Works SCHOOL
SPRING/SUMMER 2003 V O L U M E 1 2
A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E H O U S T O N A + C H A L L E N G E
ANNENBERG-FUNDED SCHOOLS NARROW ACHIEVEMENT GAP
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Among the report’s findings are: tudents at Annenberg-funded schools in the greater Houston ■ A comparison of 2002 area continue to make great strides in Stanford 9 test scores, which student achievement, according to the many educators believe to be a last of three evaluation reports more accurate barometer of recently released by an independent student achievement than TAAS, team of researchers led by the showed that funded schools University of Texas. outperformed non-funded schools. In addition, most Annenberg These scores also showed that schools score consistently higher on Annenberg-funded schools are standard achievement tests than their performing near or above the non-Annenberg counterparts, and national test average. Beacon schools have almost ■ Beacon schools, which Teacher Carlos Villagrana uses chess to strengthen mathematics concepts with a group of completely closed the learning gaps received five years of funding from Kennedy Elementary students in Alief ISD. between white students and their The Houston A+ Challenge, led ethnic peers. These schools also have made significant gains in closing other funded and non-funded schools in reading and mathematics the learning gap for students considered economically disadvantaged. achievement on TAAS. “With demographers predicting that Hispanics will be the majority ■ In 2002, elementary students at Beacon schools achieved mastery of the Texas population by 2004, our work in closing the learning gaps in reading scores on the state-mandated TAAS. Students at these for students of all ethnicities is especially important,” said Harry schools also are closing in on the mastery level for mathematics. Reasoner, chairman of the board for The Houston A+ Challenge Mastery is defined as scoring 85 or better on TAAS. Passing is defined (formerly The Houston Annenberg Challenge). “Our ability to close as scoring 70 on TAAS. this same gap for economically disadvantaged students is equally ■ In 2002, elementary students in Lamplighter schools, which important. As our local and national economies move increasingly received four years of funding from The Houston A+ Challenge, also away from the goods-producing sector and toward the serviceproducing sector, it is absolutely critical to provide these young people achieved mastery of TAAS reading objectives. They, too, are near mastery levels in mathematics. with the skills they will need to be successful for their entire lives.” The evaluation report, which was produced by a team of researchers ■ Middle school students at Beacon and Lamplighter schools from the University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston and Rice continue to improve test scores, with many of them achieving mastery University, was the third and final report on the first phase of The of both reading and mathematics objectives. They, too, are near Houston A+ Challenge’s school reform efforts. Researchers conducted mastery levels in mathematics. extensive interviews and surveys with administrators, principals, ■ High school students at Beacon and Lamplighter schools continued teachers, students, parents and community members. They examined to outperform non-funded schools in reading and also continued to test scores and data from both Annenberg-funded schools and their improve scores in mathematics. non-Annenberg counterparts. Also included in the research efforts Closing the Gap . . . continued on page 5 were focus groups and site visits.
Established in January 1997 with funding from the Annenberg Foundation and local matching contributions, The Houston A+ Challenge is an independent, public-private partnership that develops and funds school programs, professional development and leadership institutes to promote higher academic achievement by all students.
