HoustonChronicle @HoustonChron Houston Chronicle | Sunday, June 5, 2016 |HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com Section N xx PRE-K COLLEGE PREP SCHOOL CHOICE A head start Giving guidance Opening doors KIPP Explore starts working Schools are adding counselors Financial aid can make even with 3- and 4-year-olds to erase to help navigate the tricky pricey private schools a disadvantages. Page N3 application process. Page N4 viable alternative. Page N7 SCHOOL REPORT CARD Strategies forsuccess By Ericka Mellon High-poverty schools earn true: SchoolS with greater concentrationS of low- income StudentS are more likely to rank lower. gold marks for programs The high-poverty campuSeS that riSe to the aulette CaSton, the principal toptypically are magnet, charter or Specialty of Ed White Elementary in that boost academics schools that require StudentS to apply. SouthweSt HouSton, knowS TheNo. 1-ranked SchoolS were DeBakeyHigh her StudentS enter School at a School for HealthProfeSSionS, a magnet school PdiSadvantage. Many are new to with admissionSStandards; T.H.Rogers, amag- the country and not uSed to attending daily, net school serving students in kindergarten Structured claSSeS. And more than eight out througheighthgrade whoqualifyasgifted;and of 10 come from low-income families. RiverOaksElementary, where 10 percent of the To catch up the StudentS, CaSton haS recruit- Students are lowincome. ed retired teacherS to Serve aS tutorS, kept a So- About aquarterofHouston ISD’s schoolS cial worker on Staff part time and promoted an earned “A”grades, and 30 percentreceivedan after-School homework club So the children can “F”, according to therankings, published today get help before leaving to care for SiblingS while in thiS Special Section of the HouStonChronicle. their parentS work multiple jobS. TheHouSton-areadiStrictSthatledthepack, The StrategieS have paid off. DeSpite the withatleaSthalfoftheircampuSeSearning“A” challengeS aSSociated with poverty, White El- gradeS,areBarberSHill,ClearCreek,Conroe, ementary earned an “A” grade for itS academic SteveGonzales /HoustonChronicle Fort Bend, FriendSwood, Katy, Klein, Lamar, performance from Children at RiSk. The HouS- DeBakeyHighSchool forHealth Pearland and Tomball. Of thoSe, the BarberS ton-baSed nonprofit advocacy group focuSed on Professions earned the topspot in the 2016 Hill,ClearCreek,FriendSwood,Pearlandand improving education annually rankS the State’S Children at Risk school rankings. Tomball diStrictS alSo Stood out for having no public SchoolS based mostly on StudentS’ perfor- SchoolS receiving “D” or “F” gradeS. mance on Standardized exams. outragedbythat.” Among the area’S 10 largeSt diStrictS, Aldine “We’re a hidden Secret,” CaSton Said. The HouStonarea is home to some of the beSt had the loweSt percentage of “A” SchoolS, at 3 per- In a region and State where the majority and worSt publicschoolsinthe state. The el- cent, followed by Alief, with 7 percent. In both of public School StudentS are poor enough to ementary,middleand highschoolsthatearned diStrictS, eight of 10 StudentS are low income. qualify for free- or reduced-priced mealS, the firStplacein the 2016Children at Risk rankingS Harmony and YES Prep fared the beSt quality of the education SyStem takeS on great- all are in the Houston Independent School DiS- among the area’S largeSt charter School net- er importance, Said Bob Sanborn, the preSi- trict, where aboutthree-quarterS of the StudentS workswith more than 60 percent of their cam- dentofChildrenatRiSk. are poor. Yet atroubling trend continueS to hold puSesearning “A” gradeS. “When 60 percent of the School kidS in TexaS SchoolS are evaluated on how high their Stu- are economically diSadvantaged, we need to dentS Scored on Standardized teStS and on how make Sure we’re Sending them to good Schools,” much each child improved from the prior year. he Said. “Looking at our data, we’re not Sending ›› To see how area schools fared, go to The formula alSo conSideredhow well SchoolS most of them to good SchoolS, and we needtobe HoustonChronicle.com/ReportCard Gold continues on N2 ›› School rankings, pages N8-N12 N2 | Sunday, June 5, 2016 | Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com and chron.com xx SCHOOL REPORTCARD Principals share whytheir schoolsget top scores AQ&A with principals of some of the highest ranking Houston-area schools. Here are edited excerpts: ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Keri Fovargue,head of school at RiverOaks Elementary,No. 1Hous- tonelementary school Q: Whatsetsyour school apart? A: As the onlyVan- guard magnet and Inter- national Baccalaureate primaryyears program in Houston, RiverOaks Elementaryisunique from thestart. How- ever,whatreallysets our school apart is our excep- tional teachers andatrue sharedvision of learning by everyone.They care deeply for everystudent in their classroom, and they work hard to meet each child right where they are and move them forward from thatplace. Whether exceptionally gifted or twiceexception- al,our teachersgrowkids Courtesyphoto everyday. The award-winningT.H. Rogers School, theNo. 