The average private school in Houston now costs $19,079 per year regardless of grade. This amount represents a $700 hike or a 3.8% increase from last year when tuition averaged $18,380. (Photo caption – Emery Weiner school provides financial aid to nearly 40% of students) High schools topping out atRead More

Tis the season for championship academic competitions. And while not as well known as UIL or quiz bowl, the inaugural Vocabulary.com  Vocabulary Bowl was notable this year for crowning a champion from Houston. Chavez High School students won the national championship with a collective total of 303, 387 points amassedRead More

Earlier this week, HISD announced the first concrete programs created under the Arts Access Initiative. The initiative, which is organized by the local nonprofit Young Audiences of Houston, focuses on creating opportunities for arts education in Houston’s public schools. In 2013-2014, the initiative conducted preliminary research in HISD K-8 schools. InformedRead 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

Houston students benefit from a wealth of summer enrichment opportunities, including everything from test prep to day camp at the natural science museum. Today, we’d like to spotlight a summer program hosted by Rice University: the Tapia Math-Science Scholars Program. This is an all-costs-paid, one-month residential program in which risingRead More

For high school seniors and magnet school applicants, acceptance season is here. Universities have issued their  initial round of acceptance offers; students with offers from multiple schools have until May 1 to decide where they will attend. Meanwhile, in HISD, students were notified of their magnet admission status in mid-March;Read More

The newest school to be profiled on the Houston School Survey is the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (HSLECJ). HSLECJ was founded in 1981 by Dr. Judy Morris. The institution was originally designed to serve students interested in law enforcement careers and to encourage recruitment of more minoritiesRead More

If your child was accepted to an HISD magnet school this year, congratulations! And don’t forget – this Friday, April 10, is the deadline to claim their spot. To get details on how to secure your child’s spot, visit HISD’s magnet application page or login to your online application. ToRead More

In honor of National Reading Awareness Month, HISD and a coalition of Houston-based organizations (led by the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation) have embarked upon the #Discover15 campaign to encourage parents to read aloud with their children. The initiative is designed to help parents find time in their busy schedulesRead More

Last month, HSPVA principal R. Scott Allen was among those chosen to attend the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s first annual “Closing the Excellence Gap” education summit. At the summit, more than 100 high school principals met with education researchers, Department of Education officials, and other experts and interested parties. TheRead 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

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

The Texas Education Agency published its annual Public Education Grant list which is used to rate which schools across the state require improvement. Houston ISD, the state’s largest district, topped the list with 86 different elementary, middle and high schools requiring improvement due to low test scores and other factors contributingRead More

As students return to class from holiday celebrations, several new educators are starting new positions in HISD beginning in 2015.   New Principals: Steve Guerrero will start as the new principal of Austin High School, filling the position after Jorge Arredondo’s move to HISD’s Central Office. This leaves Guerrero’s previousRead More

The week of December 8-12, 2014 marked Computer Science Education Week. Millions of students around the US and the globe participated in the non-profit organization Code.org’s Hour of Code, teaching kids about the basics of coding in a 60-minute introductory course. Schools that participated in the event around the countryRead More

HISD last week announced plans to build three new school buildings not covered in the 2012 bond budget. The district plans to raise $128.7 million over the next five years to fund the construction of new facilities for North Forest High School and the recently-opened Energy Institute High School, asRead More