From the
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ooking at public education across the country today, we see there is movement for change going on at every grade level. There is a call for universal preschool, for elementary reading and math initiatives, for bilingual education, for middle school reform, for high school redesign and for reworking university level teacher preparation programs. There are calls for increased accountability and how to assess that accountability; for increased parental involvement; for time during the school day for teacher professional development; for integrating the fine arts into the content areas; for increasing teacher quality. Linda Clarke What all these movements have in common is that at their base, they are all calls for improved student achievement – from teaching the youngest toddler how to speak to teaching college students how to become teachers themselves. Inherent in this national cry for improved student achievement is the recognition that our world has changed from the days when most of us earned our living in a factory or with our hands to today when most of us earn our living with our minds. And we don’t see all our public schools keeping pace with this change. What skills do schools need to teach? To find out, three years ago The Houston A+ Challenge and Houston ISD convened a task force of business leaders, community members, educators and parents. Here is what they told us: Today’s knowledge-based economy requires workers who know how to continue learning, who can problem solve, who can work on a team and communicate effectively. They need to be knowledgeable of worldwide issues, cooperative team members, efficient technology users and responsible citizens. But most of all, they need to be literate. According to the Texas Adult Literacy Survey, more than 50 percent of adult Texans are functionally illiterate or unable to use printed and written information to function in society. In 1998, a National Institute for Literacy study found that 31 percent of Houston adults function at the lowest literacy level, a rate almost 10 percent higher than the national average. That is why Houston Schools for a New Society, the high school redesign initiative developed by Houston ISD and Houston A+ Challenge, is turning its attention to literacy. A task force of educators, business people and community leaders is designing a plan to focus additional attention and resources on literacy from the ground up. The plan uses lessons learned through the K-5 Mathematics Initiative, another partnership between Houston ISD and Houston A+ along with the ExxonMobil Foundation. Where the mathematics initiative uses math specialists as the key to spreading professional development lessons that improve student achievement, the high school initiative will use literacy coaches. We will be working on the plan this summer with the high schools as Houston Schools for a New Society rounds out its second year of implementation. I look forward to reporting to you in the fall on our progress.
Houston A+ Challenge Receives New Grants
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his spring, The Houston A+ Challenge has received new grants totaling more than $173,500. Included are $40,000 from The Rockwell Foundation and $25,000 from MetLife. Other grants include $2,500 from the Friedman Foundation and $1,000 from the Wal-Mart Foundation. Most recently, The Houston A+ Challenge received $105,000 from The Cullen Foundation. The grant from The Cullen Foundation will be used to provide literacy training for 24 secondary literacy coaches and 100 teachers at the Neuhaus Education Center. The secondary literacy coaches and teachers will represent each of the Houston ISD high schools involved in Houston Schools for a New Society. In addition to an intensive summer training session at Neuhaus, the group will receive additional training throughout the year, including weekly professional development trainings and six additional sessions with Neuhaus. The Rockwell Foundation grant will help provide Critical Friends Group professional development to educators participating in high school reform efforts through Houston Schools for a New Society. Critical Friends grew out of research at the Annenberg Institute of School Reform, which showed that the best way for teachers and principals to learn is to work together collaboratively. Critical Friends emphasizes making one’s practice public, continuously assessing teaching in relation to student learning and routinely adapting teaching practices through looking at student work (see related article on page 3).
New Grants . . . continued on page 6 2
INTENSE PASSION DRIVES TEACHER’S WORK
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uest High School teacher Debbie Houston A+ Challenge when Quest was named Wisconsin-Madison educator) Fred Newmann’s McIntyre began her career in a slightly an Annenberg Beacon School. She had standards and rubrics for instructions, tasks unconventional manner as a parent volunteer previous experience with school reform efforts and assessments with CFG protocols providing more than 20 years ago. As a volunteer, she and the Critical Friends Group (CFG) protocol the structure for examining our work. organized mentoring and tutoring programs for through her work with the National School “CFG affords me the ability to access schools in Humble ISD. After serving on Reform Faculty. She became a CFG coach in multiple perspectives to incorporate the various district committees and on a site-based 1997, training under nationally known wisdom and best practices of many educators management team, McIntyre eventually became educators Daniel Baron, Christelle Estrada and into my own practices. I believe that I see a substitute teacher. One thing led to another Pete Bermudez. more authentic achievement in my students and soon she had completed her because CFG has allowed me to third degree—this one in refine and focus my thinking education from the University about instruction, assessment and of Houston—and was teaching expectations. I believe that full-time. student learning is enhanced “I have an intense passion for because their work is meaningful, both children and teaching,” says expects much of them and is McIntyre, who has been at Quest connected to their world.” High