Jorge Rodriguez' GCISD Blog

GCISD eliminates on-level course track at the middle schools

2012-01-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

On January 23rd, 2012, the GCISD School Board approved the elimination of the on-level ("regular") course track for all middle schools. Currently, middle school students can select between Gifted & Talented/Accelerated, Pre-AP and on-level course tracks when selecting classes in Language Arts, Social Studies, Math and Science. Starting with students entering the 6th grade in August 2012, there will only be two options, Gifted & Talented/Accelerated and the new "College Readiness" track. Some members of the community have expressed a concern that the new "College Readiness" track will be a "watered down" version of the Pre-AP track, in order to accommodate students that would previously have taken the "on-level" track. However, this is not the intention of the new "College Readiness" track. As in the case of the current Pre-AP track, the new "College Readiness" track includes a curriculum that will prepare students for future AP courses at the high school level. In order to guarantee that all students are college ready by the time they graduate from high school (a goal of our new LEAD 2021 district strategy), the students that would normally have taken on-level classes will be placed in college readiness courses.

As an aside, current middle school students will not be affected by this change (they will still have the 3-course track options for the rest of this year and for their subsequent years in middle school).

One concern about this change is how we are going to ensure that on-level students going into the 6th grade will be ready for a more challenging curriculum within the "College Readiness" track. Rick Westfall, GCISD's Chief Learning Officer, mentioned during this month's Board Meeting that GCISD will review and improve the curriculum at the elementary schools in order to support the new 2-track approach at the middle schools. As this change affects current 5th graders going into 6th grade, GCISD will also offer assistance outside the classroom at the middle school level in order to ensure these students can perform at the college readiness level. This is no different than the assistance that is currently offered at all our middle schools for students that need additional help.

The key strategic goal of LEAD 2021 is to ensure that all students have a "personalized learning plan that leads to college and career readiness." GCISD intends to change the K-12 curriculum in order to establish college readiness as our minimum education standard. Eliminating the on-level track at our middle schools is a change that will lead us towards that goal.

If you have any comments or questions about this matter, please post them below or send an email to jorge@jorgerodriguez.org.

Exito Hispano at Cross Timbers Middle School

2011-12-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

In order for GCISD to reach its goal of being the best school system in the state, and to prepare all our students for the challenges of College and other post-graduation education opportunities, we need to significantly improve the performance of our Hispanic students at our secondary schools. With that in mind, the Cross Timbers Middle School has launched a new program called "Exito Hispano at CTMS", which focuses on increasing Hispanic parents' involvement in the education of their kids.

Our first presentation took place on September 7th. During the meeting, we discuss the achievement gap between the general population and our Hispanic students, and the high ratio of in-school-suspensions (ISS) among that group. We also discussed the parent contract that all of us signed at the beginning of the school year, and how important it is to follow the commitments stated in that document: make sure students arrive on time to school, support CTMS in its discipline efforts, establish a set time for homework at home, motivate students and be available to answer questions to school personnel, stay aware of student performance and provide time for kids to read.

We discussed the risks of continuing the status quo, including the possible decline of our education system, and with that, the negative effect that could have in our great cities of Grapevine and Colleyville. With the Hispanic students being the fastest growing group in our district (and state), it is critical that we act now. Even if we continue to improve our efforts at the schools to satisfy the needs of these students, we will not succeed without a strong partnership with their parents.

We also had meetings during the months of October, November and December, where we discussed the issue of student discipline, the GCISD Family Access tool (to review student grades online) and the course paths (regular, pre-AP, GT/AP) at the middle and high school levels. During all our meetings, we encouraged parents to come to the school if there is an issue with their students, either academic or behavioral.

We are planning monthly meetings in 2012, were we will discuss topics of interest, including the Career Tech options at our high schools, importance of a College education, College admission and financial aid, etc. We will also expand the program to include both high schools and Grapevine Middle School.

GCISD joins lawsuit against the state

2011-11-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

Last week the GCISD Board of Trustees voted to join the lawsuit to be filed by the law firm of Haynes and Boone against the state of Texas regarding public school finance. Haynes and Boone is representing several Chapter 41 ("Robin Hood") districts in this lawsuit. The lawsuit will claim the current public school financial system does not provide enough funding to support an adequate education for our children, and that the current system results in a de facto state-wide property tax, which is illegal under the state constitution.

It is unfortunate that districts need to depend on this type of legal action to force the state legislature to provide adequate funding for education. While the cost of education rises, not only due to normal cost of living increases, but also due to the drastic change in demographics in our state, the legislature follows a political agenda that sacrifices the future of the state by short-changing public schools.

