National Blue Ribbon Schools Program
One-third of all schools nominated in any state must serve student populations of at least 40% from disadvantaged backgrounds. More than 8,000 schools had been honored as Blue Ribbon Schools through 2020, in 1981, then-Secretary of Education Terrell H. Bell commissioned a study of American education. The report, issued two years as A Nation at Risk, described a “rising tide” of mediocre schools that threatened the nation’s future. Secretary Bell created the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award to bring exemplary U. S. schools to public attention, both programs highlighted outstanding models of American schools and school leadership. Initially, the National Blue Ribbon Schools program honored only secondary schools and it was changed again to honor secondary schools and primary schools in alternate years and now honors secondary and primary schools each year. Schools must show how data are interpreted and used and how curriculum, instruction, in 2012 it was renamed the National Blue Ribbon Schools program to distinguish it from a for-profit company which had appropriated the Blue Ribbon School name.
During its first 25 years of existence, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award was granted approximately 5,600 times, more than 133,000 public, charter and parochial schools serving grades K-12 are eligible for the award. More than 8,000 schools had been honored as National Blue Ribbon Schools through 2016, special emphases have changed from year to year based on national priorities. School-wise, there is much diversity – both public and private schools have won the award, and specific programs, such as Montessori education, have received the award as well. • Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s subgroups and all students over the past five years, eligible schools must have been in existence for five years and cannot have received the award within the five prior years. Although at one time schools self-nominated for the award, this is no longer the case, at the invitation of the U. S. A total of 417 schools may be nominated in any year, state quotas are determined by numbers of students, the Blue Ribbon award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve.
David W. Kirkpatrick, the Senior Education Fellow at the US Freedom Foundation, noted in a titled, Awarding Blue Ribbons. Thus, the award is given to schools with students from wealthy backgrounds. From the programs inception through 2003, schools were permitted to nominate themselves, as of 2003 nominations are handled through a state liaison which schools must contact for nomination. S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige All National Blue Ribbon Schools from 1982 to present
Motto
A motto is a maxim, a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of an individual, social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin has been widely used, especially in the Western world. In heraldry, a motto is depicted below the shield in a banderole, this placement stems from the Middle Ages, in which the vast majority of nobles possessed a coat of arms. In the case of Scottish heraldry it is mandated to appear above the crest, spanish coats of arms may display a motto in the bordure of the shield. In heraldic literature, the rallying cry respectively battle banner are common, which date back to the battle cry. In English heraldry mottos are not granted with armorial bearings, in Scottish heraldry, mottos can only be changed by re-matriculation, with the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Although very unusual and perhaps outside standard heraldic practice, there are examples of the particular appearance of the motto scroll. Ships and submarines in the Royal Navy each have a badge and motto, Latin has been very common for mottos, but for nation states their official language is generally chosen.
A canting motto is one that contains word play, for example, the motto of the Earl of Onslow is Festina lente, punningly interpreting on-slow. In literature, a motto is a sentence, poem, or word prefixed to an essay, novel and it is a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle for the written material that follows. For example, Robert Louis Stevensons Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes uses mottos at the start of each section, epigram Hendiatris Inscription List of Latin phrases List of mottos List of national mottos Slogan Tagline United in diversity United we stand, divided we fall
Jamar Williams
Jamar Williams is a former gridiron football linebacker. Williams played at Arizona State University, originally from Houston, TX, he attended Langham Creek High School. He graduated as a member of the 4-year National Honor Roll, Williams was drafted in the 4th round by the Chicago Bears. On April 27,2010, Jamar Williams was traded to the Carolina Panthers for safety Chris Harris, Williams was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 2006 NFL Draft in the 4th round. In 4 seasons with the Bears he amassed 89 tackles and 1 quarterback sack and he was traded to the Carolina Panthers for the 2010 NFL season. Following the 2010 season he was released by the Panthers, on March 8,2012, Williams signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League
Texas
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic.
In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, energy and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product.
The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, United States. As of April 2016, it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, with its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the Houston Post, the Chronicle became Houstons primary newspaper. The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, the paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists and photographers. The Chronicle has bureaus in Washington, D. C. and it reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the newspaper of record of the Houston area, previously headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building at 801 Texas Avenue, Downtown Houston, the Houston Chronicle is now located at 4747 Southwest Freeway. From its inception, the practices and policies of the Houston Chronicle were shaped by strong-willed personalities who were the publishers, the history of the newspaper can be best understood when divided into the eras of these individuals.