School since it opened in McIntyre has helped embed the 1995 as the district’s model for a CFG protocol in the work of small school campus. other teachers at Quest and also In her current position, serves as a facilitator for Houston McIntyre co-facilitates junior and A+ Challenge’s New Coaches senior integrated curriculum. Training. She has worked on These exploratories, as they are the Partnership for Quality called, are interdisciplinary studies Education higher education of English, social studies, fine arts Quest High School Facilitator Debbie McIntyre leads her students in a small group discussion. initiative, in which Houston A+ and technology. Junior curriculum participates with six school is centered in American history up to the At the heart of Critical Friends is the idea districts and five institutions of higher Vietnam era. Seniors focus on global issues, that teachers need time and structure built into learning, and also is a national CFG facilitator including a one-semester study of the United their schedules to promote professional growth for the National School Reform Faculty. States’ role in international issues and a onethat is directly linked to student learning. “I believe CFG is the most affirming and semester seminar that culminates in a public Each Critical Friends Group has at least one enabling work for teachers,” says McIntyre. exhibition. In this second semester, students coach, who guides the group members as they “It provides a safe, positive environment for research a modern day issue, develop and develop collaboration skills, reflect on their personal and professional growth.” implement a social action plan that addresses practices and examine student work. The Houston A+ Challenge will hold its the issue, and present their work to parents, “I became convinced that CFG practices and Critical Friends Group New Coaches Training faculty, students and community members. philosophies provide essential support for June 16-20. The Leadership Seminar will be “I specialize in English and have worked professional learning communities,” says June 18-20. Critical Friends Group is a product with the senior exhibition students for five McIntyre. “The benefits of CFG include a of The Houston A+ Challenge and was years,” says McIntyre, who is in her second positive, caring and progressive community developed through the Annenberg Institute year of working with juniors as well. “I also along with the ability to sustain reform efforts. for School Reform at Brown University. serve as a family facilitator, which means I The obvious benefits of CFG work are Houston A+ is the only center of activity in the follow a group of students for their entire four improved teacher practice and increased Gulf Coast endorsed by the National School years of high school. I meet with them on a student performance.” Reform Faculty. CFG began as professional daily basis not only for academic advisement McIntyre has gone one step further with her development for the original 88 Challenge but also for team building, character education CFG training and uses it on a daily basis, schools and has expanded statewide. and FUN!” primarily on curriculum design work. “Many Critical Friends is made possible in part Keeping up with the changing needs of her times individuals and organizations struggle through the generosity of the following donors: students demands rigorous attention to detail with not knowing the right question to drive Annenberg Foundation, Rockwell Fund, Inc., and continuing professional development. their work other than ‘How can we make this Joe B. Foster Family Foundation, Clayton Fund McIntyre first became involved with The better?’” says McIntyre. “We use (University of and Ocean Energy.
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2003 Summer Institute to Focus on High School Redesign
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his year, the Fondren Reforming Schools Summer Institute will focus on the work underway to redesign high schools into smaller, more personalized learning communities. The institute will be held July 8 and 9 at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center. A team from each school, composed of the principal, school improvement facilitator and two instructional leaders, will participate. The institute will focus on examining each school’s individual redesign plan. Facilitators will work with each team to gauge progress to date on the plan and what the campus needs to continue its work. Teams will look at strengthening internal lines of communication at the schools and what resources are available to implement their plan. Principals also will study the leadership techniques needed to guide their schools through the redesign. Participants in the conference will include comprehensive high schools taking part in Houston Schools for a New Society in the region. Houston A+ Challenge and Houston ISD are redesigning the schools into smaller learning communities where students can get more attention and develop closer ties to teachers and campus life.
Parents for Public Schools Town Hall Meetings Parents for Public Schools (PPS), along with Houston A+ and Houston ISD, organized four Town Hall forums this spring to get parental input on the redesign initiative underway at all the district’s large, comprehensive high schools. More than 500 parents attended the forums. Among the items parents said they wanted to see in the redesign are more communication with parents, smaller classes, quality instruction, effective teachers, real-world experience for their children and one-on-one support from administrators and counselors. PPS recently presented the findings to high school principals, school improvement facilitators and to the Houston ISD Board of Trustees. PPS proposes to continue working on the high school initiative in the 2003-2004 year to ensure these parental concerns continue to be addressed in the redesign. L to R: Waltrip High School students Rebecca McMurtrey, Anna Corson, Hayley Scott, Linda Nguyen, Juliet Garcia and Marcus Green represent the voices of students at one of the Parents for Public Schools (PPS) Town Hall Forums. PPS organized four spring forums with Houston A+ and Houston ISD to get parental input on the redesign initiative underway at all the district’s large, comprehensive high schools.
