Works
SCHOOL
FALL
2006
VOLUME 19
A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E H O U S T O N
CHALLENGE
HIGH SCHOOLS ARE FOCUS OF REFORM
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ouston and the nation have turned their attention to high school. The Texas Legislature recently voted to increase high school math and science requirements. State and federal accountability systems have zeroed in on urban high schools, questioning their performance. And graduation rates are not what they should be. One reason? The comprehensive American high school of 2006 is not substantially different in form and structure from the high school of the early 20th century. The old high school was, for most students, the final step in the sorting machine that was public education, preparing the elite for higher education while ensuring that the majority were well prepared for the working world. Well into the last half of the 20th century, the American economy provided plenty of opportunity for a successful working life that did not require a college education. But the economy has changed, and today the same skills that are needed to be successful in higher education are also required for success in work. “Today’s students need to achieve a better education than the baby boomers if they are to succeed in the new knowledge economy,” according to Stephen Klineberg, Professor of Sociology, Rice University. In addition, the evidence has mounted that these large comprehensive high schools do not adequately serve all their students. Across the state, 8 percent of high schools received ratings of “Academically Unacceptable” in the 2006 Texas Education Agency accountability ratings; in urban districts that percentage is often much higher. And even those students who do complete high school are not necessarily well prepared for the rigors of higher education, with as many as 50 percent of first year students at some schools requiring remedial work before they can take college level courses. Houston area school districts recognize these challenges and are working to make changes to address them. And Houston A+ Challenge is collaborating with these districts to bring them resources as they revamp their comprehensive high schools. To create more choices for students in Houston ISD, the district is expanding its portfolio of high schools. In October the district partnered with Texas High School Project (www.cftexas.org/thsp.html) to reorganize and improve four of the comprehensive high schools. Houston A+ is supporting continued reform efforts at four other high schools, and has also played an important role in establishing three new Houston ISD high schools: Challenge Early College High School, a . . . continued on page 4
STUDENTS LEARN BY SERVING
Catherine Favero, Christine Sarkis and Meredith Graf, Quest High School class of 2006, point out unhealthy snacks to Kim Huseman, Service Learning coordinator at Quest. The students’ senior exhibition addressed the issues of body image, eating disorders and nutrition.
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n an unusual example of school district crosscollaboration, a small high school north of Houston is serving as a model for its new inner city counterpart. Quest High School in Humble ISD, created in 1995 and serving 230 students, and Empowerment College Preparatory, which opened in August 2005 in Houston ISD with 81 students, building to a total enrollment of 400 students in 2008, share a common focus: Service Learning. Empowerment was co-founded by Houston ISD, Houston A+ Challenge and the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) (www.essentialschools.org). These two schools, 32 miles apart and with very different student bodies, successfully incorporate public service into the curriculum and enhance and support the service with research projects. As part of a unique . . . continued on page 6
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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Executive Director
n this issue of School Works, we look at the changes that are taking place in the local high school landscape. From the creation of small, personalized schools like Challenge Early
College and Houston Academy for International Studies, to use of Service Learning at Quest and
Michele Pola
Empowerment College Preparatory, to small learning communities in Humble ISD and collaborative learning by a network of 16 high schools in Aldine, Alief, Spring Branch and Humble, districts throughout the Houston area are working to offer more choices to students so that all of them have the opportunity to successfully complete high school ready for college and work. We also take a look at the partnerships that thread their way through each of the high schools mentioned above. Houston A+ Challenge was founded by the community in 1997 to sit outside the school districts to help them build networks and relationships and to attract private funding. We have worked closely with school districts in the Houston area from our inception, raising $110 million to invest in the area’s education system, and those partnerships continue. In this issue you will read how The Regional High School Network, created in 2004, brings representatives from area districts together to collaborate and share best practices as they work to improve 16 high schools. You will read how the Houston Community College System, Coalition of Essential Schools, Asia Society and Houston A+ Challenge came together with Houston ISD to plan and open three new small high schools. And you will read how Baylor College of Medicine and Houston A+ Challenge created the Summer Science High School Internship. Through these partnerships, Houston A+ Challenge is working to develop the community’s capacity to impact and improve public education and to sustain those improvements. Partners matter. I urge you to join the dozens of organizations and companies and thousands of people like the ones profiled in this issue who are partnering with public schools today.
