Advancing Gifted and Talented Services in GCISD

When I was elected to the School Board in 2008, our district was not GT friendly. Back then, we had one part-time administrator for the GT and Advanced Academic programs, our district did not encourage telescoping, and there was no serious effort to cluster students under a GT trained teacher in their regular classrooms. We also had a very small number of minority students with the GT designation. 

In 2010, as a member of the steering committee that developed our strategic plan LEAD 2021, I asked to include the requirement to have all teachers instructing GT students to be GT certified. The strategic plan also included the formation of the GTAC, the GT Advisory Committee, with a goal to become Exemplary with the Texas State Plan for Gifted Education. That same year, my wife and I joined other parents in our district to start SAGE (Supporting and Advocating for Gifted Education - gc-sage.org), currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. In 2013, the GTAC, comprised of parents, teachers and administrators, developed the framework for the Aspire Academy, our very successful program for the highly gifted.

Through our LEAD 2021 plan, GCSID made a strong commitment to serve our GT students. Fast forward to 2020, and we are a destination district for gifted students, with hundreds of students telescoping in math, a strong GT - Advanced Academics department with a Director and full-time staff, and the Aspire Academy was declared the best program for gifted students in the state, after an audit from Dr. Todd Kettler from Baylor University in 2019. Our GT identification rate is currently 21%, the second highest in the state, and first among districts with a diverse student body. We also use a clustering model in our regular classrooms, to allow students to interact with their peers, under the supervision of a certified GT teacher.

I am a GT parent, a lifetime member of SAGE, and a board member of the Gifted Education Family Network (giftededucationfamilynetwork.org), a state-wide parent network. I have been committed to GT education during my twelve years on the School Board. This is even more important now that School Boards are exclusively responsible for the funding of GT education in their districts, since the GT designation for state funds was removed by House Bill 3 in 2019. Additionally, we anticipate that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state budget will experience serious cuts. It is assumed that public education funding will be reduced making it critical we elect trustees that are strong supporters of gifted education and advanced academics. I have worked with parents, our School Board, and the administration to make our GT program one of the shining stars of GCISD, but there is still more work to be done.

Please allow me to continue to support GT services. Who we elect on the School Board matters. I hope that you will share with your friends my record of accomplishments for the GT community in GCISD, and support my re-election campaign for the School Board Place 7 during early voting beginning October 13th or on November 3rd.

A Trustee - Community relationship like no other

In 2008, I was a newly elected Trustee excited after winning my first election and ready to make a difference. One of the main reasons I ran was to open access to the administration office for our parents. Back then, parents at my elementary school did not feel the district administration was listening to their concerns.  This was 12 years ago, with a very different district administration from what we have today. 

I remember the first time the Board received our district-wide TASK report (the 2008 version of the STAAR test). The results were interesting and it appeared on the surface that the district performance was as good as could be expected. I realized the report did not include the performance of each individual school, so I requested the report with a breakdown for each school and was surprised when my Trustee colleagues from back then defeated my request with a 3-4 vote during a board meeting. The reason given was the report would take too long to put together, and the district personnel had other duties on which to work on. I knew we had such diverse schools in GCISD that a district-wide performance report could mask the performance of some of the individual schools. At the end of that meeting, a reporter from one of the local papers asked me about that board vote. I mentioned that I was surprised by the decision because we would not be able to accurately assess the district’s performance without knowing the performance of each individual school. The next day an article about the Board meeting appeared in the newspaper.

A week later a package was delivered to my front door, and it was the TASK performance report for both the district and the individual schools. I asked why the change and was told that many parents and tax payers called the district very upset about “their elected Trustee not getting the school performance information he requested”.  I realized very quickly that to be effective as a Trustee, developing trusted relationships with other Trustees and also with the community was critical. 

From that point forward, I have spent countless hours talking to parents and tax payers about their concerns. Those conversations have had a huge effect on the reach and quality of services we currently provide for our students. For example, conversations with parents were key in bringing the Take Flight program to our district, in partnership with the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, to serve students with Dyslexia. Also, major improvements to the gifted and talented services were developed in our LEAD 2021 strategic plan based on parents’ feedback.  

Even after many years on the Board, I do not feel as though I have all the answers or know all the concerns of our community. Ongoing parent feedback is essential in bringing light to things that we can do better and also to let us know whether a program we implement is working or not. I continue to talk to parents every day and follow their school-related postings on social media. Our parents are the measuring stick of our success, as they continue to raise the bar of high expectations for GCISD

Working with parents supporting students with dyslexia

When I was elected to the GCISD School Board in 2008, the district had 44 students being monitored under their dyslexia program. In a district with almost 14,000 students, a minimum number expected of students with the condition is around 700. Several dyslexia experts state that the incidence could reach 10% in some communities. Parents contacted me and informed me the situation was critical in our district, as many parents have left GCISD looking for private alternatives for their children.