This should serve as a lesson for all of us. YOUR VOTE MATTERS! We, the people, elected the current Senate and House members in our state. If education is important to you, please look at the voting records of the candidates in the upcoming election prior to going to the polls. If you do not want public school programs to be cut, or class sizes to increase, or low college admission rates, please support pro-education candidates in the 2012 elections.

If you are one of the many citizens in this state that does not vote, please reconsider. The future of our state is on the line. Texas is in the bottom 15% in the nation in terms of school funding. In GCISD, our leaders and employees continue to do more with less, as they maintain high quality school programs, control class sizes and service a more diverse student body without laying off personnel, while receiving less funds from Austin. But this will not last forever if we allow our legislators to continue sacrificing public schools. We need all pro-education citizens to go to the polls in 2012 and make their vote count.

You can watch Dr. Ryan's announcement about GCISD joining the lawsuit in this link

A late welcome to the new school year!

2011-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

I have been wondering for a couple of months what I was going to write about for my first blog entry of this new school year. I considered LEAD 2021, our new district strategy, the recently published AP test scores from TEA, which showed how strong our program is vs. peer districts, or our new CTMS program, "Exito Hispano en CTMS", which focuses on integrating more minority parents into our school. I was also wondering if anyone was actually planning to read my blog this year! Then I read the news that one of the great inventors of our lifetime, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, passed away at a young age of 56. I remember being in college in Puerto Rico when my roommate Miguel Morales brought a tiny Apple Macintosh computer to our apartment. What a cool machine that was! Miguel loved to make fun of the old PCs, the one with the DOS commands, while he moved the Macintosh mouse from side to side on the monitor, clicking the different options on his screen Windows (well, we know who copied that idea and made millions of dollars after that!).

In my opinion, the greatest accomplishment of Mr. Jobs was not all the inventions at Apple, or his great vision for animated films implemented at Pixar. It was the fact that he lived one of the greatest comeback stories of our lifetime. Mr. Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985 and was rehired in 1996, to not only change the company, but also our lives. Who does not have an iPod, iPhone or iPad? And what about iTunes?

As we start the new school year, it is important to remind our kids that things are not always going to go their way. Life has many challenges, and it is important to learn from all experiences and move forward. How we deal with adversity defines who we are. We should always tell our kids there is always a solution to any problem. Things are not always easy, but with a positive attitude, we can find a way. Mr. Jobs made a great speech during the 2005 Stanford University graduation ceremony, and I am planning to share it with my kids later today. In that speech, Mr. Jobs talked about his life story, and about doing what he loved. If you want to watch the speech, here is the link.

Thank you!

2011-05-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

On May 14th, our voters passed the 2011 GCISD Bond, with 3,718 (68%) votes for it vs. 1,748 (32%) against it. This is an important milestone for our district, as we start the implementation of our LEAD 2021 10-year strategic plan.

Thank you for supporting our schools!

Election Day May 14th

2011-05-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Please remember to vote on the GCISD Bond Election today, May 14th. Polling places are listed here. For more information on the Bond Package, please visit the GCISD Bond 2011 website.

Thank you for your support of GCISD!

GCISD Bond Election

2011-05-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Early voting for the GCISD Bond Election starts on May 2nd and ends on May 10th. Election day is on May 14th. Polling locations are listed here. This Bond package will address needs in several areas in our district, including facilities renovation and repairs, safety and security improvements, instructional programs and technology. The Bond will also support the GCISD LEAD 2021 10-year strategic plan. 100% of the Bond funds stay in our district, as they are not subject to recapture by the state ("Robin Hood"). For more information on the Bond Package, please visit the GCISD Bond 2011 website.

Important message from Dr. Ryan

2011-04-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Please check the latest video message from our superintendent, Dr Robin Ryan, about new developments in the state funding for education and how that could affect GCISD:

Dr. Ryan's BEST Report 22APR11

We are in a crisis. Please get involved!

2011-03-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

We all know that public education in the state of Texas is at a critical point in its history. The last report from the US Census Bureau stated that our state ranked 44th among the 50 states in the education funding per child. Current budget cuts being considered in our Legislature could potentially place our state last in education funding. On March 2nd, I joined a group of Board Trustees and Superintendents from Carroll ISD and GCISD in a visit to our state Capitol to discuss the current state budget deficit with several legislators. We met with Representatives Vicky Truitt, Mark Shelton and Senator Wendy Davis. We also met with Legislative Aides at the offices of Senators Dan Patrick, Jane Nelson and Representative Todd Smith. Unfortunately, the main message from those discussions was that the funding situation for Texas public schools does not look promising for the next two years, with no clear solution in the short term.