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New Information Management System Tracks Students’ Progress
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n innovative new pilot called Web Enabled Student Transcripts, or WEST, is up and running in Houston ISD. The project, which is the result of an ongoing relationship between The Houston A+ Challenge, Houston Schools for a New Society and the Greater Houston Partnership in collaboration with the Region IV Education Service Center, is designed to help districts speed up the transfer of student records. Currently the records are mailed to the new school or district, which can result in delays in placing students in the courses they need to graduate. Electronic transfer eliminates lost or delayed financial aid, helps guidance counselors, administrators and teachers immediately place students in the correct courses and ensures special needs students get the appropriate resources. WEST also automates tracking of departed students. Planners hope to have the system up across the region during the 2003-2004 school year. The pilot project is part of an ongoing series of high school reform initiatives of Houston Schools for a New Society and The Houston A+ Challenge. The project was developed in conjunction with a 15-member oversight committee from the Greater Houston Partnership that is chaired by John Cater, retired chairman of Compass Bank, and George Martinez, chairman of Sterling Bancshares. The oversight committee, which is composed of business and community leaders, advises, recommends, advocates and suggests strategies for implementation of reform efforts.
Houston A+ Challenge to Host High School Symposium at Baker Institute On Thursday, June 5, The Houston A+ Challenge along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Houston ISD and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University will host a symposium to explore high school policy issues. “The symposium will explore strategies for changing high school classrooms from what they are today to what they need to be for tomorrow,” said Linda Clarke, executive director of The Houston A+ Challenge. A panel of practitioners from Texas and noted experts from around the country will participate in the forum, which will examine the whole school reform efforts underway in Houston ISD high schools and schools from across the nation. Additional sponsors of the event, which will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., include the Change Leadership Group at Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Greater Houston Partnership.
Closing the Gap . . . continued from page 1 According to the report, these results may be attributed to a number of Houston A+ initiatives aimed at improving teacher development, personalizing the learning environment and reducing isolation. Among these efforts have been ongoing teacher development programs such as Critical Friends Group, as well as a distinguished speaker series and the New Visions in Leadership Academy. These efforts combined have cultivated teachers’ knowledge and skills by deepening their understanding of subject content and have provided strategies for working with students with diverse learning styles. The researchers also believe that this investment in teacher development has played a key role in increasing teacher retention rates at Houston A+ Challenge schools. While there has been a steady increase across the state in the number of teachers who quit the teaching profession or change schools, the opposite is true of funded schools, which have steadily increased their teacher retention rates since 1998. In addition to teacher development, significant work also has been done in personalizing the learning environment by reducing class size and providing a variety of choices for students. And, perhaps one of the most important steps to the lasting success of the reforms, The Houston A+ Challenge and its school district partners have developed a strategic alliance between community leaders, school officials, parents, students and local universities. “The Houston A+ Challenge has served as a powerful engine for school reform in the Houston area,” said Dr. Pedro Reyes, The University of Texas at Austin researcher who served as director and principal investigator of the evaluation. “The Houston A+ Challenge has accomplished its goal to build long-term infrastructure to promote school reform across the Houston area and has served as a conduit for bringing new ideas, resources and powerful mechanisms to schools to accomplish such reform.” A complete copy of the evaluation report may be requested from Houston A+ Challenge or can be downloaded from the evaluation web site at www.utexas.edu/projects/annenberg/index.html.