The Houston Chronicle was founded in 1901 by a reporter for the now-defunct Houston Post. The Chronicles first edition was published on October 14,1901, at the end of its first month in operation, the Chronicle had a circulation of 4,378 — roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time. Within the first year of operation, the paper purchased and consolidated the Daily Herald, in 1908, Foster asked Jesse H. Jones agreed, and the resulting Chronicle Building was one of the finest in the South. Under Foster, the circulation grew from about 7,000 in 1901 to 75,000 on weekdays and 85,000 on Sundays by 1926. Foster continued to write columns under the pen name Mefo, and he sold the rest of his interest to Jesse H. Jones on June 26,1926 and promptly retired. In 1911, City Editor George Kepple started Goodfellows, on a Christmas Eve in 1911, Kepple passed a hat among the Chronicles reporters to collect money to buy toys for a shoe-shine boy. Goodfellows continues today through donations made by the newspaper and its readers and it has grown into a city-wide program that provides needy children between the ages of two and ten with toys during the winter holidays.
In 2003, Goodfellows distributed almost 250,000 toys to more than 100,000 needy children in the Greater Houston area, in 1926, Jesse H. Jones became the sole owner of the paper. He had approached Foster about selling, and Foster had answered and he replied, On real estate and everything about 200,000 dollars. I said to him that I would give him 300,000 dollars in cash, having in mind that this would pay his debts, I considered the offer substantially more than the Chronicle was worth at the time. No sooner had I finished stating my proposition than he said, I will take it, in 1937, Jesse H. Jones transferred ownership of the paper to the newly established Houston Endowment Inc. Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956. As such, it eschewed controversial political topics, such as integration or the impacts of economic growth on life in the city
University Interscholastic League
It is the largest organization of its type in the world. Activities range from American football and cross-examination debate to mathematics and marching competitions, however. The UIL is under the governance of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. Although the Texas Education Agency governs the activities of schools and school districts in Texas, the UIL does not report to TEA, the UIL was originally created by UT in 1910 as two different entities, the Debating League of Texas High Schools and the Interscholastic Athletic Association. The two entities merged in 1913 and adopted the UIL name, at the time, UIL only governed white schools in Texas. In 1965, the UIL agreed to admit PVIL member schools for competition, black schools began UIL competitions beginning in the 1967-68 school year. After the 1969–70 school year, the UIL fully absorbed all PVIL member schools, beginning with the 2003–2004 academic year, two large all-male private schools, Dallas Jesuit and Houston Strake Jesuit, were granted UIL membership.
This came after extensive court battles and negotiations from both the UILs lawyers and the schools joint lawyers, the Texas Legislature rewrote titles 1 and 2 of the Texas Education Code and greatly restricted the functions to be performed by the Texas Education Agency and the UIL. The changes made Texas an equal access state, the law now requires the public schools to allow all students that reside within the schools boundary equal access to all activities. The UIL no longer has the authority to determine the eligibility of Charter/Home/Private school students, all students must abide by the state No-Pass No-Play law. Only students that are enrolled in a school must abide by UIL eligibility rules. Charter/Home/Private school students may now participate in all public school extra-curricular activities, note, In 2008 two non-public school students won UIL wrestling championships. On October 10,2010, the Third District Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the UIL operates as a public organization, the ruling clarified that the UIL is legally considered a state agency and must comply with the prerequisites and duties that all other state agencies have.
As a state agent the UIL must treat individuals equally and show the purpose/need as well as a basis for eligibility restrictions. The UIL governs only public schools and 2 private high schools, activities for most Texas private schools are governed by separate bodies, the largest of which is TAPPS. Furthermore, private schools must compete at one classification higher than their enrollment would otherwise dictate, UIL schools are permitted to schedule contests with private schools and/or home school groups. Schools are arranged by classification to ensure that schools compete on a basis with other schools in the geographic area of a similar size. The classifications are A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA and AAAAAA, the corresponding alphanumeric designations are used in everyday conversation, but officially UIL only uses the alphabetic designations.0 between the largest and smallest school in each class
Cypress, Texas
Cypress is an unincorporated community of Harris County, United States located completely inside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Houston. The Cypress area is located along U. S. Highway 290 approximately twenty-five miles northwest of Downtown Houston, the Cypress urban cluster ranks 50th in the top 100 highest-income urban areas in the United States. Large scale residential and commercial development beginning in the 1980s transformed the rural area into one of the Houston areas largest suburban communities. The recent find of a San Patrice projectile point at the Dimond Knoll site nearby on Cypress Creek attests to a presence in the area by 7500 BC. General Sam Houston and his Texas Army camped in the area on March 22,1836 on the way to Harrisburg, the area remained mostly rural until the early 1990s when developers began construction of several master-planned communities. The CHS organization holds regular events aimed at exposing Cypress residents to the historical and cultural foundation upon which the area was built, Cypress is located at 29°59′40″N 95°40′3″W, near the intersection of US Highway 290 and Spring-Cypress Road.