Right now, it is critical that all citizens get involved demanding that legislators make Education in Texas a Priority. Balancing our state budget should not put the future of this state in jeopardy. Education cannot be seen as an expense, but as an investment. If you want to get involved, please call, email or send a letter to your legislators. To find the list of legislators that represent your residential area, please visit this site. You can also get a copy of a template to write a letter or an email to your legislators here. Even if you don't have kids in public schools, you need to get involved. After all, the quality of education affects the value of our homes and businesses.

Please spread the word to all your relatives and friends. Feel free to copy this blog link in your Facebook and Twitter pages to ask others to get involved. Many districts have joined forces to make Education a Priority in our state. For more information, please visit www.schoolpriority.com.

Welcome SAGE!

2011-02-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

There is a new parents advocacy group in our district, SAGE, which stands for "Supporting and Advocating for Gifted Education". The group's mission is "to ensure gifted children in Grapevine/Colleyville reach their fullest potential by advocating on their behalf, connecting parents to valuable resources and to each other, and by educating and supporting their teachers and administrators." This group will offer resources to parents and educators to improve the overall educational experience of gifted children in GCISD. We need to raise the bar for all kids in our district, starting with our top students. When we give additional tools to teachers and parents to increase the level of educational engagement of our GT kids inside their regular classroom, then all kids benefit from this. The more GT training our teachers have, the better prepare they will be to establish a more fun and stimulating classroom for all students.

If you are interested in joining this parents' group, please send an email to info.gcsage@gmail.com. You can also follow the group on their Facebook page and via Twitter.

GCISD Strategic Planning

2010-09-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

During the September Board meeting, the members of the Board approved a contract with Cambridge Strategic Services to initiate our new 5-year strategic plan process. I believe this is a big step for GCISD as we continue to work towards our mission to be the Best. For an organization to be successful in any field, the most important component needed is strong leadership. I am confident that our new superintendent, Dr. Robin Ryan, will provide that leadership to continue to move our district forward. But right after strong leadership, a strong plan is also critical. This is why we are partnering with Cambridge, an entity with many years of successful experience developing strategic plans for school districts in our state.

The Cambridge process has two purposes: to create a long-term strategic plan by rejuvenating the district's planning process, and to ensure implementation through a complete organizational alignment and systemization of plans and actions.

GCISD will have a 30-member team working with Cambridge to develop the plan for the district, and their first meeting will be in mid-October. The team will include two Board members (Jesse Rodriguez and myself), GCISD staff and other members of our community. The strategic plan should be ready for Board approval by February of next year.

Newsweek's Best High Schools Ranking

2010-06-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Newsweek magazine just released their annual Best High Schools ranking, and once more our two high schools made the list. CHHS was ranked #170 (top 0.7% of the US high schools) and GHS #342 (top 1.3% of the US high schools). According to the article, there are approximately 27,000 high schools in the nation. This ranking is based on the rate of AP tests taken by all the students at each school versus the total number of graduates. The ranking used the AP tests taken in the 2008 - 2009 school year. The rate of AP tests per graduate was 3.428 at CHHS and 2.669 at GHS. For the state of Texas, CHHS and GHS ranked #20 and #37, respectively.

The full Newsweek's article can be found here.

Congratulations to both high schools!

Welcome Dr. Robin Ryan!

2010-06-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

On June 14th, the GCISD Board of Trustees will move to approve the contract of our new superintendent, Dr. Robin Ryan. Dr. Ryan is the Chief Academic Officer of the Dallas Independent School District and is a current Grapevine resident. He was also the principal at Colleyville Heritage High School from 2004 to 2006.

Dr. Ryan brings a strong educational background with a focus on closing the performance gaps of minority and economically disadvantage students. However, he is also experienced in attending the needs of high performing students. In his previous position as the DISD West Secondary Learning Comunity Executive Director, he was in charge of 44 secondary schools, including the Ewell Townview Center magnet schools. The Ewell Townview Center includes the School of Science and Engineering, and the School for the Gifted and Talented, two of the top ten high schools in the United States according to the US News and Newsweek magazines (2009 rankings). His success in working with such diverse student body in DISD will be a great asset for GCISD.

Dr. Ryan has a Doctorate in Education from the University of North Texas. He also has degrees from Texas A&M and Midwestern State University.

New GCISD Board Member

2010-05-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

I would like to welcome Mrs. Karen Deakin to the GCISD Board! Karen is the current President of the CHHS PTSA. Karen received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Consumer Studies from Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. She has been a resident of Colleyville for the past 9 years. Karen won the May 8th GCISD election with 2131 out of 4218 votes (50.52%).

