipping eggnog, exchanging presents, or just visiting with their friends and family, some members of Team HISD will be spending most of their winter break at one of 12 schools around the city.

Those campuses, which include Fondren Elementary, Woodson K–8, and Austin, Chávez, Davis, Lee, North Forest, Reagan, Sharpstown, Jones and Worthing high schools, are conducting credit recovery programs during that two-week period to help students who are behind in their classes get caught up with their peers.

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Videos highlight progress on concepts for new Furr, Sharpstown high schools

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/82012862/ w=320&h=205]

HISD released two videos Tuesday that showcase the progress in the planning and design of Furr and Sharpstown high schools, which are being rebuilt under the district’s 2012 $1.89 billion bond program.

The video featuring Furr High School highlights work that is being done on the project advisory team, the collaboration with the architect and community input on the project. Preliminary drawings of what the campus could look like include flexible learning spaces with sustainable touches like repurposed wood from the current campus gymnasium.

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HISD wins $30 million in federal Race to the Top funds to link students to careers, college from earliest age

The Houston Independent School District learned Tuesday that it has won nearly $30 million in federal Race to the Top funding, the only urban school system to be named a winner in this round of district competition.

The announcement was made at noon, Houston time, by Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C.

“This funding is an acknowledgment of the work we’ve done, as a giant urban district, to personalize learning to each student – and a belief by the Department of Education in the work we intend to do,” said Superintendent Terry Grier.

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Discovery Education partnering with PowerUp educators

HISD is partnering with Discovery Education, a branch of the media company Discovery Communications, as the district begins its journey to transform all classrooms into 21st century learning environments. Principals, assistant principals, and deans from the PowerUp one-to-one campuses recently attended a hands-on workshop with Discovery Education to explore some of the digital content and interactive lessons that teachers and students will have access to as part of the district’s digital transformation.

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A load of code: HISD schools take part in digital literacy exercise

Many tech-savvy people—including Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and HISD’s own Adam Stephens—believe that in the not-too-distant future, knowing how to create computer code will be considered as basic a skill as knowing how to read, write, or perform basic math calculations.

That’s why students at several HISD campuses participated in a challenge issued by Code.org as a part of Computer Science Education Week.

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Little-known resource helping parents resolve problems

Maderian Johnson had a problem. Her 17-year-old son, a student at HISD’s Westbury High School, had been suspended for excessive class-skipping, and she had been asked to come to the campus to discuss the situation.

But Johnson was still recovering from a recent surgical procedure and was unable to meet in person with school administrators. She called the school to request a phone conference instead.

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21st Century Schools Build on History with Elements of the Past

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When Young Men’s College Preparatory Academy says goodbye to its 1920s-era building next year, the school may take a few pieces of history with it.

The original 1929 building cornerstone that sits on the west corner of the middle school building may be extracted to include in the new YMCPA facility that will be built in mid- to late 2014 with funds from the HISD 2012 bond program.

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Board of Education to Consider Policy Update Banning Offensive Mascots

HISD also scheduled to honor outgoing Trustee Larry Marshall for his service

Dec. 11, 2013 — Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier on Thursday will recommend the Board of Education take the first steps in approving a policy update that would prohibit offensive or culturally insensitive mascots.

The proposed policy would affect four HISD high schools — Lamar High School Redskins, Westbury High School Rebels, Hamilton Middle School Indians and Welch Middle School Warriors. The measure must be approved on Thursday and then again in January after its second reading.

The new policy would allow schools to respectfully retire their existing mascot while also acknowledging the important role their related traditions and symbols have played in their community.

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Pumps and Pipes give STEM Schools Taste of Real World

It’s not every day that a freshman in high school gets to talk one-on-one with a former astronaut and current NASA chief, but for Energy Institute High School students Chisom Anyanwu, Matthew Brack, Timothy Chung, and Avin Passalar, meeting NASA Director Ellen Ochoa was beyond comprehension.

“I just can’t believe it,” said Passalar. “I could have talked to her for hours. She had such amazing things to say about being a woman in the space industry.”

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Wheatley Takes HISD Tournament Crown

After three days of play last week, Wheatley’s varsity dominated a field of 29 teams to win the 30th Annual HISD Varsity Girls Basketball Tournament.

Wheatley High School’s squad was crowned champion in the 30th Annual HISD Varsity Girls Basketball Tournament, and Wheatley’s Arie Taylor was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

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