Info, links and musings from a (non-teacher) education supporter… because education is an entitlement.
HISD to unveil new charter school
– KHOU CBS Channel 111
Early next month a simple complex on the La Porte Freeway will host HISD’s newest charter school.It will be called the Houston Advantage East End High School. The facility will be publically funded, privately run and will serve up to 450 students who struggle in traditional school settings.
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Footnotes
1 = may require free registration.
Moment of truth for 8th-graders
Thousands won’t get into high school this year unless they pass the TAKS test
– Houston Chronicle2
Thousands of eighth-graders across Texas will sit this week for the biggest test of their young lives.For the first time in the state, eighth-graders must pass standardized exams in math and language arts to be promoted to high school automatically. The students had two chances during the school year, but that was not enough for many who failed the exams on both attempts.
[snip]
Statewide, nearly one in five eighth-graders has yet to pass the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
That’s at least 55,918 students who face retention in eighth grade if they again fail the test, which is being given for the third and final time today.
Texas is one of the toughest states when it comes to tying grade promotion to testing. Students in grades 3, 5 and — now — 8 must pass the TAKS in some subjects to advance. High school students must pass four exams to graduate.
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Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
Welcome new Dickinson Independent School District principals:
Source: The Houston Chronicle
The principals for success
The new heads of a troubled HISD campus are eager to turn it around
– Houston Chronicle2
[snip]Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced that Sam Houston must close after six straight years of unacceptable student test scores, and HISD had until August to transform the Northside school.
The reform plan split Sam Houston into two schools: one for freshmen and the other for students in grades 10-12. Both will focus on math and science. Saavedra put Crump in charge of the upper school and tapped Treviño to head the ninth-grade campus.
Neither Crump nor Treviño has run a high school, but both have led campuses that proved successful with at-risk students.
Now, they face the biggest test of their careers as they rebuild the academic program at Sam Houston, a sprawling campus that has had its share of gang problems, staff turnover and low morale.
The first and biggest step for the new principals is hiring teachers. Combined, they must fill about 140 positions, a massive task this late in the year. Under the commissioner’s order, only 25 percent of the Sam Houston staff can return to the new schools.
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Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
Fewer than 10 percent of high school seniors are fit, tests show
– Houston Chronicle2
Results of a new state physical fitness test confirmed fears that Texas children, especially teenagers, are seriously out of shape.The fitness assessment of 2.6 million students, touted as the largest exam of its type, shows that only 30 percent of third-graders reached healthy performance levels in all six areas tested. By the 12th grade, less than 10 percent made passing marks.
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Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.