Houston's Learning Curve
Inside Outlook: Whichbattle defines Texas history? 16B Houston Chronicle | houstonchronicle.com and chron.com | Sunday, April 21, 2013 | Section B xxx SCHOOL REPORTCARD SPECIAL COVERAGEPAGES B2-9 Houston’slearning curve HISD has the most at both top,bottom of rankings; magnets and charters fare well By Ericka Mellon In her sixth-grade historyclass at asmall school in the Montrose area, 11-year-old Patrice Stubblefield readquietlyfrom her textbook: “Subió el precio delpetróleo.” She turned to twoclassmates at her table and explained in Englishthatthe price of petro- leum rose in Latin America in 1980. “It’sAmérica Latina,” corrected Gresia Nunez, 12,the daughter of Mexican immi- grants. Nunez learned to speak and readEnglish as ayoung studentatWharton Dual Lan- guage Academy,while Stubblefield learned Spanishatthe school. At Wharton, native Englishspeakers and native Spanishspeak- ers studysidebyside, immersed in Spanish in the early gradeswithmore and more Englishintegrated as they getolder. Theformula has worked well for Wharton, aHouston IndependentSchool District campus serving students in pre- kindergarten througheighthgrade.The middle school levelearned an “A”grade this year from Children at Risk, alocal research and advocacy nonprofit thatannuallyranks public schools across Texas. Theelemen- taryschool earned a“B.” Roughlyaquarter of the schools in Texas earning A’s, based on their academics and other classroom factors, are in the eight- county greater Houston area, according to the Children at Riskanalysis released to the Houston Chronicle. Houston ISD dominated the top and the bottom of the local rankings. On the high school list, DeBakey High School for Health MelissaPhillip /HoustonChronicle Professions in HISD ranked firstlocally Gresia Nunez, 12, from left,Brianna Ward, 12, and Patrice Stubblefield, 11,workintheir sixth-grade geography class and third in the state.
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