1middle school and No. 3elementary in thearea, owes its success to “tremendous supportfromthe district, our staff and parents,”ys sa Principal Dave Muzyka. Q: Howcan apar- enttellifaschool is Mind those application deadlines point. Look forschools it apoint to gettoknow reallyasgoodasits test that offer many opportu- HIGH SCHOOLS each and everystudenton Houston’sbiggest charterschool networks—KIPP,YES scores? nities to pursue interests campus. Prep and Harmony—have coordinatedtheir application A: Test scores are outside of the required Agnes Perry,prin- timelinestomakethe processeasier forparents. Thekey one small componentof academic courses. Par- cipal of DeBakey High Q: Whatsetsyour dates, pending stateapproval: aschool’s story—one ents should be sure that School forHealth Pro- school apart? snapshot in time.While Applications become available: Nov. 1 the school’s mission is to fessions, No.1Houston A: As an early col- the numbers do give a Applications due: Feb. 10 prepare principled citi- highschool legehighschool, we take glimpse insidethe build- Acceptancenotification: March zens ready to enter into students whomay never ing,there is so much HoustonISD magnetschools* an ever-changing global Q:Why is your have thought of attending more to what makesa society. school successful? collegeand place them on school successful. Applications due: EarlyOctober to mid-December for A: An educational acollegecampus, taking Theheartbeatofa phase one; mid-December through Mayfor phase two. Imelda Medrano, culture has been built that collegecourses during school is in itspeople, Themostpopular schoolsare filled in phase one. principal of Seven emphasizes arigorous their ninth grade year. itspriority and itsmis- Notification of acceptance: Late March Lakes Junior High, and relevant curriculum, sion. In ordertogather To qualify forthe Vanguard gifted program: Testing No. 5middle school whichprepares students R. ScottAllen, prin- perspective,parents need is scheduled forincomingkindergarten studentsfrom for universitystudyand cipal of theHighSchool to visitthe school for December through February.The districtdoesnot notify Q: Whatsetsyour future career paths. forthe Performing themselves. They need parentswhether their children qualify forthe gifted school apart? DeBakey provides a and Visual Arts, No. 6 to walk the halls, listen program before magnetapplications aredue. A: Most people think challenging,well-bal- Houstonhighschool to the conversations and *Datesare basedon2016and might change. Updateswill be posted on back to their junior high/ anced collegepreparatory understand theculture of HISD’sOfficeofSchool Choiceweb page:houstonisd.org/Page/133703 middleschool years and program for students in- Q: Whyisyour the school. Theseare the remember thattime as terested in science,health school successful? elements thatwill provide beingawful. Kids are and medicine. A: Thestudents are clarity to parents whether fective direct instruction is agood fit for your entering their early teens, what makethe school or not aschoolisasgood tied to the statestan- studentwithin the first experiencing onsetof RamonMoss, princi- successful. Our young as itsscores. dards. This occurs every 10 to 15 minutes of your puberty,becoming hyper- pal of Carnegie Van- artists have apassion dayatWestU. visit. Does the school sensitive to whetheror guardHighSchool, for their art. Theschool Sarah Harrington, offer arts?Field trips? not they fit in, and strug- No. 2Houston high provides an artistic com- principal of Horn El- MIDDLE SCHOOLS Guestspeakers?Outside gling with thinking logi- school munity wherestudents ementary School, No. 4 programs? callyrather than impul- thrive as they collaborate Houstonelementary Dave Muzyka, prin- sively.Itisatoughtime Q: Whyisyour with teachers, consultants cipal of T.H. Rogers MichaelHejducek, and an awkward phase school successful? and peers in developing Q: Whatisthe big- School, No. 1middle principal of Fort Settle- for the average person. A: Carnegie Van- their craft. gest obstacle your school and No. 3el- mentMiddle School, At SevenLakes Junior guard High School This community pro- school faces? ementary No. 2Houstonmiddle High,wegoout of our is successful because vides asense of belonging A: Adequate building school waytoovercome these administration, fac- and our students want space.The building is five Q: Whatsetsyour challenges by cultivating ulty,staff,students and to be here.Wealso teach years old,and enroll- school apart? Q: Whyisyour aculture