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. at Wharton Dual LanguageAcademy. English-speakingand Spanish-speakingstudents work sidebysideinclass to RankingscontinuesonB9 increase bilingualism. Students Samar Fort Bend ISD embraces diversity Haider and By Renée C. Lee Fort Bend IndependentSchool District Inside Jonathan is the norm. 1 Regaining Esguerra Goggle-cladstudents at Thedistrict is Texas’ seventh-largest Reagan: New discuss Garcia Middle School in Sugar and one of itsmostdiverse.The student principal aims to lure ascience Land appear fullyengagedin population is about 29 percentblack, 26 moremiddle-class activity the day’sscience lesson as they care- percentHispanic,22percentAsian and families. B2 at Fort fullyremove livers, lungsand hearts 20 percentAnglo,according to district 1 The Best: Check Bend from frogs. They work as cohesively as figures. out alistoflocal ISD’s seventh-graders can in small groups Fort Bend ISD has managedthe rankings. B8 Macario around the room, heedless of the differ- growing diversity overthe pastdecade Garcia entethnic backgrounds they represent. with some success. More than half its 1 Improving: See Middle Forthem, learning alongsideblacks, 68 schools receivedanAorBgrade in who’s taking stepsin School. MayraBeltrán /HoustonChronicle whites, Hispanics and Asians in the Fort Bend continuesonB3 right direction. B8 GULF OF MEXICO BP MS 150 CoastGuard searches It’s fun, anyway youlook at it for 4missing boaters DrewUruski takes a By Carol Christian includedcutters, airplanes and break to helicopters, the CoastGuard has snapaphoto During the twohours that been unable to locate the other during astop John Reynolds spentclinging to four men. alife raft in the Gulf of Mexico, “So farwe’vecovered about Saturday he wasnot concerned about his 1,800 square miles, about 300 along ownrescue. miles largerthan the stateof FM 529 “The main thing waswhat RhodeIsland,” Petty Officer hadhappened to the other crew Richard Brahm said early Sat- en route members,” Reynolds said after urday. TheCoastGuard indi- to Austin being hoisted from choppy seas cated the searchwould continue during the by aU.S.CoastGuard helicopter throughthe night. before dawn on Friday. Thesearchgrid is based upon BP MS150. A56-year-old commercial such factors as where the ship fisherman from Gaston, Ala., went down, wind speed and Reynolds waspart of afive- currents. Cycling man crewonthe Nite Owl, a Theboathad sailed from Port forcause 50-foot fishing boatthatsank at BolivaronApril 12.Its owner, 3:30 a.m. Fridayabout 115 miles LarryMoore,said he wasat 1Photogallery southeastofGalveston. Despite home in Golden Meadow, La., of BP MS 150 on extensive searchefforts that SearchcontinuesonB11 J. Patric Schneider chron.com.. %'.$*.$) !+ /,".$) !" (-&&.$)# ?A8<2F .I9.I+I!C+ #@.I&@;+C@! 5H260&%5 H1EA 1? :;,I.+ B!/ +I$$I.+ C=B! B!,@!I> (1 01'.I#4B-8DG+6)# $'&#(%"!!&& AB7= @"7I*+*!/I9I!/I!C$, @3!I/ B!/ @9I.BCI/4 Created on Adobe Document Server 2.0 B2 | Sunday, April 21,2013 | Houston Chronicle | houstonchronicle.com and chron.com xxx SCHOOL REPORTCARD ‘URBAN’ EDUCATION of neighborhood chil- Reagan takes dren and educators hope they will matriculate to Reagan. “We’rereallyatthe steps on road beginning of seeing zoned students infiltrate,” said Stephen MacLauchlan, to success an assistantprincipal and magnet coordinator. Theschool is doing extensive work market- By Jennifer Radcliffe besturban highschool in ing itself so thatparents the Houston area, accord- knowthatReagan is safe, Thebreaking ing to the latestrankings clean and features state- pointfor Reagan by the nonprofit Children of-the art technology. High School came at Risk. Thecategoryis “It’saquestion of get- in March2006 when limited to campuses where ting parents in the door,” the principal hoisted a at least74percentofstu- said AnthonyDay,who Mexican flaginfrontofthe dentsare from low-income has taught at the campus Heightscampus. families. for sevenyears. Theprincipal —who It’s been along,hard Mairedys Piedra, 17, wasshowing support of roadfor Berger, whofaced MelissaPhillip /HoustonChronicle said shechose Reagan Hispanic students amid neighbors and alumni who Reagan High students move through thecourtyard to catchtheir next classes. overBellaire and Lamar the national debate on had“justreallywiped their because sheknewshe’d immigration reform —lost hands. They were done class Heightsfamilies, Houston ISD average of 75 neighborhood students getmore attention at the his joband the school lost with this school,” shesaid. Bergeracknowledged. percent. yetstill successfullyedu- smaller school. Shehas no even more footing among Akey to continued Of the 27 percentof cate large percentagesof doubtshe made the right alumni and commu- Need to levelup success will be college- Reagan students who low-income students. decision. Theschool’s nity members, whohad Since her hiring,the preparedness figures. As takeAdvanced Placement Arecord 2,200 stu- SATLab helped improve watched the quality of their school has been literally it stands, Reagan High exams, onlyabout 1in4 dentsnow attend Reagan, her testscore by 200 alma mater slip. and figuratively rebuilt. students —who are 86 earn scores highenough and roughly800 students points and acounselor Enter Connie Berger, a Bond funds paid for a$30 percentHispanic and to receive collegecredit. applied for the 200 seats has helped her getschol- 1979 graduateofReagan, million facelift. Thetech- 80 percentlow-income “I don’tthink anyone in the school’s technology arships to the University where sheenjoyedher nologymagnet program —beatstate and district would say‘Let’srushout magnet program. of Houston. days as an overachieving wasbeefed up and scores averagesonTexas’ stan- and send our kids to these “Bellaire and Lamar cheerleader. Hermission of Advanced Placement dardized tests, but they top-performing urban Marketingpush are so packed. Teach- as principal wassimple: classes have been added. fall well short on college- schools.’ They’re still not Time will tell if the ers have no time,” said improve Reagan High so Of course,success for going measures. at the levelthey need to school attracts the chil- Piedra, whotravels from thatitcan compete for the Reagan maymean moving Reagan students, for be,” said Robert Sanborn, dren pouring into the southwest Houston to at- children of the families away from the demo- example,score almost CEO of Children at Risk. Heights, whoare cur- tend the magnet program flocking to the Heights, one graphics of the “urban 100 points belowstate Reagan’s goal, Sanborn rentlyelementary-aged or at the Heightscampus. of the mostsought-after highschool”list. To truly averagesonthe SAT. And said, should be to join the younger.Two of itsfeeder neighborhoods in the city. reach itsgoal, Reagan only55percentofReagan ranksofHISD’s Lamar elementaryschools, jennifer.radcliffe@chron. 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