The Texas Education Agency has made a big change to STAAR testing for the 2014-2015 school year.
The agency said Friday that the math assessments for grades 5 and 8 will be given just once this year. The Student Success Initiative requirement that those students pass the math portion of STAAR has been suspended for the year. Continue reading
Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! We know you may have questions about everything from registration to transportation to dress codes, so we’ve compiled a list of the most commonly requested information. If you have other questions, please let us know in the comments section below and we’ll look into them. Continue reading
This is the seventh in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year.
As campuses head into the new school year, expect to see lots of work going on in HISD, with simultaneous work on two bond programs. Over the next several months, contractors will be busy at several campuses finishing up a variety of projects under the $805 million 2007 bond program, including new air conditioning, mechanical and electrical systems for Hogg Middle School and new classroom lighting at Pugh Elementary.
As those projects are completed, work on the $1.89 billion 2012 bond program is ramping up, with construction set to begin on all the schools in the first group of the program by the end of the year. Those schools include: Continue reading
This is the sixth in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year.
When the school bells sound Monday in HISD, 14 additional elementary campuses will be conducting classes in two languages, as the district expands its successful dual-language program to a total of 32 schools.
The structure offers foreign language immersion for English-speaking students and a bilingual program for Spanish speakers.
The expansion process started a year ago, when all HISD elementary schools were invited to apply for the successful program. Those chosen have spent months preparing. HISD has a six-year plan to turn at least half its elementary campuses into dual-language schools by 2020. Continue reading
This is the fifth in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year.
Two HISD middle schools and two high schools will be sporting new mascots when fall sports launch, in a historic move that saw outdated and culturally offensive symbols replaced in an orderly months-long process.
The Board of Education approved a policy change earlier this year after Superintendent Terry Grier sought new guidelines that would “respect cultural differences, values, and attitudes” by placing a ban on mascots or nicknames using race or ethnicity.
Did you know that one of HISD’s newest principals has actually met the queen of England? Or that another once jumped out of an airplane? How about the one who took 17 years to finally propose to his girlfriend? Or the one whose grandfather was in the circus?
Almost two dozen new campus leaders will take the driver’s seat for the first time this fall at various HISD schools, and to help parents, students, and their new colleagues get to know them a bit better, we asked each to tell us a little about their background, pick three adjectives to describe themselves, and reveal something people might not know just by looking at them. Continue reading
Is your child old enough to start kindergarten? How do I find out about bus transportation? Lunches? Uniforms and supplies?
HISD’s ReCONNECT website offers guidance on all those questions and much more, to get families started smoothly on the 2014-2015 school year. Continue reading
Incoming sixth graders at Lanier Middle School got a head start on picking up debate skills for the upcoming school year.
“These kids are going to be ready for competition before maybe some of the other sixth graders,” debate coach Franz Hill said. “We want them to develop confidence and learn the rudiments of putting together arguments and persuasive writing, and how to take initiative.”
Lanier’s debate team is consistently one of the top middle school teams in the nation. The school earned the Overall School of Excellence Award at the National Speech and Debate Association’s Middle School Tournament in June. Continue reading
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.”
All are designed to get elementary and middle school students excited about science and STEM careers
The classroom at Herod Elementary School didn’t have any ring stands available, but that didn’t stop the seventh-grade science teachers in it from completing their experiment on heat and energy at the Baylor Summer Science Institute.
The two-week event, which concludes on July 25, focuses on giving elementary and middle school teachers creative ways to deliver lessons on familiar subjects. And participants displayed that same spirit of ingenuity this year in assembling an acceptable substitute for that basic piece of lab equipment—made from a wet cork, some tin foil, and a coat hanger.