SUMMER SCIENCE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
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or six weeks this summer Houston ISD students and teachers were lab scientists. They wore white lab coats while they extracted DNA from mouse tails, prepared slides, looked at mouse retinas, extracted protein from nitrogen-frozen muscle tissues, developed tissue cultures and counted cells. Thanks to an innovative program that places students and teachers from Houston ISD’s East Region in working research laboratories at Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu), both students and teachers get to “do science instead of just talk about it like in school,” said Ernesto Morales, Chavez High School student. “I can see now what science is like and what it takes. I can do it and be successful.”
Summer 2006 is the fifth year of the summer science internship program, which is a partnership of Houston A+ Challenge and Baylor College of Medicine to link the research laboratory to the high school classroom. Studies show that students stay in school when they can see the link between what they are learning in school and how they can use it after they graduate. In this program, a high school science teacher and student are paired and placed in a Baylor laboratory to work with a scientist and mentor for six weeks. The largest group so far, nine pairs, were placed in laboratories this summer, supported by the John P. McGovern Foundation. In total, more than 50 students and teachers have participated in the initiative.
This science initiative has two goals. First, the initiative provides students, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, with first-hand knowledge of what it means to be a scientist and, in the process, develops the students’ confidence that becoming a scientist is within their reach. Second, the initiative reconnects high school science teachers to the greater scientific community, bringing the “real world” of science into the high school to keep the teachers’ knowledge and skills current. Dourty Kelly, a Furr High School science teacher, said that being able to see the scientific method in practice was a wonderful learning opportunity. “We go to update sessions and journal meetings. Scientists . . . continued on next page
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Summer Science Internship . . . continued from previous page present their work, others ask questions and assistants, participate in the lab’s journal The internships give teachers a chance to everyone learns more. That helps drive the meetings every week, and attend seminars hone their knowledge of workplace science. Collectively thinking and learning where they learn about research others are expectations to pass on to their students as from each other—that’s what science is doing. Laboratory research problems well as refine their instructional techniques. about.” encountered are complex, open-ended and “Working with a student on essentially the Each year, Baylor and Houston A+ select challenging. Knowledge and skills gained are same level allowed me to better understand five to 10 pairs of teachers and students after carried back into the schools. problems some students may have with reviewing applications that inquire into the At the end of the six-week internship, each learning,” said Pius Ewulu, a teacher at Austin students’ interest in science, expectations for teacher-student team presents its work and High School. “I am also learning from our the internship experience, and their research outcomes to an audience of scientists, mentor, Avijit Ray, about that kind of commitment to six 40-hour weeks teaching—how it is important to of challenging work. These are take time for the students to catch regular students, not from gifted or on. I am learning more about advanced programs. The teams then teaching by being a learner.” work full-time in the state-of-the-art, The Baylor mentors also have the biomedical research laboratories at chance to hone their teaching skills. Baylor. “These students and teachers “I decided to mentor because I are not job-shadowing, being wanted the experience teaching to lectured to, doing library research or see if this is something I would like running errands,” said Louise to do in the future,” said doctoral Deretchin, director of higher candidate Douglas Strand. “I was education at Houston A+ Challenge. surprised —it actually helped scientifically!” “They are fully engaged in handsThe mentors and principal on research that contributes to the investigators have been surprised research agenda of the laboratory to and pleased by the knowledge and which they are assigned.” skill of the science teachers. Hence, A $1,800 stipend is paid to each through the summer science participating student. This ensures Derrik Coleman and Dourty Kelly, Furr High School student and teacher, are joined by internship, opportunities are that students whose families depend Yanghong Gu (center) their graduate mentor. Coleman and Kelly worked for six weeks at Baylor College of Medicine as part of the summer science institute. opening up to build a bridge on their income during the summer between scientists in the field and can take part. Likewise, teachers are scientists in the high schools. paid a $4,000 stipend to ensure those who teachers, family members and administrators. Dr. Deretchin and Associate Dean Scott need to