Carnegie Vanguard High School

Andrew Carnegie Vanguard High School [" [http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=a3fba742a78f2110VgnVCM10000028147fa6RCRD&vgnextfmt=default River Oaks Students Win World Odyssey of the Mind Championship] ." "Houston Independent School District".] is a public secondary school in Houston, Texas, United States.

Carnegie Vanguard High School, which serves grades 9-12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It is the only Vanguard Program high school in Houston ISD and offers almost all Advanced Placement core classes.

Some Houston ISD students transfer to Carnegie Vanguard to escape their neighborhood schools which do not have good academic performance, causing the attendance figures of those schools to suffer. [" [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3900502 Transfer policy hinders schools] ," "Houston Chronicle"]

The school is named after Andrew Carnegie. The principal administrator is, as of 2008, Ramón Moss. Carnegie's mascot is the rhinoceros. The school was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2008. [" [http://dallasisdblog.dallasnews.com/blueribbonsschools08.pdf Twenty-six Texas public schools named NCLB- Blue Ribbons Schools] ." "Texas Education Agency". September 9, 2008.] [" [http://blogs.chron.com/schoolzone/2008/09/feds_award_26_texas_schools_wi_1.html Feds award 26 Texas schools with 'blue ribbon'] ." "Houston Chronicle". September 9, 2008.]

Carnegie does not automatically take in students from the surrounding neighborhood which is zoned to Worthing High School. [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/WorthingHS.pdf Worthing High School Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]

History

The Houston ISD Vanguard program was designed to serve the needs of gifted and talented students. From fall 1977 to spring 2002 the Houston ISD High School Vanguard Program was a separate program located at Jesse Jones High School.

It is one of the many "Magnet" schools in Houston ISD designed to attract a diverse ethnicity of students without forced bussing that were created by former HISD Superintendent Billy Regan. To that end, for a few years, students outside of HISD were allowed to attend its Magnet schools beginning in 1981. That year, the high school magnet programs began teaching 9th grade; the comprehensive programs at all the high schools were still 10th-12th grade(until 1983).

The move that prompted the program's separation from Jones High School was the reinstatement of Lawrence Allen, a fired Jones principal who was reinstated several days later ["The Great Divide." "Houston Press". [http://www.houstonpress.com/2002-03-07/news/the-great-divide/ 1] .] , when he was in charge only of the comprehensive program at Jones.

Parents and staff members decided to move the Vanguard Program to a new campus, so Carnegie Vanguard High School opened in August 2002 in the former Carnegie Elementary School building off Scott and Airport near the Sunnyside neighborhood. [" [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2007_4479426 HOUSTON ISD / Bond benefits Carnegie Vanguard] ." "Houston Chronicle".] The elementary school students who attended Carnegie Elementary were moved to Woodson Middle School, which became the Woodson K-8 School. ["A Split Decision." "Houston Press". April 18, 2002. [http://www.houstonpress.com/2002-04-18/news/a-split-decision/ 1] .]

During the 2001-2002 school year (Woodson's final year as a middle school instead of a combined elementary and middle school), Woodson had 357 pupils (down from 394 during the previous school year), while Carnegie Elementary School had less than 500 pupils. During the following school year, Woodson had 1,098 pupils. During the 2004-2005 school year, Woodson was down to 969 students. Even though Carnegie Elementary had a higher enrollment, Woodson Middle School was chosen as the site for a newly consolidated K-8 because the school had the middle-school level athletic facilities and a higher student capacity than Carnegie Elementary [http://www.jonesvanguard.org/Chronicle.htm] .

Carnegie began its first year as a separate school (2002-2003) with 173 students. This increased to 238 students in 2003-2004 and 254 students in 2004-2005. [" [http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/2364009273/school.aspx Carnegie Vanguard High School] ." "SchoolDigger".]

tudent body

Carnegie Vanguard High School had 349 students in the 2006-2007 school year [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/profiles/CarnegieVanguard_HS.pdf Carnegie Vanguard High School] " Profile. "Houston Independent School District".] During the same year, the school's ethnic percentages were 44% White, 24% African-American, 29% Hispanic, 3% Asian, less than 1% Native American.

35% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

Rankings

In 2007, US News and World Report ranked Carnegie Vanguard # 96 out of more than 18,000 public high schools in the United States. [" [http://www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/texas/carnegie_vanguard_high_school Carnegie Top 100] ," "US News Report 2007"] .

In 2008 Carnegie Vanguard was chosen as a National Blue Ribbon School. [ [http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2008/2008-schools.pdf] ]

Transportation

Houston ISD provides school bus transportation to students who live more than two miles away from the school.

The METRO city bus line also operates the 52 Hirsch/Scott bus line, which stops at Airport @ Chesterfield.

Before Carnegie

Carnegie has no formal feeder patterns as it is a magnet school and serves students from all over the Houston ISD area.

Some students who are enrolled in private schools in the 8th grade, such as students from Presbyterian School, choose to go to Carnegie for high school [" [http://www.pshouston.org/fw/main/Class_of_2004-183.html Presbyterian School Class of 2004] ," "Presbyterian School"] .

Location

Carnegie is located outside of the 610 Loop and inside Beltway 8 near a blue collar, mostly African-American neighborhood called Sunnyside. The school's south boundary faces the Sims Bayou. The area is quasi-rural with a horse ranch bordering the school. Many acres of undeveloped land with grazing cattle surround the school. Carnegie is nearby the Woodson K-8 Center and is several blocks away from Worthing High School.

Carnegie is close to State Highway 288; many school buses and commuters head to and from the school through 288.

Notable teachers

*Gail Bromiley-McGee, who taught at CVHS from fall 2003 to spring 2006, received the Presidential Award for Mathematics and Science Teaching [http://www.paemst.org/MemoryBook.cfm?ID=1494] [http://www.vanguardian.org/Overview/A_Few_Achievements/] [http://www.engineeringk12.org/educators/go_engineering/april2004.cfm] in Spring 2003.
*Dr. Paula Brown, who taught at CVHS until the spring 2006, was honored as Secondary Teacher of the Year for Houston ISD in 2006. [http://www.houstonisd.org/HISD/portal/article/front/0,2731,20856_142973398_166767499,00.html]
*Andrew Dewey, as of 2008, teaches at Carnegie and is the vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers [http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2006/20061219142845.aspx] [http://tx.aft.org/hft/index.cfm?action=contact]

References

ee also

External links

* [http://www.vanguardian.org Carnegie Vanguard High School]
* [http://www.houstonpress.com/2002-03-07/news/the-great-divide/ The Great Divide] - A "Houston Press" article about Jones Vanguard's issues with the Jones Administration prior to leaving Jones High School.
* [http://www.jonesvanguard.org/ Jones Vanguard Alumni Page]
* [http://www.geocities.com/adewey5154/ Andrew Dewey's website] (A website of one of the teachers used for instruction in the classroom)
* [http://www.gradientphil.com/Matsu Melissa Matsu's Biology Class website]