GCISD Board of Trustees Election

2010-04-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

The GCISD Board of Trustees election is on Saturday, May 8th. Early voting starts on Monday, April 26th. The early voting locations are: Grapevine Community Activities Center, Colleyville City Hall, Euless Public Library, Bedford Public Library, Southlake Town Hall and the Tarrant County Elections Center in Ft. Worth.

The Election Day voting locations can be found using the Tarrant County Elections Center voters registration look-up application.

The GCISD Board Voters Guide from the League of Women Voters can be found here.

Profile of the new GCISD superintendent

2010-04-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last month our superintendent search firm held three focus groups to gather feedback from our community on the professional profile they wanted to see in the new superintendent. We had over 60 participants in the three sessions.

One of the main characteristics our community wanted to see was a superintendent with a good understanding of the Texas school finance system. Also, they wanted someone with a track record of success working in a district with a diverse student body. The participants wanted someone that can represent and promote our district within and outside our community. An excellent communicator is another important trait for our new superintendent. Our new superintendent should be accessible, with the ability to listen and work with parents.

Other desired characteristics were: an inspirational leader with a high level of integrity, a strong motivator and an innovative instructional leader. The community wanted someone that is not afraid of making tough decisions, and preferred an educator with a doctorate degree.

If there is anything else you want to add to this excellent profile put together by our community, please post your comments below.

2010 GCISD Board Candidate Forums

2010-04-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

We will have two GCISD Board candidate forums next week. The first one is on Monday, April 19th, at Stacey's Furniture in Grapevine. This forum is sponsored by the Colleyville-Grapevine-Southlake (CGS) Democrats, and it starts at 7PM. The forum will also include candidates for the Colleyville Mayoral and Grapevine City Council races.

Our second forum is sponsored by the GCISD Council of PTAs and will be held on Tuesday, April 20th at the Colleyville Heritage High School Library. The forum will start at 6:30PM.

These forums will give you the opportunity to hear the Board candidate viewpoints on important issues the affect our School District.

The GCISD Board election will be held on May 8th. Early voting starts on April 26th.

Texas High Schools Rankings by "Children at Risk"

2010-04-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Children at Risk, a non-profit organization based in Houston, published their 2010 ranking of the best public schools in Texas. According to their website, Children at Risk is an organization that works to improve the quality of life of children across our state through strategic research, public policy analysis, education, collaboration and advocacy.

The factors Children at Risk considered when ranking the high schools were: the percentage of students achieving TAKS Commended Performance standards in Mathematics, English Language Arts, Social Studies and Science, the percentage of ACT/SAT test-takers, mean SAT and ACT test scores, enrollment in advanced courses, completion of the Recommended High School Program, participation and performance on AP/IB exams, graduation rate and attendance rate. The percentage of economically disadvantage kids was also taking into consideration when ranking the schools.

Our GCISD High Schools ranked very high in this list, with CHHS ranking #34 in the state (#12 in DFW) and GHS ranking #46 (#15 in DFW). Over 1000 high schools were included in the ranking.

Children at Risk also published individual ranking lists for elementary and middle schools. The complete lists of schools is posted on their website.

Thank you Dr. Waggoner!

2010-03-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

The beginning of the Spring Break marks the end of Dr. Waggoner's tenure as superintendent of GCISD. Under Dr. Waggoner's leadership, the district saw dramatic changes. In the last 6 years, our TAKS scores increased significantly, earning our district the Recognized status from the Texas Education Agency. We also have 10 out of 17 (traditional) campuses ranked Exemplary. The district continued to earn the Superior Achievement rating under the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas.

Our district has a graduation rate of 95%, and has one of the strongest Advance Placement programs in North Texas. Our students continue to scored significantly higher than state and national averages on ACT ad SAT college entrance exams.

During her time in our district, GCISD established important partnerships with the JPS Health Network (health clinic), Alliance Waste Management (recycling program) and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital (Dyslexia program). The district also opened the Early Childhood Development Center for children of our employees. Finally, GCISD passed the 2005 Bond program, and completed all related projects on time and under budget.

Thank you Dr. Waggoner for your excellent service to GCISD!

The search for a new superintendent

2010-03-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

On February 20th, our School Board officially started the process to find a new superintendent for GCISD. The process started with the selection of the search firm that will assist us in finding the candidates to be considered. After the search firm is selected, the process moves to the development of the profile for the position.