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Interstate Teacher Mobility Grant Aims to Keep Teachers in Profession Last year, the state of Texas needed 38,000 more teachers than in 2001, according to the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC). To help fill these vacancies, Texas turned to out-ofstate teachers, who eventually landed approximately 11 percent of these jobs. As teachers continue to move back and forth across state lines to fill shortages in urban areas, the certification process is being examined to determine the best ways to keep teachers in the profession. “Facilitating the process for hiring qualified out-of-state teachers will increase the pool of available teachers, encourage teachers to remain in their profession and increase the overall attractiveness of becoming a teacher,” said Louise Deretchin, Ph.D., director of higher education for The Houston A+ Challenge. “Interstate teacher mobility is one of the topics receiving a great deal of attention as we discuss recruiting and retaining qualified teachers with our partner institutions and school districts.”
The Houston A+ Challenge recently received an $8,000 grant from Education Commission of the States to further the process of developing an interstate reciprocal teacher certification plan with SBEC. A planning session is scheduled to be held this fall with more than 50 representatives from school districts, universities and community college systems in Texas, as well as education organizations in neighboring states. At the meeting, the participants will learn the comparative rigor and similarity between Texas’ and other states’ certification examinations, as well as the changes that may affect the content and structure of teacher preparation programs. As a group, the participants will establish some non-negotiables in establishing an interstate mobility agreement and will examine the role of the National Board of Certification in the process. The group also will examine what other states have done about certification for out-of-state teachers and will discuss what Texas and neighboring states would like to see in the way of a reciprocal certification agreement.
Faculty Academy Members Win Research Awards
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ive professors at the University of Houston College of Education recently received the university’s New Faculty Research Awards. Three of the award winners, Rebecca Martinez, Joy Phillips and Emma Schorzman, are all members of The Houston A+ Challenge Faculty Academy. The Faculty Academy, a component of The Houston A+ Challenge Regional Faculty, is being developed to encourage its members to pursue an ongoing dialogue on effective teaching and learning. The University of Houston Faculty Academy, which serves as the pilot site, is focusing on partnering university and school faculty for school-based research. Eight to 10 members meet once a week for 18 months to research a specific topic and create a project that will benefit teacher preparation or the schools. At the University of Houston, Martinez’ project is entitled “Emotional Adjustments of Learning Disability Subtypes in Childhood.” Phillips will study “Making Sense of Urban School Reform: Examination of Leadership Practices” while Schorzman will study “Strategy Instruction to Assist Struggling Middle School Readers’ Comprehension.” The Regional Faculty is being created by The Houston A+ Challenge in collaboration with several universities and school districts in the Houston area. When completed, the Regional Faculty will include teachers, administrators, business leaders, community leaders and faculty members. This group is responsible for developing the Faculty Academies, acting as a resource for schools, staying up-to-date on the latest research on teaching tools and practices, disseminating information to other educators and maintaining a collaboration between the group’s various entities to ensure teacher preparation and student achievement are aligned with current needs. In addition to the Faculty Academy, other components of the Regional Faculty up and running are the Deans Leadership Group, the District Leadership Group, the History Taskforce and the Houston A+ Summer Science Internship at Baylor College of Medicine.
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New Grants . . . continued from page 2 The MetLife grant comes to Houston A+ through What Kids Can Do, a non-profit that grew out of the work of the national Annenberg Challenge initiative. The funds will be used to implement “Students As Allies: Creating Classrooms That Benefit Teachers and Students Alike.” The project makes students partners in school reform. During the project, students, teachers and other adults will form teams that will work for six to eight months to develop a blueprint for how to strengthen teacher-student relationships and involve students in the teaching and learning process. The teams then will organize a public summit to report on their work. The Wal-Mart Foundation grant will be used to purchase supplies for the K-5 Mathematics Initiative backpacks. These backpacks are checked out by students in participating schools on a rotating basis as resources for classroom follow-up activities with parents. Typical backpack supplies include rulers, pencils and manipulatives, as well as ideas and games for parents and students. These supplies reinforce mathematics instruction received in the classroom. The backpacks also include a survey and journal so that K-5 math specialists and teachers can gauge the effectiveness of the program. This grant resulted from a request for funding from the South Gessner Wal-Mart store. The backpacks themselves were donated by the Houston Astros. “All of these programs are about making learning personal, be it for the teacher, the student or the parent,” said Linda Clarke, executive director of Houston A+. “We are grateful for each of these donations.”