supplement their teaching salary can The teacher and student are required to use Basinger, Ph.D., Baylor Graduate School of participate. the same scientific presentation format that Biomedical Sciences, hope to expand the Teachers and students begin their stint at Baylor scientists use. Baylor by learning biomedical research techFor high school students, it is often the first program to include more students and teachers in the summer program and to niques and laboratory procedures, including time they have been treated as professionals. extend year-round mentoring into a number DNA extraction, sample preparation, lab Furr student Vanessa Salazar said, “I’m going of Houston ISD high schools. “Funding is the safety and pipetting techniques for collecting to be smarter when I get out of here—and major limitation to expanding the program,” precise samples. Each teacher-student pair is more polite. Everyone smiles and is nice to said Dr. Deretchin. “We have been very assigned to a research laboratory for five everyone else. It wasn’t like that at other fortunate this year to receive generous support weeks, where they become part of the research places where I have worked.” Vanessa and from the McGovern Foundation.” team. Research projects range from the HBU student Edgar Gonzalez contributed to “The most powerful comment I hear from mechanisms of Fragile X mental retardation to work on prostate cancer in David Rowley’s lab students is now they know they can succeed the effects of human growth factor on prostate in the Department of Molecular and Cellular in college,” says Dr. Basinger. “For many cancer. A doctoral or post-doctoral student Biology. This research was submitted August students they may be the first generation to from Baylor mentors each pair. The mentor 31 for publication in the scientific journal serves as a role model for the student and Cancer Research and is currently under review. even consider attending college, and once they complete the program, they are filled helps the pair navigate the language, processes Fernando Meza, a 2006 Chavez High School with such confidence about themselves and and culture of scientific research. graduate and returning student in the their abilities. It is truly inspiring.” During their stay at Baylor, teachers and program, described the work environment as Austin High School student Claudia students keep journals to record their research very supportive and collaborative. “During the Hernandez, who will be the first in her family procedures, observations and outcomes, as school year I worked at a grocery store, and well as personal notes on their experiences, no one was helpful to me there. In the lab, we to go to college, agrees. “It’s different in the lab than in school. Here, you have to show challenges and what they are learning. The are treated like members of the team. People what you know. And you have to know a lot.” teachers and students function as lab look out for us and support us.”
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High School Reform. . . continued from page 1 partnership of Houston ISD, Houston Community College System (HCCS) (www.hccs.edu), and Houston A+ Challenge, which opened in 2003 (see article and sidebar p. 5); Empowerment College Preparatory, a partnership of Houston ISD, Houston A+ Challenge and Coalition of Essential Schools, which opened in 2005; and Houston Academy for International Studies, a partnership of Houston ISD, Houston A+ Challenge, HCCS and the Asia Society (www.asiasociety.org), opened this fall. These are high schools with a special vision that share common goals. They all focus on smaller class sizes and more personalized learning environments. They are also all geared toward guiding student achievement in high school toward a successful collegiate or professional career. The three small schools were started as part of the 2001 Houston Schools for a New Society (HSNS) initiative, which is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, the Brown Foundation and Houston A+ Challenge. Through HSNS, the district established a High School Graduate Profile, a set of knowledge and skills that all graduates of Houston high schools should have. The framework for achieving the Graduate Profile is personalizing the learning environment for students and teachers and embedding instruction on adolescent literacy into all subjects. To personalize learning for students, Houston ISD is implementing personal graduation plans for all students, even though the State of Texas requires them only for at-risk students. Smaller learning communities within the large high schools and more continuity of advisor/counselor assignments also are being used at some high schools. To infuse literacy into the curriculum, the district and Houston A+ co-created the literacy coach position. Houston A+ funds the position and provides training and technical support to the literacy coaches and their network. Language arts Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores at Houston ISD high schools have improved since the literacy coach strategy
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was implemented. According to Texas Education Agency (TEA) data, ninth grade passing rates at the recommended standard increased from 54 percent in 2003 to 82 percent in 2006. Similarly, 10th grade passing rates increased from 52 percent to 78 percent over that same time frame.