There are many important characteristics the superintendent for GCISD should have. I believe it all starts with strong leadership, but there are others traits we need to have. A strong communicator and motivator, high ethical and moral standards, strong focus on college readiness, curriculum and instruction background and fiscal responsibility are also highly important when considering candidates.

I would like to hear from you! Please feel free to post your comments on what kind of superintendent you would like to see leading GCISD.

Dual Language Camp Out at Silver Lake Elementary

2010-03-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

The parents for 18 kindergarten students camped out yesterday night in front of Silver Lake Elementary, as they wanted to be the first in line to sign up for the new dual language immersion program at the school. I had the opportunity to speak with the parents at the camp out, and they were extremely excited for the opportunity to take part of this great program. If the program is successful at Silver Lake, GCISD will consider expanding it to Cannon and Timberline Elementary Schools.

Our dual language program was featured in today's news on CBS 11.

Frostig Center Parent's Guide for Succesful Children

2010-02-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

The Frostig Center is a non-profit organization that specializes in working with children who have learning disabilities. Ms. Bennett Ross, Executive Director of the Center, posted in our Blog that there is a free Parent's Guide available for download at their website. The guide is based on a 20-year research, where the Center traced the lives of individuals with learning disabilities to identify factors that predicted successful life outcomes. The factors discussed in the guide were self-awareness, proactivity, perseverance, goal setting, the presence and use of effective support systems, and emotional coping strategies. Although the guide focused on children with learning disabilities, these factors apply to all kids and adults. I believe this guide could help all of us become better parents and teachers for our children.

Scottish Rite seminar on children's self-esteem

2010-02-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

On February 3rd, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar titled "Fostering strengths and building self-esteem in children with dyslexia and related disorders". The seminar was presented by Dr. Monte Davenport, Diagnostic Services Coordinator at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital and was attended by over 50 GCISD parents and administrators. Dr. Davenport discussed the symptoms of low self-esteem and their long term impact on our kids. He also discussed what we as parents can do to break the low-self-esteem cycle in order to help our children succeed. His presentation was based on the study by the Frostig Center titled "Predictors of success in individuals with learning disabilities".

The success attributes discussed were self-awareness, self-acceptance and proactivity. According to Dr. Devenport, the goal of self-awareness is to help our child understand that his difficulties are not who he is as a person. In terms of self-acceptance, the presentation discussed steps that parents and teachers can take to help students change their negative "self-talk". "Self-talk" is what children think of themselves when facing difficult situations. Finally, Dr. Davenport encouraged parents to be proactive by establishing a support network for their children. The support group includes teachers, counselors, tutors and other parents and children with similar experiences.

For more information, you can access the whole presentation with this link.

The Frostig Center study summary can be found in this link.

GCISD's Advanced Placement (AP) Program

2010-02-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

Currently 54% of GCISD graduates attend a 4-year college, and 72% attend either a 2 or 4-year college. One of the keys to continue to improve on these figures is to increase the enrollment in our Advanced Placement (AP) program. This program offers students the opportunity to take college level courses at our high schools, which gives students the chance to earn a higher credit weight per class versus standard courses. Also, students in AP courses can take an end of year course exam, which allows them to earn college credits based on their test scores.

In summary, AP courses give students the experience of a college course while having the support provided in a high school environment. Performance in AP courses is a good barometer to predict future success in college. However, even students that do not pass the end of year AP exams are well served for their future college lives by having the experience of a more rigorous high school coursework.

The following table compares the AP programs of the main suburban districts in North Texas, based on student participation and passing rates. The data was provided by the TEA and College Board websites for the 2007-2008 school year. The AP exam passing criteria is a score of 3 or above.

As the table shows, GCISD has the second highest participation rate in North Texas, and the 6th highest AP exam passing rate. It is expected that a higher level of participation in the AP program will result in a lower passing rate among students. However, top AP programs continue to increase student participation while maintaining or increasing the exam passing rates.

In order to compare the AP programs among school districts, a simple calculation that gives equal weight to participation and passing rates could be used. The AP Index included in the table is based on multiplying the participation and passing rates for each district. Using this figure, GCISD places 4th among AP programs in North Texas.

I would like to encourage all parents to get more information about the pre-AP and AP programs offered at our secondary schools, in order to help us make all students aware of these options. GCISD has a very strong AP program, and all our students should take advantage of this opportunity.

GCISD Highlights 2009

2010-01-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

January is almost over, and our new semester is in full swing. I would like to take this opportunity to review some of the many accomplishments in our district during last year.

The year started with a partnership with Allied Waste Services to establish a district-wide recycling program. This is a great initiative to teach our students the value of keeping our planet clean, reducing waste, and decreasing emissions that affect the air we breathe.

