In the State of the State address on February 17, Governor Greg Abbott identified five key issues which he intends to be the top legislative priorities in the immediate future. One of these issues was PreK funding. In his gubernatorial campaign, Abbott declared his support for state-funded PreK programs andRead More

Two weeks ago, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier gave his annual State of the Schools address, in which he discussed strides the district has made in the past year and revealed plans to make further progress in the coming year. The most prominent announcements this year dealt with programs undergoing considerableRead More

Retesting and How It Can Help You Achieve the Score You Want Standardized tests are usually stressful for students. This is understandable, as everyone knows that a strong (or weak) score can have a huge impact on college or private school admissions. To help improve test-taking performance, students and theirRead More

It’s no secret that HISD is home to some of the best public schools in the country. The excellence of the district’s offerings was reaffirmed this month with the publication of the Washington Post‘s annual list of the most challenging schools in America. Two-thirds of HISD’s high schools made theRead More

Almost anyone you can ask will have fond childhood memories of reading. Sometimes stories reach out and grab us, and even years later, we remember the impact they had. For many millenials, the Harry Potter books carry this kind of memory; for older generations, the works of Madeleine L’Engle mightRead More

Several months ago, we wrote about edX’s High School Initiative, a groundbreaking expansion into online APs, which will unveil comprehensive MOOCs for eight different AP courses (as well as other college-preparatory material) over the next year. Last month, in partnership with the Modern States Education Alliance, edX announced yet another significantRead More

The Huffington Post recently ran an article about a college student who decided to break out of her old study routines by turning her notes into art – specifically, Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” recreated in impressive detail on a whiteboard. By writing out her notes in the form of an ImpressionistRead More

In 2014, HISD partnered with myON, a service of Capstone Publishing which allows students to access hundreds of books online for free. The partnership was intended to support the Literacy by Three program, which stresses full literacy by the end of third grade, and the Read Houston Read program, whichRead More

Do you remember learning your times tables as a child? And what about “Minute Math”? Timed math quizzes and drills are commonly used as classroom tools to reinforce basic concepts like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. But according to Stanford professor and education scholar Jo Boaler, these teaching methods canRead More

Back when I was in high school, it was all about Ralph Lauren and Nike Air Force 1’s. Nowadays – or at least when it comes to the state of General Academic’s Study Lounge – it’s all about Vineyard Vines and Sperry’s. It seems like even when students aren’t inRead More

The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, or HSPVA, was among the first magnet schools in HISD. And while many people assume that fine arts schools are less academically rigorous, the opposite is true of HSPVA – it challenges students both artistically and academically. It is ranked 19thRead More

Multilingualism is a tremendous asset, opening up new career opportunities and new cultural horizons. And even without attaining full fluency in another language, students can benefit greatly from language learning. A host of studies have shown second language learning to have positive effects ranging from strengthened cognitive abilities to increasedRead More

If your child is a senior in high school, you’ve probably devoted a considerable amount of time to thinking about their college tuition. Perhaps you’ve been saving up since they were born; perhaps you’ve already co-signed for some student loans. But however you and your child are planning to coverRead More

Texas Academy of Math and Science alum, Ly Hoang, provided Thesis with an inside view of what it takes to be a “TAMSter.” Do you have a child who is academically talented and wish he/she can be challenged more? Ever wish your child could skip several grade levels and goRead More

How much do you know about your children’s homework? How many assignments do they have tonight? Are they on track with their longer-term projects? If you don’t know, you should look into ways of finding out – it could actually make a difference in your child’s academic performance. A 2014Read More

America is finally trying to take the necessary steps to address our growing educational deficit — recent studies showing that American students are falling behind their peers in other countries have made education a priority once again (or at least made K-12 education a politically valuable topic). Most of thisRead More