Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Website Updates

The district is currently updating our website content management system. Parts of the website may load slowly, incompletely, or not at all currently.

While things may look unchanged to site visitors, there is a large amount of changes currently being made on the backend (the servers that host the website). These changes include the user interface that the staff and faculty interact with.

 As such, content may also be a little slower to update as staff gets used to a different User Interface and the different quirks it may have. Please be patient as these updates are made, and as we adjust to the new changes.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

SBEF support to WAIS Students

The Spring Branch Education Foundation is committed to supporting our students and educators. The SBEF contributes to many schools and students within SBISD, both to entire schools, but also to individual students as well.

The SBEF helped contribute to our 6th grade field trip to Pine Cove Institute of Wilderness Studies. SBEF also contributed to the Altharetta Yeargin Art Museum, housed on the WAIS campus, providing Road Shows for 1st graders and Study Trips for 2nd graders in the district. Other contributions benefit the district as a whole, such as the 23rd annual Running for the Arts celebrated 2,243 registrations and participation from 41 SBISD's schools. The event benefits SBISD's Fine Arts and Health Fitness departments and the Altharetta Yeargin Art Museum. The Next Running for the Arts event is April 30th, 2016.

SBEF Contributions also come in the form of scholarships for graduating students, including to WAIS 2015 Graduates Alexus McNeil, Alyssa Mahabir, Alex Schmidt, and Elizabeth Ucles through the Employee Campaign Scholarship program.

Scholarships through the SBEF from Prosperity Bankwere also awarded to SBISD students, including WAIS graduates Filipe Sanchez and Nancy Tran; and the Shantamboo Charity Scholarship to WAIS graduate Konnie Le.

See other contributions SBEF made to Spring Branch and other schools.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Spring Branch ISD Campuses Named as 2015 Best High Schools

Three Spring Branch ISD secondary campuses were named recently as Best High Schools in the state and nation by U.S. News & World Report in its 2015 ranking of public high schools in America.
Memorial and Stratford high schools and the district’s public charter high school, Westchester Academy for International Studies, were all rated among the top 100 high schools in Texas in the latest annual ranking. 

In addition, the SBISD high schools ranked among the top 1,000 high schools out of 29,000 campuses reviewed. They earned Gold and Silver category medals from U.S. News & World Report analysts and editors.

SBISD’s highly ranked high schools include the following reviews:
·         Memorial High School: Rated No. 41 in Texas, Memorial High rated as No. 262 overall nationally, which also earned it a Gold category award. The high school scored above the Texas average in student college readiness and in student proficiency in mathematics and English.

·         Stratford High School: Rated No. 73 in Texas, Stratford High ranked No. 625 nationally, earning it a Silver category award. The high school was above the Texas average in student college readiness and proficiency in mathematics and English.

·         Westchester Academy for International Studies: Rated No. 81 in Texas, this district public charter high school was ranked nationally at No. 719, which earned it a Silver category award. It also ranks above the Texas average in student college readiness and student proficiency in mathematics and English.
In the national rankings, only 500 high schools received Gold medals, 2,027 earned the Silver recognition, and 3,990 more were awarded Bronze medals.

Interestingly, the School for the Talented and Gifted, a Dallas-area magnet school, ranked as the No. 1 public high school in country for the fourth consecutive year in the U.S. News report. Of the top 40 high schools ranked in Texas, 37 operated as a magnet or charter school.

If all magnet and charter schools were filtered out, Memorial High School would rank as No. 5 among traditional high schools in Texas. Using the same screening, Stratford High would rank among the state’s top 25 traditional high schools.

To create the 2015 Best High Schools rankings, U.S. News worked with a North Carolina-based research firm, RTI International, to evaluate high schools in three stages, or review levels.

First, U.S. News looked at overall student performance on state-required tests. All ranked schools had to perform better than average to move forward, but more high schools still qualified this year due to a change in methodology.

In addition, U.S. News factored in how effectively schools educate disadvantaged students, including those of African-American, Hispanic and lower-income family backgrounds.

High schools were also assessed on how well students were prepared for college or university based on participation in, or performance on, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate exams.

Spring Woods and Northbrook high schools weren’t ranked by U.S. News for this year’s rankings. To learn more about the 2015 Best High Schools rankings, please visit:

Spring Branch ISD High School rankings:

2015 Best High School Rankings by State:

Press Release on U.S. News’ 2015 Best High Schools Rankings:
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