During the month of February, eleven of our schools made it to the National Center for Educational Achievement list (BES, CES, GES, GHES, HES, TES, CMS, CTMS, HMS, CHHS and GHS) for outstanding performance across multiple grades and years.

We had our high school graduations in June. Our GHS top students were Salutatorian Heejung Park and Valedictorian Christopher Newkirk. From CHHS, Salutatorian Alexander Nasr, Valedictorian Joseph Yu were the top students. We also welcomed Tona Taylor as the new principal at Cannon Elementary. During this month, Leigh Hockenbrough (BES) and Tim Bressler (HMS) were announced as the GCISD Teachers of the Year.

In July, TEA released the Accountability Ratings for districts across the state, and GCISD earned Recognized status for the second year in a row. Ten of our campuses earned Exemplary status. The district also saw significant improvements in test scores in the areas of Math and Science, while continuing to show top performances in Reading, Writing and Social Studies. For the first time since TAKS replaced TAAS as the tool to measure district performance in the state (2003), over 90% of our students passed the test in each subject area. Also during this month, we welcomed June Ritchlin as the new principal at Colleyville Elementary. Mrs. Ritchlin joined GCISD from Katy ISD.

In August, our school year started with a new bell schedule, which allowed the district to better serve the transportation needs of our students while avoiding the purchase of additional buses, saving thousands of dollars in our budget. A report to the Board on our Advanced Placement (AP) program showed that GCISD has one of the top 4 programs in North Texas, based on participation and AP exam passing rates. In September, the district started offering an enhanced dyslexia program in partnership with the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. Also this month, Bransford, Glenhope and Timberline elementary schools were named to the Texas Business & Education Coalition Honor Roll.

During the month of December, TEA awarded Gold Performance Acknowledgements to GCISD and both high schools based on the new state college readiness indicators.

Congratulations to GCISD for a great year!

Dyslexia Program Update

2009-09-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce the new Dyslexia program in GCISD. The program will be based on the Scottish Rite Hospital's "Take Flight" program, and details will be presented to the School Board and the public during the September Board meeting. Four GCISD teachers began the "Take Flight" / Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) training at Scottish Rite last month, and additional teachers will receive the training next year. If you want to hear more details about the new program, please join us in our School Board meeting on September 28th, 2009 at 7PM. You can also call the GCISD administration office for more information.

If you want to learn more about the "Take Flight" program, click the following link: http://www.tsrhc.org/dyslexia-take-flight.htm.

I would like to thank the GCISD administration for working with the Scottish Rite Hospital to bring arguably the best Dyslexia program in the state to our district. I would also like to thank all the parents that brought their concerns to the GCISD administration and the School Board. This is a great example of what we can accomplish for our kids if we work together. I understand that we are just starting the program, and I am sure its implementation will bring new challenges. However, I am very excited about the opportunity to identify and serve many more of our students with this condition.

Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Jeff Black (Medical Director), Mrs. Gladys Kolenovsky (Business Director) and their staff at the Scottish Rite Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia for their guidance and assistance.

Accountability Ratings 2009 - North Texas Comparison

2009-09-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

GCISD mission is to be "the BEST". In order to be the best, I believe it is important to compare our district performance with the top districts in the state and around the country. It is not possible to be the BEST without knowing how the best districts are performing. For that reason, I decided to compare GCISD with our peer districts here in North Texas. The goal is to identify gaps in performance (in subject areas or student subgroups) in order to know where to focus our efforts to become the BEST district in the state.

There are many factors that could be compared among school districts in order to decide which district is "the BEST". We can compare performance based on TAKS, SAT, ACT, AP, percentage of students going to College and many others. I believe it would be very interesting to compare some of these factors, so let's start with TAKS results. In late July, the TAKS scores and Accountability Ratings were published by the Texas Education Agency. The table below illustrates a summary of district-wide results, including each subject area and some of the student subgroups in GCISD and other suburban districts in North Texas.

The table indicates that GCISD scores were very strong in the areas of Reading, Writing and Social Studies, with ALL Students passing at a rate of at least 98%. In the areas of Math and Science, GCISD also had a strong performance for ALL Students (93%, 5th highest among compared districts), but we can see performance gaps in the Economically Disadvantage Students subgroup when compared with some of the other districts included in the report.

In order to be the BEST in terms of TAKS performance, GCISD needs to continue to focus in the areas of Math and Science, placing a strong emphasis on the Economically Disadvantage students. The district is already showing improvements on this student subgroup, increasing its TAKS scores by 5% in Math and 2% in Science from a year ago. As we look for ways to have a significant impact in these subject areas in the near future, GCISD is planning to perform an audit on its Math and Science curriculum, and findings will be presented to the Board this Fall.