Today’s students need to achieve a better education than the baby boomers. . . ––Stephen Klineberg Elsewhere in the Houston area, at Humble ISD, lessons learned at the innovative Quest High School are being applied in the district’s large comprehensive high schools. Quest, which received a recognized rating from the Texas Education Agency for 2005-2006, is the only school of choice for Humble ISD high school students. A Houston A+ Challenge Beacon School, Quest is a small school with enrollment of about 230 that offers students a personalized learning environment based on Service Learning. (See related article p. 1) Quest used the Beacon grant to document its work and measure its success so that other schools could learn from the development of its curriculum and learning environment. “Quest is our research and development school,” said Superintendent Guy Sconzo. Humble ISD has embraced the concept of small learning communities, designing its newest high school, Atascocita High School (AHS), around six communities of 400 students, and undertaking massive redesign of their existing large comprehensive high schools. Beginning with the 2003-2004 school year, additional support from The Annenberg Foundation and the Brown Foundation became available to expand high school redesign into other districts in the Houston metropolitan region. Houston A+ Challenge gave grants to four school districts––Aldine, Alief, Humble and Spring Branch––and created the Regional High School Network,
which has grown to include 16 high schools. These schools meet monthly as a group to learn collaboratively, share ideas, and practice collaborative tools that will support the redesign effort on their campuses. Each campus has focused on different aspects of high school redesign, and the group uses cross-site visits to observe the work being done and provide feedback on progress. Redesign efforts follow the principles of high expectations, personalization, coherency, time and resources, technology, professional development and leadership. High schools in the network have implemented student advocacy programs and are using portfolios to document progress. They are sharing ideas on improving instruction. For example, Memorial High School in Spring Branch ISD uses vertical teaming between their ninth grade staff and feeder middle schools to clarify accountability for teaching and learning. Humble High School and Humble Ninth Grade Campus took training from the University of Texas Dana Center on deconstructing the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to ensure that their focus is on the appropriate content and level of expectations. Other promising practices include Alief ISD’s Hastings High School “goal keepers” concept, with specific staff members charged with monitoring and documenting progress on the four major goals of the campus improvement plan. At Aldine High School, career-focused smaller learning communities have been initiated for all 10th grade students, with plans to expand the model to 11th and 12th grades during this school year. The network continues to grow as new schools join in. “When Atascocita High School opened, we entered the network as one of Humble ISD's high schools,” said Dr. Lawrence Kohn, founding principal of AHS, which opened this fall. “Having been part of the network when I was at Quest High School, I know of the deep support, professional development for teachers and principals, and the overall professional nature of Houston A+ Challenge. AHS already has taken advantage of CFG training, leadership training, and now the Regional High School Network.”
Early College High Schools Are a New Model for College-Bound Culture
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n fall of 2003, the first early college high school in the State of Texas opened in Houston. Called Challenge Early College High School (CECHS), it was co-founded by Houston A+ Challenge, Houston ISD and Houston Community College System (HCCS). Today, there are many early college high schools open or in the planning stages in Texas and around the country. An early college provides the opportunity for high school students to take dual-credit classes and graduate in five years with both an associates degree and high school diploma, all at no cost to the student. Students who choose not to continue for the fifth year can graduate high school with up to 40 plus hours of college credits. These credits fulfill core requirements and are fully transferable to Texas public institutions of higher education as well as to many private colleges in Texas and public universities in other states. In May 2006, CECHS graduated its first class of four-year seniors and advanced a number of students to the first fifth year class for the 2006-2007 school year. In fact, three students accelerated their studies so that they received their associate degrees from HCC— two weeks before their high school graduation. (See sidebar.) Early college high schools are typically affiliated with a higher education organization and often sit on the site of a community college, college or university. At Challenge, students design a unique and personalized graduation plan based on either four or five years’ enrollment. Students typically begin enrolling in concurrent credit classes in their junior year and by the fifth year are primarily in college-credit bearing courses. Seminars, tutoring and other supports are provided to prepare and support students in college-level work. Challenge is designed as a small school, with maximum enrollment of 400 students. Justin Fuentes, Challenge principal, said, “Great things have happened since our humble beginnings in the spring of 2003. We earned a Recognized School rating from the Texas Education Agency in both 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. For the 2006-2007 school year, we have our first group of fifth-year students, or “Super Seniors” as we call them, working toward the completion of their associates degrees from Houston Community College.
CECHS students Summer Jones and Ashley Marcks as well as Morgan Gonzalez (not pictured) were awarded associate degrees from HCC two weeks before they received their high school diplomas.