High School Initiative Gets Grant to Support Literacy Mentoring The Houston A+ Challenge has been awarded a Teacher Induction Partnerships (TIPS) Initiative grant to support the work of Houston Schools for a New Society. The grant will fund training, research and program development for literacy mentoring across the academic content areas in the 24 comprehensive high schools in Houston ISD. “While we work with our Houston Schools for a New Society partners to restructure local high schools into 21st century learning centers, we must simultaneously prepare new teachers to enter these classrooms with the most effective teaching tools,” said Linda Clarke, executive director of The Houston A+ Challenge. Higher education partners in the grant are University of St. Thomas, University of Houston, University of Houston-Downtown
and Houston Baptist University. The two-year TIPS training will be provided by the New Teacher Center at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The Carnegie Corporation is funding the TIPS training for Houston and two other sites: Birmingham City Schools and Samford University and Mapleton Public Schools and the University of Northern Colorado. The three sites were selected from among 20 applicants. The Houston Schools for a New Society initiative, begun by Houston A+ and Houston ISD to reinvent high schools, focuses on improving literacy across disciplines, which is also a key component of TIPS. The grant will provide mentoring for new and current teachers who will be entering a new school culture in the redesigned high schools.
Fund for Teachers Grant Recipients Gear Up for Summer Learning Adventures Eighty-two local teachers are gearing up for summer learning thanks to grants from the Fund for Teachers program. Fund for Teachers, started by Apache Corporation Chairman Raymond Plank in 1997, gives grants of up to $5,000 to educators in seven cities, to study, explore, learn and embark on “voyages of discovery” during the summer to enliven their classrooms and improve their teaching skills. Houston A+ Challenge is the 2003 regional administrator of Fund for Teachers. Included in the summer 2003 winners are Dawn Kale, who will tour Underground Railroad cities in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Kentucky; Christopher Claflin, who plans a geological field trip to the Pacific Northwest; and Maria Mendez, who will learn about children’s literature for bilingual educators in Madrid. 2003 Fund for Teachers Grant Recipients Houston ISD Michea Carter, Williams Charter Middle Janet Harasim, T.H. Rogers Dawn Kale, GregoryLincoln Education Center Nelva Williamson, GregoryLincoln Education Center Katherine Thrift, J. W. Jones Elementary Lesa Jacobsen, MacGregor Elementary Miosotis Lozano, MacGregor Elementary Coy Hunger, Roberts Elementary Maria Alejandro, Robinson Elementary Kipyn Reyher, Cage Charter Elementary Anissa Curtis, Edison Middle Carlye Law, Holland Middle Michelle LaFlure, Barrick Elementary Maria Leibig, Barrick Elementary Ann Qaurles, Barrick Elementary Thao Nguyen, Durkee Elementary Kelly Driscoll, Henry Middle Bradley Quentin, Milam Elementary Lynne Bennett, Burrus Elementary Nancy Lindsey, Harvard Elementary Sharon Sipps, Harvard Elementary Brooke Bagley, Love Elementary Matthew Guenther, Love Elementary Sandy Butler, E.O. Smith Education Center Kimberly Hagler, Key Middle James Sheridan, McReynolds Middle Courtney Frantz, Benbrook Elementary
Reada Glitman, Kennedy Elementary Leona McKenzie, Kennedy Elementary Hai Yen Nguyen, Kennedy Elementary Vanessa Jansen, Attucks Middle Sabrina Grossman, Attucks Middle Monica Roach, Mading Elementary Natalie Rojas, Seguin Elementary Beatrice Long, Ortiz Middle James Blake, Stevenson Middle Claire Eary, Bell Elementary Janet Gray, Johnston Middle Liz Peterson, Johnston Middle Elizabeth McCarty, Johnston Middle Mary Stowe, Parker Elementary Cynthia Roper-Williams, Red Elementary Chih Lee, Ashford Elementary Rose Enis, Bush Elementary Sharon Sutton, Emerson Elementary Elisa Soto, McNamara Elementary Shelea Majors, Shadowbriar Elementary Georgia Redonet, Long Middle Catherine Wampler, Pershing Middle Rachel Younkin, Pershing Middle Kellie Karavias, Rodriquez Elementary Alicia Milz, Sutton Elementary
