This Summer is Full of Honors and Functions in the San Antonio School District
San Antonio School Districts Harris Middle School selected national Middle School of the Year
Harris Middle School is being recognized for its students efforts to improve their communitys quality of life. This summer Harris Middle School has received the National Youth Crime Watch of America Casey Award presented during the international conference in Ogden, Utah. This award is given to those individuals or organizations that offer examples of leadership, allocation of resources, and support in student or youth crime prevention programs and plans. Harris Middle School, part of the San Antonio Schools, was the only middle school in the US to receive this honor. Harris Middle School was chosen for its students tremendous efforts in improvement of its campus and community. This was accomplished by programs that focused on conflict resolution, theft prevention, street clean-ups, and smoking and drug awareness programs. This has resulted in the Harris Middle School being one of the safest, friendliest, and positive school environments in the state. Students are active participants in the Peer Assistance Leadership group and the Peer Mediators, these groups teach understanding and conflict resolution strategies. Harris Middle School was also a past recipient of the San Antonio Bar Foundations Peacemaker Award, which chooses safe schools throughout the San Antonio School District.
Brackenridge High School Recognized in National Award
Brackenridge High School received honorable mention as one of nine finalists nationwide for the College Boards Inspiration Award, which recognizes the countrys most improved high schools. A College Board representative facilitated a panel discussion with school administrators, staff, students, and parents. The representative was especially interested in hearing from students. Approximately 20 students were part of the discussion. The representative visited classrooms following the panel forum. The information that was collected at Brackenridge was taken to judges in New York, where they reviewed all nine finalists. The Award recognizes high schools that maintain AP or International Baccalaureate programs despite the difficulties at the school.
Special Functions in the San Antonio Schools this Summer
GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) will hold a Summer Academy CSI from 8 a.m. to noon at eight high schools in the San Antonio School District. This program will focus on the application and value of science in forensic investigation. Students will be able to participate in solving mock crimes. The students will uses skills they learn in the program. Using their powers of observation, analytical skills and advanced scientific technology to uncover the most minuscule evidence, students will attempt to solve the crimes. Based on the popular CSI television programs, this adventure for 6th-graders combines science, math and language arts, resulting in a learning experience as fun as it is enlightening. Summer Academy CSI is part of, designed to help the class of 2012 be prepared for success in college and beyond.
The Christopher Columbus and the Americas program will be offered at two San Antonio School District middle schools from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Students will discover all aspects of what the New World was like at the time the famed explorer first landed on its shores, including its culture, history, geography, and myths. By integrating social studies and language arts, the course also examines the impact of the resulting Colombian Exchange through which Native Americans and Europeans introduced to each other a variety of different animals, concepts, crops, foods, and materials.
Stacy Andell is a staff writer for Schools K-12, Which provides free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Stacy has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues.
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Phoenix Schools Roosevelt District In Serious Trouble With Arizona Department Of Education
The Roosevelt Elementary School District, located in the Phoenix Schools area on the south side of the city, is in serious trouble. The primarily low-income district has been dealing with turmoil for years, and the possible takeover by the Arizona Department of Education only exacerbates the situation.
Last December, Arizona Department of Education held a meeting in one of Roosevelts school gyms to present the situation to all concerned. Over 200 parents, teachers and other community members were present as Arizona Schools Chief Tom Horne, flanked by 25 of his top staff members, laid out the Phoenix schools Roosevelt districts problems. Five members of the Phoenix schools Roosevelt district board were present.
Horne, a Harvard-trained lawyer, did not mince his words as he presented slide after slide and graph after graph that illustrated the large negative numbers that concerned this Phoenix schools district. Many in attendance were visibly stunned by the enormity of the situation with which they and the district are faced.
One point that Horne hammered home to the five Phoenix schools Roosevelt district board members present, as well as the audience, was that other school districts were doing much better with similar resources. Three neighboring Phoenix schools districts have just as many impoverished families as the Roosevelt district. They have just as many students with English as a second language, who need the extra time, resources and coursework to learn English in order to succeed in the Phoenix schools. Yet, these three Phoenix schools districts have between 64 and 78 percent of their students performing at grade level in math for the third grade, with Roosevelt at 45 percent; and 62 and 72 percent in reading, with Roosevelt at 34 percent. The same is true in the other score measurements. In all 27 separate measurements, Roosevelt is substantially below the other three comparable Phoenix schools districts. That is nearly double the number of students showing academic achievement, as compared to Roosevelt. (You may view Hornes graphs at:
http://www.ade.az.gov/administration/superintendent/articles/RooseveltDistrictSpeech.pdf.)
What really hit home for the people in attendance is that Roosevelt receives per student funding above the state average, yet no other district in the state has performed so poorly. In 2005, the Arizona Department of Education ranked 10 of the Roosevelt schools as underperforming. The district has only 21 schools. This was an unprecedented amount of underperforming schools in the Phoenix schools area.
Things must improve rapidly for the Phoenix schools district. Otherwise, the state will take over the district and all its schools. Horne is applying pressure to overhaul the districts practices and replace ineffective personnel. Meanwhile, Horne has called for legislation to allow the state to take over entire districts and school boards for poor student performance.
The Roosevelt district has taken the threat of takeover by Horne to heart. This year, they have initiated many major changes, including:
New and innovative practices;
District educators are working together to develop a guaranteed and viable curriculum;
Teachers at all levels are involved in curriculum mapping, which helps a teacher understand what standards to teach students and when to teach them;
A standards-based progress report now replaces the number grade reporting system, helping teachers and parents understand the language of standards and create a consistency between district reports and the results of the statewide test; and
A comprehensive curriculum guide was developed and implemented that includes standards and a curriculum pacing calendar.
Only time (and a very short time, at that) will tell if these changes will be enough to elevate the Phoenix schools Roosevelt districts underperforming schools. If not, then the district will be under new management the state.
Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information on Phoenix schools visit
http://www.schoolsk-12.com/Arizona/Phoenix/index.html.
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