If you are interested in getting involve as a Math or Science tutor (or in any other subject) in our district, or as a mentor for some of our kids, please contact one of our schools or send me an email to jorge@jorgerodriguez.org.

Welcome to the New School Year!

2009-08-22T17:45:00.001-07:00

I would like to welcome all of you to the new 2009 - 2010 School Year! I am very excited about serving you on the School Board for a second year. I would like to encourage you to get involved in our schools. We are always in need of volunteers, either for extra curricular activities, classroom activities, mentoring and tutoring. If you want to get involve but don't know what to do, please visit your school office.

I would also like to invite you to post comments on this Blog. You can suggest new issues for discussions, or post comments on current issues being discussed. The more involved we are in our School District, the better our district is going to be. To fulfill our mission to be "the Best", we need a strong community involvement. We also want to hear how are we doing. If there is something you love about our district, let us know. If there is something you feel we need to improve, we want to hear from you. All comments are welcome!

Acountability Ratings 2009

2009-08-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

I want to congratulate GCISD for their great results in the latest Texas Education Agency Accountability Ratings. GCISD maintained its Recognize status, and three of our schools increased their ratings: Colleyville Heritage High School and Grapevine Middle School earned Recognized status, and Silver Lake Elementary earned Exemplary status. GCISD currently has ten Exemplary, five Recognized and three Academically Acceptable Schools.

Congratulations to all students, teachers and administrators for your hard work and great achievement!

Dyslexia Program Update

2009-07-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

Great news! GCISD is moving forward with a complete overhaul of their Dyslexia program, adopting the Take Flight Intervention curriculum from the Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. The District will present a program update in the September 28th Board meeting.

TAKS 2009

2009-07-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

I want to dedicate the next few posts to evaluate GCISD's performance in the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test (TAKS), which is the main tool used by the Texas Education Agency to rank the School Districts in the state. The following table illustrates the District-wide results for the 2008 and 2009 tests, in all grades and subjects:

As shown in the table, scores stayed the same or improved at all levels except one. The exception was 6th Grade Math, but that area went down just 1% to a still very high 97% passing rate. Another general area worth noticing is the very high performance at the Elementary School level in all grades and subjects, with the lowest score at 95%.

Overall, Reading and Language Arts have been a priority for the District for many years, and it shows in the scores across the board. The District also reached 90% passing rates or above for all grades in Writing and Social Studies. Also, there was significant improvement in 8th Grade Science. Science is a subject were kids are struggling across the state and the nation, but GCISD is very close to having 90% of all our students passing the TAKS in that subject.

The most challenging area based on District-wide TAKS results is Math at the High School level. Math and Science are areas were the District will continue to focus in the coming school year, and I have no doubt that we will continue to see score improvements in future tests.

I want to congratulate our teachers, central administration and students for a job well done!

Lessons from Iran

2009-06-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

A few postings ago, I expressed my disappointment about the low turnout in our last School Board election. Watching the protests that followed the Iran presidential election against alleged electoral fraud makes me wonder if there is a lesson we can teach our kids. We have seen thousands of people marching on the streets of Tehran, some of them losing their lives, for their right to a fair election. It was only 44 years ago that the United States went through similar events, during the peak of the American Civil Rights Movement, marked by the Selma to Montgomery marches. The events culminated with the passing of the National Voting Rights Act of 1965, ensuring the voting rights for African Americans and other minorities.

Fast forward to 2009, and the United States has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the World (less than 65%, according to the "US Election Project" by George Mason University). We should take the example of our fellow citizens of Iran to teach our kids about our past struggles to grant everyone the right to vote. We have the right to choose our local, state and national leaders, who set policy on education, healthcare, finance, national defense and other critical issues in our country. Many nations around the Globe do not have that privilege. Let's teach our kids that voting is an important right that should not be taken for granted.

If you want to read more information about the "US Election Project", please visit elections.gmu.edu.

My visit to the Dyslexia Center at Scottish Rite

2009-06-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to visit the Lukes Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at the Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. I requested a meeting with their staff as part of my research in this area, trying to learn best practices in terms of diagnosis and treatment from the experts in the field. During my visit, I met with Dr. Jeffrey Black (Medical Director), Ms. Gladys Kolenovsky (Administrative Director), Dr. Monte Davenport (Diagnostics Services Coordinator), Dr. E. Vennecia Jackson, Ms. Tricia Quisenberry (Outreach Coordinator) and Ms. Evelyn Madu (Dyslexia therapist instructor). We had a very informative 90-minute meeting, where we discussed the TEA Dyslexia Handbook, different diagnosis and treatment methods and the importance of continuous monitoring after the kids leave a Dyslexia program.