Miriam Garcia, Pine Shadows Elementary Linda Suchoff, Hollibrook Elementary Renee Hamilton, Cornerstone Academy Itzil Welch, Treasure Forest Elementary Corrin Skelly, Spring Branch School of Choice Brook Armitstead, Spring Branch School of Choice Bonnie McSpadden, Pine Shadows Elementary David Reynolds, Spring Branch Middle Carolyn Giannantonio, Stratford High Lisa Cherry, Westchester Academy Marianne Cribbin, Spring Forest Middle Guy Gregg, Cornerstone Academy Mary Hobbs, Science Center Richard Campbell, Valley Oaks Elementary Robert Heller, Valley Oaks Elementary Maria Mendez, Ridgecrest Elementary Sonia Greiner, Guthrie Center Patty Nilsson, Guthrie Center Janis Benefield, Nottingham Elementary Luis Villanueva, Tiger Trail School Victoria Beard, Northbrook High Janis Hill, Northbrook High
Spring Branch ISD Karen Pritchett, Westchester Academy Pat Weems, Terrace Elementary Michelle Nielsen, Spring Branch Special Education Support Center Maureen Patten, Wilchester Elementary
YES Preparatory Academy Christopher Claflin Heather Teel Amy Tepper Travis Wilson
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THE HOUSTON
CHALLENGE
formerly The Houston Annenberg Challenge
1415 Louisiana, Box 9 Houston, Texas 77002-7332 713-658-1881 fax 713-739-0166 www.houstonaplus.org
Calendar of Events SUMMER-FALL 2003 5 16-20 18-20 24
8-10
2 19-20
JUNE High School Symposium at James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University Critical Friends Group New Coaches Training Critical Friends Group Leadership Seminar New Visions in Leadership Academy Class of 2002 Graduation Dinner JULY Fondren Reforming Schools Summer Institute SEPTEMBER New Visions in Leadership Cohort Meeting New Visions in Leadership Academy Class of 2003 Fall Retreat
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OCTOBER New Visions in Leadership Cohort Meeting
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NOVEMBER New Visions in Leadership Cohort Meeting
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DECEMBER New Visions in Leadership Cohort Meeting
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID
#11363 HOUSTON, TEXAS
THE HOUSTON A+ CHALLENGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Harry Reasoner, Chairman Vinson & Elkins, LLP Joe B. Foster, President Chairman, President & CEO Newfield Exploration Company
BOARD MEMBERS Jack S. Blanton President Eddy Refining Company Leonel Castillo Education Liaison, Mayor’s Office Jonathan Day Managing Partner Andrews & Kurth, Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton, LLP David French Division Vice President & General Manager Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. Ann Friedman, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor, The University of Houston Roberto Gonzalez Vice President, Employment and Training Centers, Inc. H. Devon Graham, Jr. R.E. Smith Interests Jenard Gross President, Gross Investments Steve Miller Chairman & President SLM Discovery Venture Inc. Karol Musher, M.A., CCC-SLP Speech, Language and Learning Disorders Texas Children’s Hospital Maconda Brown O’Connor, Ph.D. Chairman, Brown Foundation J. Victor Samuels Chairman, Victory Packaging
SchoolWorks is published by: Houston A+ Challenge 1415 Louisiana, Box 9 Houston, Tx 77002 713.658.1881 / 713.739.0166 (fax)
Yava Scott Community Volunteer H. Michael Tyson Vice Chairman, Retired, Chase Bank Texas
Executive Director: Linda Clarke Associate Director/Director of Programs: Michele Pola, Ed.D. Director of Public Affairs: Nan Powers Varoga
Andrea White Civic Volunteer
www.houstonaplus.org
Randa Duncan Williams President, Enterprise Products Company Rosie Zamora President, Telesurveys Research Associates