Maintaining effective communication with their child is a common struggle for parents. The way adults tend to talk about their daily lives and the problems they’re dealing with doesn’t seem to translate well to a conversation with a 3rd grader. Parents naturally want to help their child handle problems, andRead More

Later this month and early next month, the class of 2015 will be graduating from high schools all over Texas. They will be one of the last classes to graduate under the existing graduation requirements. Students entering high school in 2014 and following years will graduate under the requirements ofRead More

From Curriculet’s student-centered e-edition of USA Today to HISD’s partnership with MyON, schools are increasingly using screen-based tools to help students build literacy. And at home, parents can use e-books and tablet apps for the same purpose. A recent article on Education Week highlights some of the latest research onRead More

Mr. Gallo’s AP European History class was legendary. I heard about it even before my freshman year, from older friends who were preparing to take it in the fall. They told me about the infamous summer assignment and the sheer volume of work which it entailed – extensive textbook readingRead More

Beth Barnes is the embodiment of a “teacher.” Her glasses smartly frame her face, and her brown curls are ponytailed atop her head.  She is only missing a bright red apple to complement her aesthetic. Physicality aside, when speaking to Beth, she has a warmth and passion that spills intoRead More

As we’ve discussed at length elsewhere, educational video games have proliferated considerably in the past 20 years. From Quantum Leap to iPad apps, there are games across subject areas for every level. But of course, not all of these games are equally valuable – the preponderance of evidence from currentRead More

In March, an American educator was awarded the highest honor in teaching – the inaugural Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, which some have called the “Nobel Prize of Teaching.” Nancie Atwell of Edgecomb, Maine, is the founder of the Center for Teaching and Learning, an independent private school. At theRead More

May 4-8 of this year marks the annual celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week. It can be tempting to brush this off as yet another commercialized greeting-card holiday – doesn’t everything have its own day or week nowadays? But the simple fact is that teachers really do deserve our appreciation, andRead More

Each year, Rice University‘s Boniuk Institute hosts a writing competition called Embracing Tolerance. The contest, open to high school students in the greater Houston area, encourages young people to think about and engage with the idea of religious tolerance and coexistence. The 2015 prompt asked students to consider the qualitiesRead More

From classroom tests to final exams to large assessments like the SAT and next week’s AP exams, students have a lot of tests to take. Our school system starts testing students at a young age, and everyone knows the connection that test scores have to magnet and private school admission,Read More

The summer break is an excellent time for rising juniors to begin serious preparations for the SAT and ACT, as well as the PSAT. With schoolwork out of the picture, students have more time to prepare for these tests—outside of summer activities, of course. However, with the PSAT changing thisRead More

Public school parents, take note – the Children at Risk scores for Greater Houston schools were made available yesterday. Children at Risk (CAR) is a Houston-based nonprofit which aims to improve the lives of Texas’ children – particularly disadvantaged children – through research, political activism, and collaborative action with otherRead More

The 2015 AP exams start on May 4, just one week from today. Is your teen ready? If your child is taking an AP exam this year, they’ll be studying a lot in the upcoming week (I hope). The advice contained in this guide will help them make the mostRead More

This week, HISD’s Barrick and Grissom elementary schools welcomed a special guest. Bess the Book Bus visited these schools, as it has visited countless others, to bring free books for the students. Access to books in the home is an important factor in fostering a love of reading, and studiesRead More

The newest school to be profiled on the Houston School Survey is Abercrombie Academy. Abercrombie Academy is a private, independent, coeducational elementary school. It is located in Spring, on its original campus off Theiss Mail Route Road. The school’s namesake founder, Cathy Abercrombie, opened the school in 1977. Her visionRead More

Divorce is common in America; many experts agree that roughly 50% of marriages end in divorce. While parents tend to claim that they are happier after the divorce than they were during their marriage, divorce can still have a negative impact on the children involved. Dr. Patrick F. Fagan hasRead More