“Our first graduating class from the 20052006 school year are all off to positive beginnings of their adult lives. With these successes we are driven to continue the positive work and melding of the Houston ISD and CC systems, and with support from groups such as HISD, HCC and Houston A+, we are confident that we will continue and maintain the mission and successes we have already enjoyed.” The success of CECHS as a model has encouraged others to plan more early college high schools. Houston ISD opened another early college high school in fall 2006—East . . . continued on page 6
STUDENTS AT CHALLENGE EARN COLLEGE CREDIT Three Challenge Early College High School students––Morgan Gonzales, Summer Jones, and Ashley Marcks––graduated from Houston Community College in May 2006 with associates degrees, two weeks before they received their high school diplomas. The early college model, a new concept in Texas and one that is growing in the state and across the country, allows students to earn concurrent high school and college credit on many courses while enrolled in high school. The expectation is that students will stay enrolled in high school for five years and receive their high school diploma and an associates degree simultaneously, or they can graduate in four years with their high school diploma and possibly 40+ hours of college credit. Challenge Early College High School opened on the campus of Houston Community College West Loop in the summer of 2003, and as the first early college in Texas, nothing was particularly typical about it. Here are some of the students’ stories: Morgan Gonzales reports, “It was a little scary to choose to go to a school where there was no school. The first day, there were no desks in the rooms, just books in a pile in the middle of the floor.” But the students felt as though they were part of building the school, and they blazed new trails as they went along. Morgan’s mother and sister got their GEDs and an uncle went to technical school, but Morgan is the first of her family to get a high school diploma. She’s also the first college student in her family. Morgan has wanted to be an architect since she was six years old, and she has been accepted to the Architecture School at University of Houston. With her dual credits from HCC, she has completed her core college courses. She still expects to need five years in architecture to earn her degree, but she estimates that the dual credits saved her thousands of dollars. Summer Jones attended Pershing Middle School in Houston ISD, and entered Challenge in 2003 as a freshman. She didn’t necessarily plan to finish so quickly, but after going to summer school and taking advantage of some other dual credit opportunities, she realized she could get enough credits to both graduate from high school and HCC in three years. While this is not a typical, or even recommended, schedule, Summer managed to achieve all this and graduate as valedictorian of her class. She’s going to Rice University on a full scholarship to study bioengineering Ashley Marcks came to Challenge as a junior in 2004. She was surprised to find that she was close to having enough credits to earn her associates degree, but once she was close, she used summer school and some of the mini-sessions offered by HCCS to accumulate the credits. Ashley is attending Texas A&M University. . . . continued on page 7
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HOUSTON AREA EDUCATORS ATTEND 10TH ANNUAL SUMMER INSTITUTE “If only we had better students, we’d have better schools.”
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r would we? George Thompson of the Schlechty Center challenged the overflow crowd at the 10th annual Fondren Reforming Schools Summer Institute to examine this oft-repeated observation about public schools. In fact, continued Thompson, schools are better than ever. The issue is that they were not designed to do what we now want them to. Schools have been designed to produce compliance, and we need them to encourage engagement. Schools cannot be improved by working on the students or working on the teachers. It is necessary to work on the work—to design work that students will find engaging and that will result in learning that which is valued by the school system, by parents, and by the community at large. Following Mr. Thompson’s keynote address, Professor Tony Wagner, of the Change Leadership Institute at Harvard, gave a second keynote. Dr. Wagner reported that national data tells us that college ready is the same as work ready is the same as citizenship ready. With only 50 percent of African-American and Hispanic students graduating from high school, this is a crisis. The fact that of those who do graduate from high school, only one in three white and Asian students, one in five African-American students, and one in six Hispanic students are graduating “college ready” makes this issue the civil rights challenge of the decade. Correcting this is the profoundly important mission of our schools. These two important messages set the stage for nearly 400 people who attended the Summer Institute. This year’s institute, titled “Focus on Quality Teaching and Learning: Changing the Work,” was a continuation and expansion of last year’s “Focus on Quality Teaching and Learning: Partnerships in Learning Communities.” The institute brought together these two nationally acclaimed experts in school reform for the first time, and delved deeply into both Wagner’s most recent book, “Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming our Schools,” and Phillip Schlechty’s “Working on the Work: An Action Plan for Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents.” Participants met as learning community groups each day of the Institute, where, with the guidance of trained facilitators, they worked together to more deeply understand and apply the principles of Change Leadership and Working on the Work to their own schools. Fourteen different workshops, led by local and national practitioners, focused on specific applications and concerns. The Reforming Schools Summer Institute has developed over these 10 years into a top quality professional development opportunity for Houston area educators, bringing nationally known leaders in education reform to share their knowledge. The 2007 Summer Institute will be held July 24-25. Materials from the conference are available at www.houstonaplus.org.
