Academy for Global Studies at Austin High:
Education for the Flat World

The Academy of Global Studies (AGS) at is poised to begin its second year at Austin High School preparing students to become advocates and guardians of the increasingly flat world.  At AGS, students and teachers are asked to think way outside of the traditional school house and to learn from the world around them.  As Austin becomes increasingly diverse, AGS students have the opportunity to engage in the many international festivals and cultural experiences occurring throughout the year.  In addition to local field trips, AGS students engage in joint projects with students from other cities, and will have multiple opportunities for international travel before graduation.

In April of 2009, a group of AGS students, teachers, and parents visited Heifer International, a global organization whose mission is "to work in and with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the earth." Based in Little Rock, Arkansas Heifer International provides livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income.  At Heifer, the AGS family was immersed into realities of global poverty and hunger through global village simulations of locations including Thailand, Guatemala, Africa, Appalachia, Mongolia, Mozambique, and Mississippi.  For these AGS students, this was only the beginning.

During the summer of 2009, a group of AGS teachers travelled to Costa Rica to plan a service learning project that AGS students may choose to complete in February of 2010.  It is clear that as AGS grows, so too will its students' perspective, cultural understanding, and airline miles.  Stay tuned for more information from AGS-and don't forget your passport.

Westside Schools Build Support Systems for All Students

Reflecting on a week of intense training with a group of approximately 30 teachers from Bowie and McCallum high schools, author and consultant for Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR), Carol Miller Leiber observed that "AISD is doing a lot of good work, but this may be the most courageous."  The "this" Ms. Leiber was referring to is occurring at the five traditionally high performing high schools in West Austin -- Anderson, Austin, Bowie, Crockett, and McCallum.  At these campuses, teachers and administrators are building upon their historical strengths and are developing some of the most ambitious and innovative initiatives designed to provide quality learning opportunities, instruction, and support for ALL students. 

Committing time and resources to improving excellent schools is extremely rare in the U.S. and around the world.  Too often school reform initiatives are targeted towards small groups of struggling students at a small number of struggling schools.  This narrow approach to reform and support is problematic for (at least) two reasons.  First, in order to continuously improve, a district must simultaneously eliminate gaps between student groups while improving student performance and   opportunities for all students.  Secondly, transfer policies under No Child Left Behind allow students at low performing schools to transfer to higher performing campuses.  Thus, all campuses in a district must have new systems and processes for welcoming new students, connecting them with adults who can advocate on their behalf, providing excellent instruction, and providing individualized academic supports and services. 

Each campus has developed an entirely unique approach to serving and supporting all students.  Over the course of this year we will feature specific initiatives from each of the campuses.  As for now, we celebrate the passionate and professional educators at each of these schools who have committed their time and imaginations to moving beyond great to amazing on behalf of every student they serve.

• High School "Back to School" Night for parents is Wednesday, September 2, 2009.

• The "College is Possible" awareness campaign was launched the weekend of August 15th & 16th.  More than a dozen churches helped to disseminate important information to their members about the steps parents and students could take to prepare for success in the upcoming school year.  "College is Possible" is a campaign that was developed by the Faith & Education Collaboration that is being facilitated by the Office of Redesign and the Austin Area Urban League.  For more information visit www.graduateready.org or contact Raul Alvarez at 414-8729.
  
  
• On August 3rd-5th, AISD held the first Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) Building the Base Institute. Over 46 teachers from 10 campuses participated in this three-day institute, a key component of AISD work with WestEd to improve instruction for English Language Learners (ELLs). Kyle Olson and Angela Hinz from International High School, and Jennifer Smith from Lanier High School, presented theory and strategies to improve instruction for ELLs with Dr. AÌda Walqui and WestEd providing direct support to each presenter. As part of the built-in sustainability of the WestEd model, this institute marks two years of intensive professional development and coaching for the teacher presenters.
  
  
• Students at Eastside Global Tech and Green Tech are some of the first students in the country to receive the new Dell Mini Netbooks with integrated video camera. Students will be issued the Mini netbooks to facilitate the Problem Based Learning method used in the New Tech model.