The staff at Scottish Rite indicated that implementation of an effective assessment and treatment program is closely tied to the right and continuous training and level of experience of the staff making the assessments and treating the condition. It is important that the staff working to diagnose and treat the students keeps up with the latest research findings, as many changes in the field have occurred in the last 20 years. Dr. Black provided to me a list of great sources of information in the area of reading intervention, including www.fcrr.org and www.centeroninstruction.org.

The staff at Scottish Rite is very interested in partnering with school districts in DFW to make sure we provide effective programs to all our kids. They are a great resource for training and staff support. Also, since the hospital’s inception in 1921, no patient family has been charged for services. The hospital operates solely on voluntary gifts from generous individuals, corporations and foundations. We are extremely lucky to have Dr. Black and his staff in our backyard.

GCISD 2009 Elections

2009-05-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

I want to welcome Mrs. Becky St. John to the GCISD School Board! I am very excited to have her on the Board. Becky won the election on May 9th, with 1095 out of 2082 votes (52.59%). 2082 votes make only 4.5% of the registered voters in GCISD. The low voter turnout for local elections in GCISD is normal, but disappointing. The quality of education in our school district is one of the key factors that makes these communities attractive to live in. The School Board sets the goals and priorities for the district, monitors district performance, adopts the annual budget and sets the property tax rate. Also, the Board ensures the community is kept informed about the district actions. Board members represent the community within the district. Don't you want to make sure we elect Board members that truly care about the quality of education in the district, for all our kids? Aren't you interested in electing members that want to challenge the district to improve in order to fulfill its mission to be the best? Voters have several opportunities to ask questions to Board candidates, during various candidate forums held a few weeks before the election. Also, you can usually contact candidates by email, to ask questions on issues you feel are important.

Now that we start a new year for the School Board, I would like to invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings and speak to us in the Open Forum. The Board is here to represent you. We take the needs of our community very seriously. If there are issues in the district you feel are not being properly addressed, we would love to hear from you. Improving our district is the responsibility of all of us. So please, get involved. Let your voice be heard!

Dyslexia Program at GCISD

2009-04-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

The School Board had the opportunity to discuss the Dyslexia program at GCISD during the April 27th Board meeting. We heard from 5 parents that faced many difficulties to get the School District to correctly diagnose and treat their children. We also heard from the GCISD Administration, where they stated their success in their reading intervention and Dyslexia programs, based on the performance of the students in the Reading TASK. The administration mentioned there are currently 44 students in their Dyslexia program, and over 1000 students receiving assistance through the reading intervention program.

I have to admit I am no expert in Dyslexia or Special Needs education. However, I love to analyze statistics, in order to compare our District performance with other districts, state and national levels. Many studies on this subject suggest the incidence of Dyslexia within school age children in the United States is between 5 - 10%, while other studies state a wider rate, falling in between 1% and 20%. This suggests the number of GCISD students in our Dyslexia program is too small (0.3% rate). This becomes more obvious when you look at other districts in DFW, like HEB, where they have 600 students in their program (3% incidence rate). HEB has a total of 20,000 students, while GCISD has close to 13,900. Using the incidence rate at HEB of 3%, our Dyslexia program should have over 400 students.

At the end of the discussion, the Board requested a review of this program, suggesting that we need to look at both its effectiveness and the process we use to diagnose our kids. I am looking forward to discussing the improvement plan for this program in the near future.

Welcome to my GCISD Blog!

2009-04-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

I am a member of the GCISD School Board and would like to give the opportunity to teachers, parents and all citizens to give their feedback about our District. I understand that some of you might feel more comfortable giving anonymous feedback about issues in our schools, and here is your opportunity.

If you ever wanted to ask a question to a Board member, well, here is your chance! If you want to discuss school finance or the work environment at your school, we can do it right here.

The purpose of this Blog is to work together to improve our district. The more ideas we exchange, the more issues we bring to the table, the better off our district will be. If you have any topics you would like to discuss, please let me know.

Please let others know about our site, www.gcisd.blogspot.com. To comment on my Blog, you can sign up using your Google email account, or you can create an account right here. Just click on the "comments" link below one of my posts. It is very easy. If you prefer to post anonymous comments, you can use a nickname (on the "Display Name" field when creating your account). In that case, your real name or email will not be visible when you post a comment.

If you have any questions about this Blog, please post a comment or contact me by email at jorge@jorgerodriguez.org.