Early College . . . continued from page 5 Early College High School on the southeast campus of HCC. According to Kelly Trlica, Houston ISD’s assistant superintendent for secondary school reform, “Early college high schools represent the opportunity for HISD to have a portfolio of schools for the many and diverse communities within the district. They are smaller learning environments that provide incredible college readiness opportunities for students and their parents who desire something different from the traditional, comprehensive high school. They are open to all students within the district and provide better chances for non-traditional college bound students to receive a personalized education AND earn college credits at the same time.” Across the State, the Texas High School Project and Texas Education Agency (TEA) have funded 19 early college high schools opened or opening next year, and proposals are being reviewed for the next round of five to 10 additional early colleges. As the first early college high school in Texas, CECHS has been named a demonstration school by TEA. In that role, Challenge hosted more than 80 visitors over the summer to support the start-up of these next early college high schools.
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Learn by Serving . . . cont. from page 1 school-to-school mentoring approach pioneered by the CES Small Schools Project, Empowerment was matched with Quest, a CES mentor school, for support in its development. The three major components of Empowerment are: personalization through an extensive advisory program, a rigorous curriculum emphasizing dual credit that will prepare students for college, and project-based service learning through a system of partnerships with the community, for example, the office of Houston City Council member Ada Edwards. The mission is to equip students to become socially conscious problem solvers who make a positive impact on the community. Quest, a Houston A+ Challenge Beacon School, requires students to participate in at least 30 hours of community service each semester. Time on Wednesdays is dedicated to this activity, and students work in elementary schools, at a local park, with the elderly, with special needs adults, or at other community-based organizations. At Quest, the culmination of the service learning program is in the senior year. In the first semester of that year, seniors build on their experiences in the community to gain a broader view of social issues. In their last semester Senior Seminar course, students self-select groups to research a social issue and prepare an action plan to address that issue. They conduct in-depth research on their selected issue, connect with a government or a non-government organization involved with the issue, and design, organize, implement and evaluate a sustainable service project to address the problem. A graduation requirement, the Senior Seminar concludes with a formal, college-level dissertation style presentation to outside audiences. Issues addressed have included Murder, Obesity, Poverty, Civil Rights, Advancing Technology, Abortion, Child Slavery, American Foreign Policy, Drug Abuse, Racism, and others. At Empowerment, students participate in social action internships each Wednesday for approximately two hours per week. At the end of each semester, students complete a social action project and public exhibition of their work, modeled on Quest’s senior exhibitions.
having successfully completed 47 hours of college credit really helped my college applications.” Other students graduated in four years Amber Rangel came to Challenge in as a without an associates degree or stayed at sophomore, having completed her freshman Challenge for a fifth year. year at Reagan High School in Houston ISD. “I always knew I wanted to go to a four year liberal arts school out of state, so I didn’t She is staying for a fifth year of study. Amber plans to go on to Our Lady of the Lake think getting college credits would mean University in San Antonio after she receives much to me,” said Ben Breier, a Challenge her AA. It is a small school, which she has High School graduate, attending Wesleyan University in Connecticut this fall. “After an come to appreciate in her experience with awful ninth grade year at a big comprehensive Challenge, and they will accept all her dual high school, I realized that I wanted a smaller, credits, a big plus. She’s interested in studying communications or public relations. The more personalized school, and Challenge offered that. And it turns out that I gained a dual credits Amber has earned have made the difference in being able to go to college at all, lot from the HCC classes. I was able to take Japanese at another HCC campus, which was and now she expects to go on to complete her bachelor’s degree. great. But I also learned about how to study Jabari Bailey began Challenge as a freshman for college classes; how to take responsibility for my own learning. I’m also pretty sure that and graduated in three years with 48 hours of
College Credit . . . cont. from page 5
college credits. He played football at Bellaire High School, his zoned school. Jabari is attending Morehouse College in Atlanta–– not only his first choice school but his only choice––where he plans to study biology and neuroscience. Part of the appeal of Challenge to Jabari was to be part of starting something new, to help shape the organization. “At Challenge,” Jabari said, “the teachers and staff really care—they want you to be successful.” According to Morgan Gonzales, what’s special about Challenge is that the teachers respect and care about the kids. She feels that college classes while in high school have given her a great transition for further studies in higher education. “In college classes no one is checking you all the time, and you learn how to manage your time. At Challenge you learn to be responsible for what you learn.”