 

To look for information on the condition and services in our area, I made an appointment with Dr. Jeff Black, Medical Director of the Scottish Rite HospitalLuke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders. The Scottish Rite Hospital is one of the nation leading experts in dyslexia, and the creators of “Take Flight”, a very successful intervention program for students. Dr. Black and his staff informed me they received many students from GCISD looking for an effective alternative for their children. One of the key findings during my visit was that one Scottish Rite Hospital’s main goals was to work with public school districts in a train the trainer model to expand the reach of Take Flight and help as many students as possible.

 

After my meeting with Dr. Black and his staff, I discussed my findings with our then assistant superintendent, Dr. Jim Chadwell (current superintendent at Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD) and encouraged him to plan a visit to Scottish Rite. Dr. Chadwell did so and that started a great partnership that has resulted in over 800 students currently being serviced and monitored in GCISD’s dyslexia program.

 

Bringing a new program into a district has its challenges. This is where having a great parent support group is key. GCISD is lucky to have READ (Reaching, Educating and Advocating for Dyslexics), an organization dedicated to support our students with dyslexia. This group of parents described in detail the struggles of their students being served in GCISD’s program. They knew the old district’s program had its limitations, and it was not effective for the majority of the students with the condition. Using this feedback, GCISD has done a great job implementing the Scottish Rite’s Take Flight program, and also improving the accommodation services offered to our students. I worked with READ to write a district-wide goal to improve dyslexia services, and it was approved by the School Board as part of our superintendent goals. READ has also been a critical partner in helping us monitor progress at the school level. Our first dyslexia goal was to “Create and implement a comprehensive development plan to significantly increase the quality of Dyslexia Services, with emphasis in identification of students to include building awareness of Dyslexia at the campus level and monitoring of individual progress”. The establishment of a dyslexia goal set the district on the path to rapidly expand the quality and reach of our services, improving the educational experience for hundreds of students and their parents for the last 12 years.

Fall 2020 and COVID-19

I have read many positive and negative reactions about the GCISD Board decision to start online classes on August 17^th and add the in-school option on September 8^th.  I read, for example, “the Board did not listen to parents as the majority wanted in-school instruction”. That could not be further from the truth. The Board listened to parents, our teachers and our health professionals. As Dr. Ryan said at the start of our special meeting on Friday, July 31st, "we want all kids in school as soon as possible". A survey was sent to parents and employees on June 10th, and 50% of parents wanted in-school instruction only (survey results: https://www.gcisd.net/our_district/august_2020/planning_survey_results). The other half wanted either a remote or a hybrid option (online and in-school combo). We started online registration on July 15^th, and parents were asked to make their selection between online and in-school instruction. On July 21^st, Tarrant County released guidelines stating that districts could not offer in-school instruction until September 28th. Before our meeting on July 31st, the percentage of parents wanting in-school instruction was 60%, but many of these parents selected that option with the assumption we will start in-school instruction on September 28th. They wanted the district to start online school first as they were concerned with the spread of COVID-19 in our community. We know this because they wrote to us letting us know. Once we offered in-school instruction starting on September 8^th, most parents registering selected remote instruction. Also, some parents that first selected the in-school option are now trying to switch to remote for the first nine weeks. The current split is 56% / 44% and it continues to close as more parents register their students. The bottom line is we have a split community on this issue.

Kids need to be in school, but we want to do it so it is safe to everyone, and keeps us in-school long term. We know the spread among young students is not as significant as with adults, but it is significant among adults, and we will have many adults in one place at each school. Also, there have been cases of outbreaks among high school students in other states and countries. In GCISD we have students living with at-risk adults that could bring the disease home. Those three weeks of online instruction give our community time for the spread of the disease to decrease. County health officials want the positive test rate to be close to 5% before we open schools, and it is currently at 10% (7-day average) on a downward trend. A rate in the single digits increases our chances to keep the disease away from our schools and limit disruption. The last thing we want to do is to open our schools and have to send kids home or completely close one or multiple buildings due to an outbreak. Possible health risks were seriously considered in our decision.

The three weeks of online school also gives the district time to receive all PPE ordered, get teachers familiar with COVID-19 guidelines and give them real experience in our new way of remote instruction, which will differ greatly from what we offered last spring. There will be a lot more live interaction and no more pass/fail grades. After September 8^th, some teachers will have to teach on dual mode (in-school and live remote), and some teachers might need to switch from in-school to remote (if they need to quarantine). We have high expectations of our remote instruction, just like we have with our iUniversity Prep online school. Our Executive Director for iUniversity Prep, Dr. Kaye Rogers, was in charge of designing the online instruction training for all our teachers. 

We all want kids in school. We know many kids and parents struggled with our online instruction during the spring. We also know socio-emotional issues arise when students are not in school, and it is difficult for some working parents to find child care for their students before we open our schools. This was not an easy decision, and we considered all the factors I just mentioned, including the many emails and texts from parents favoring either online or in-school instruction.

Our new remote instruction will be much better, more interactive and engaging for our students than in the spring. If you feel your student struggles during the first 3 weeks of the school year, please contact your teacher or principal. We are committed to assist you during those first three weeks as we transition from remote to in-school instructions (for the parents and students that selected that option). Please leave your comments or questions below this post, or send me an email to jorge.rodriguez@gcisd.net.

