Under the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), all students are required to be taught music, theater, and the visual arts. It is not mandated that all of these be taught by specialists; in some cases, it is acceptable to integrate them into standard classroom instruction. Many Houston-area school districtsRead More

In last night’s meeting, in addition to approving the plan for the Arabic immersion magnet school, the HISD board also addressed a proposal that could impact students across the district. The board voted 7-0 to recognize a group called the HISD Student Congress as a representation of the voice ofRead More

UPDATE: As of 11/14/2014, HISD is officially moving forward on plans for an Arabic immersion magnet school. The Houston Chronicle has more. HISD is well-established as a hotspot for excellent programs in world languages. A combined total of 11 languages are offered in HISD schools, starting as early as PreKRead More

On Saturday, HISD administrators and officials ceremonially broke ground on the construction of the new Condit Elementary. The new Condit school building, to be constructed adjacent to the old building at 7000 South Third St. in Bellaire, is being paid for with funds from the $1.89 billion 2012 HISD bond.Read More

It’s that time of year again. This Saturday, November 1, is the open date for the HISD magnet application. Before the application period ends on December 19, parents will submit tens of thousands of applications to HISD’s selective magnet schools. If you are one of those parents – and especiallyRead More

On Thursday, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier was given the 2014 Green-Garner Award for outstanding contributions in public education. This award is presented annually by the Council of Great City Schools to a superintendent or school board member from a Council school district; there are 67 member districts, and Grier wasRead More

This semester is a significant one for campus development at Strake Jesuit. The school celebrated the opening of its new STEM building in September, and another building, Hampil Hall, is being demolished to make way for a courtyard. The STEM building, which is now the largest building on Strake’s campusRead More

UPDATE: After appeals from the affected schools, only one program has been slated for closure and eight programs – including those at Twain and Roberts – are still on probation. The Houston Chronicle has more. At last night’s school board meeting, a preliminary plan was announced under which 15 HISDRead More

I recently found myself interviewing prospective candidates for Rice University’s freshman class of 2015. Below, I’ll tell you about some of my interviews and explain to you some things your child should and should not do in his interview for college, high school, or really anything. In general, your child shouldRead More

Over the next two weeks, HISD will hold community meetings (see schedule below) to discuss design concepts and progress for 5 district schools which are being rebuilt on new campuses. HSPVA, Condit Elementary School, Lee High School, and DeBakey High School are among the 40 HISD schools being upgraded withRead More

            The Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions, the prestigious HISD magnet ranked 33rd in the nation, will be moving into a new downtown facility in the fall of 2016. Last night, the HISD Board of Trustees officially voted to accept the TexasRead More

Magnet programs – specialized academic offerings open to any student living in the district – are one of HISD’s notable strengths. More than 40% of HISD schools have schoolwide or school-within-a-school magnet programs. Some magnets focus on STEM; some on the arts; some on world languages; some on specific careerRead More

HISD’s annual Ivy Plus event – to be held at Reagan High School on Monday, October 6, from 5pm to 8pm – is a great opportunity for high school students to learn more about their prospective colleges. The major highlight of Ivy Plus is a college expo featuring some ofRead More

If you have children in high school, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of the National Merit Scholarship and its qualifying test, the PSAT. Every fall, high school juniors across America sit for this test, which is essentially a shortened version of the SAT – five sections with no essay.Read More

As  a follow-up to our previous article profiling Reagan High School’s Rachel Alexander, here’s an op-ed Rachel wrote last year while teaching computer science. In this piece, Rachel discusses how she incorporated unorthodox programming technology to teach her students about computer science.  I have been a Computer Science (CS) teacherRead More

When deciding on how to best utilize the skills she gained as a bioengineering undergraduate at Rice University, the possibilities seemed endless. But for Rachel Alexander, there seemed to be no better fit than teaching high school students how to use engineering and computer science principles in their everyday life.Read More