TEACHER EXTERNSHIPS MAKE LEARNING RELEVANT
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he Teacher Externship program created by Houston A + Challenge and the Greater Houston Partnership connects high school classroom teachers with business professionals in their field of study in order to make students' learning experiences more relevant to the workplace. This summer 111 teachers from 40 schools and six districts worked for a week in more than 70 area businesses and offices. The next Teacher Externship week will be held June 4-8, 2007. One extern was Patricia Ann Williams, an English teacher at Memorial High School in Spring Branch ISD, who was placed at the Houston Chronicle. She reflected on her experience: “I am awed by the industry and knowledge displayed by the employees of every department in the newspaper. These are workers who have risen to the top of their fields, evidenced by their working at one of the country’s most important newspapers. I see what it takes to get to this place: drive, persistence, hard work and personal discipline, but most importantly passion and love for the particular work each performs. “I want to share with my students the idea that a big corporation thrives in an atmosphere of harmony and mutual respect. All sorts of different skills are required to put out a newspaper, but each department values and honors the other areas of expertise. I am very interested in making students aware of their own particular intelligence styles, so I
Teacher Kathryn Nocca of Bellaire High School watches as Michael Burgess, teacher at Eastwood Academy, rides the bucket lift during their externship with CenterPoint Energy in June.
am empowered more than ever to encourage them to develop their intelligences. “As an English teacher, of course I can point out to my students the importance of clear and precise writing, of being fair and unbiased when arguing a point, and of meeting deadlines, but I also want to point out to them that, just as our classroom works best when we appreciate each others skills, whether they are mechanical, verbal, interpersonal, kinesthetic, or any of the others, so does a workplace function best when its workers appreciate and respect each other’s gifts and abilities.”
Title of Lesson: Examining Word Choices Targeted Grade Level: 11 Advanced Placement Submitted by: Patricia Ann Williams Subject Area: English, skills needed for Advanced Placement Language and Composition Examination Activity Objective: To promote awareness of the significance of language choices in creating the effect of a piece of description or an argument. Materials/Supplies Needed: I will present examples of loaded or charged language as used by politicians of both Republican and Democratic parties in the newspaper. Description: Students will look in newspapers to find examples of charged or biased language and will examine its effect in the context. They will also replace the charged language with objective and non-biased words to see the difference using such language makes to the context or argument. They will also examine the particular kinds of words and metaphors used in at least two specialized fields in the newspaper, i.e. sports, fashion, cooking, business, etc. They will bring examples of this language, compiled on a sheet to discuss in class. I will give a daily grade for this activity. Ms. Williams developed the lesson plan above based on her externship experience.
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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID
#11363 HOUSTON, TEXAS
1415 Louisiana, Box 9 Houston, Texas 77002-7332 713-658-1881 fax 713-739-0166 www.houstonaplus.org
C a l e n d a r
o f
E v e n t s
THE HOUSTON A+ CHALLENGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
NOVEMBER
7,14,21,28 7,28 9 27
DECEMBER
4 5,12,19 5 5,12
Literacy Coach Training School Improvement Facilitator (SIF) Meeting Regional Senior Fellows New Visions in Leadership Academy Meeting
Joe B. Foster, Chairman Founder Newfield Exploration Company Ann Friedman, Ph.D., President Civic Volunteer
BOARD MEMBERS Leonel Castillo Civic Volunteer
New Visions in Leadership Academy Meeting Literacy Coach Training Regional High School Network Meeting School Improvement Facilitator (SIF) Meeting
Jonathan Day Managing Partner Andrews & Kurth, Mayor, Day, Caldwell & Keeton, LLP Michael Dee Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Roberto Gonzalez Vice President, Employment and Training Centers, Inc.
9,16,23,30
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
Literacy Coach Training
9,23
School Improvement Facilitator (SIF) Meeting
22
New Visions in Leadership Academy Meeting
24
Regional High School Network Team Conference
2-3
New Visions in Leadership Academy - Retreat
26
New Visions in Leadership Academy Meeting
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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 Harry M. Reasoner Vinson & Elkins, LLP
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J. Victor Samuels Chairman, Victory Packaging Yava Scott Community Volunteer Andrea White Civic Volunteer Rosie Zamora President, Houston Wilderness, Inc.