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

For parents of high school juniors and seniors, the prospect of sending their proverbial babies out into the real world may seem daunting. Never fear, Thesis sat down with General Academic’s College Admissions Prep Counselor Annekah Hall, former Assistant Director of Admissions for Claremont Graduate University, to answer some ofRead 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

In a day and age when tablets like the iPad are increasingly being adopted as educational tools, digital textbooks and homework portal apps are part of daily life for many students. But what about work and productivity apps? More than 200 programs are categorized as productivity apps in the AppRead 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

Khan Academy has taken the world by storm in the eight years since its inception. The online video library hosts a wealth of subjects with video tutorials allowing its users to learn at their own pace. The non-profit organization is backed by some of the largest and most influential foundationsRead 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

Busy students are just now getting back into the swing of things with the new school year underway. As many high schoolers are making plans for how to tackle their core subjects, the thought of tedious college preparation looms in the minds of students and parents alike. One of theRead More

School is just around the corner! HISD starts on Monday, August 25th, but many private schools have already started. Take advantage of the first, slow weeks of school to make sure your student has a strong framework for success. We will cover the following topics: Establishing a conducive study spaceRead More

University of Texas at Austin Present Bill Powers has agreed to step down next year, ending a years-long struggle between him and the UT-system’s governor-appointed Board of Regents. Powers offered to resign next June 2 after UT system’s Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa threatened to force him out during a July 4Read More

One of the highlights of the Houston Independent School District’s recently passed 2014-215 budget is a renewed focus on reading instruction. Much public attention on the $1.74 billion plan has focused on the district’s decision to standardize funding for magnet schools based on the type and level of the school.Read More

As part of the $1.74 billion budget, a sharply divided Board of Education approved a new magnet school funding formula for the Houston Independent School District. The board split 5-4 over the program, with board members Juliet Stipeche, Harvin Moore, Michael Lunceford and Anna Eastman voting against the proposal. TheRead More

As part of its $1.68 billion budget unanimously approved by the Board of Education last week, the Houston Independent School district allocated $30 million to increase pay for teachers. A new teacher with the district will earn $49,100, a raise of 4.9 percent over the current $46,805 paid to newRead More