GCISD Welcomes New Board Member

Doug Noell was the only resident that filed for the GCISD Board of Trustees Place 6 before the deadline, and will become our newest Board member, replacing current Board President Leon Leal, who is retiring after nine years of service. Doug's 3-year term will start on May 19th.

Doug grew up in Dallas and attended Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets and the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. Doug completed a degree in Economics and worked in the insurance and IT industries.

Doug and his wife Courtney have lived in Grapevine for the last 15 years.

Welcome aboard, Doug!

New changes at GCISD

There are several exciting changes in our district as we start the new school year in a couple of months. First, we are opening our STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Academy at Cannon Elementary for any student that resides within GCISD limits (not just Cannon area residents). The STEM program is integrated within the Cannon curriculum for all students attending the school. We are also continuing our two-way bilingual program at Cannon, which offers the opportunity to English speakers to learn Spanish within their regular core courses. We offer similar two-way language programs at Silver Lake and Timberline Elementary schools.

I would also like to welcome June Ritchlin to the Timberline Elementary family. Mrs. Ritchlin will be the new principal at Timberline, after a few years successfully leading Colleyville Elementary.  We are looking forward to Mrs. Ritchlin's work at this school, as we continue to improve our STAAR scores, prepare our students as they move into Cross Timbers Middle School and continue the implementation of the Franklin-Covey's Leader in Me program.

GCISD is starting their first magnet school, the Aspire Academy, for grades 1 through 4 at Glenhope Elementary. The students attending this academy were chosen based on IQ test scores, interviews and past work in their Gifted and Talented classes. The academy will expand to 5th grade in 2014 and to 6th grade at Cross Timbers Middle School in 2015.

Finally, this year we are expanding the Exito Hispano program to our two high schools. Exito Hispano is a parent engagement program focused on increasing Hispanic parent participation in our secondary schools. The program started at Cross Timbers Middle School in 2011, and was implemented at Grapevine Middle School last year. Once per month, we invite Hispanic parents to our schools to discuss topics like STAAR, GCISD goals and strategy, bullying prevention programs, Family Access system, curriculum, Career and Technology courses and College Night.

2012 GCISD Board Election Results

Congratulations to Becky St John and Kimberley Barber Davis for their victories in the 2012 GCISD School Board election! Mrs. St John was re-elected with 55% of the vote (1,553 votes), while Mrs. Davis was elected with 64% of the vote (1,830 votes). Mrs. Davis will take over Charlie Warner's seat on the Board, as Mr. Warner decided not to run for re-election. I am looking forward to working with both of them as we implement our new LEAD 2021 strategy.

GCISD middle school curriculum changes postponed to 2013-14

In order to better inform parents about the middle school curriculum changes approved in the January 2012 School Board meeting, GCISD adjusted the timeline to eliminate the on-level course track and create the new College Readiness course offering. Instead of starting with new 6th graders in the 2012-13 school year, GCISD will implement the changes for both 6th and 7th graders during the 2013-14 school year. There will be no changes to the GT/Accelerated course tracks. As originally proposed, current middle school students will not be affected by the new program of studies. All students currently in middle school will continue to have the on-level, pre-AP and GT/Accelerated options.

These changes were approved in order to better prepare all our students for their post-high school education. The key is to prepare all students for all the options available, including trade schools, community colleges and universities. A well rounded and challenging public school education benefits all kids, even if they decide not to pursue a bachelor's degree. The issue we currently have is that many students taking on-level courses were not pursuing any degree after high school. We have to do a better job preparing and encouraging all students to continue their education once they leave the GCISD.

I received comments from parents that were concerned about pushing this curriculum change as quickly as we first envisioned. I also received feedback from elementary school parents stating their lack of trust in our ability to effectively differentiate class content at our middle schools with a more diverse student body inside the College Readiness courses.  On the other hand, our middle schools principals were very confident in their ability to implement this change for the next school year because current pre-AP classes already have a very diverse student body.

In addition to the benefit for middle school students, eliminating the on-level track will also have a positive effect in our elementary schools. As we align the middle school goals with our elementary schools, it is critical that we strengthen our elementary school curriculum. Improving the learning experience at the elementary level will prepare our students for a more challenging College Readiness course track at middle school. Instead of working the elementary school changes first to then implement changes at the middle schools in a few years, as suggested by some parents, we wanted to impact incoming 6th graders in order to accelerate meeting our college readiness goal proposed in our new LEAD 2021 district strategy.

As a member of the School Board, I understood the challenges this change would bring to our district. However, I have full confidence in the ability of Dr. Robin Ryan and his staff to implement this plan. In order to fulfill our mission to be the best school district in the state, we have to change the way we prepare our students. Close to 25% of our students do not pursue any degree after graduating from our district. That needs to change, and strengthening our middle school curriculum is an important step to improving those numbers.

For more information about the middle school curriculum changes, please visit this link

GCISD eliminates on-level course track at the middle schools

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!