Cypress is located within the Cypress Creek and Little Cypress Creek watershed, Cypress has two distinct geographic profiles separated by Highway 290. The area northeast of US290 is forested and thickly wooded, while the area southwest of 290 is predominately ranch land and grassy prairie dotted with brush, Live oaks. Cypress falls under the jurisdiction of Harris County Precincts 3 and 4, major arteries include Highway 290 to the South and State Highway 249 to the East. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers, according to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cypress has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated Cfa on climate maps. As of the 2010 US Census, there were approximately 122,803 people,39,705 households, there were 41,761 housing units for a total occupancy rate of 95. 1% at an average density of 1,357.6 per square mile. The 77429 Zip Code is one of the most affluent zip codes in Harris County, the Cypress urban cluster ranks 50th in the top 100 highest-income urban areas in the United States.
22% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race, there are three major hospitals in the Cypress area, North Cypress Medical Center, Memorial Hermann Cypress Hospital, and Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital. The area of Cypress is served by two fire departments, Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department and Cypress Creek VFD. The Cy-Fair VFD is the largest volunteer department in the United States with 12 stations. It is assisted by the city of Jersey Village in its fire suppression activities, the United States Postal Service operates the Cypress Post Office at 16635 Spring Cypress Road. Cypress is home to Tin Hall, formerly one of the oldest continually operating Dance Halls in Texas and it ran from 1889 to 2015, when it was closed. Cypress is home to The Berry Center, an $80 million multi-use complex owned by Cy-Fair ISD, the Berry Center features a football stadium, basketball arena, conference center, multimedia production, and catering facility
Secondary school
A secondary school is both an organization that delivers level 2 junior secondary education or level 3 secondary education phases of the ISCED scale, and the building where this takes place. Level 2 junior secondary education is considered to be the second, Secondary schools typically follow on from primary schools and lead into vocational and tertiary education. Attendance is compulsory in most countries for students between the ages 11 and 16, the systems and terminology remain unique to each country. School building design does not happen in isolation, schools need to accommodate students, storage and electrical systems, support staff, ancillary staff and administration. The number of rooms required can be determined from the roll of the school. A general classroom for 30 students needs to be 55m2, or more generously 62m2, a general art room for 30 students needs to be 83m2, but 104 m2 for 3D textile work. A drama studio or a specialist science laboratory for 30 needs to be 90 m2, examples are given on how this can be configured for a 1,200 place secondary.
The building providing the education has to fulfil the needs of, The students, the teachers, the support staff, the adminstrators. It has to should meet health requirements, minimal functional requirements- such as classrooms and showers, textbooks, Government accountants having read the advice publish minimum guidelines on schools. These enable environmental modelling and establish building costs. Future plans are audited to ensure that standards are not exceeded. The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula in 2014 and it said the floor area should be 1050m² +6. 3m²/pupil place for 11- to 16-year-olds + 7m²/pupil place for post-16s. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m², a secondary school, locally may be called high school, junior high school, senior high school. Sweden, gymnasium Switzerland, secondary school, collège or lycée Taiwan, Junior High School, Senior High School, Vocational High School, Military School, in Nigeria, secondary school starts from JSS1 until SSS3.
Most students start at the age of 10 or 11 and finish at 16 or 17, Students are required to sit for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. To progress to university students must obtain at least a credit in Maths, English, in Somalia, secondary school starts from 9th grade until 12th. Students start it when they are around 14 to 15 years of age, Students are required to study Somali and Arabic, with the option of either English or Italian depending on the type of school. Religion, physics, physical education, art, when secondary school has been completed, students are sent to national training camp before going to either college, or military training. In South Africa, high school begins at grade 8, Students study for five years, at the end of which they write a Matriculation examination
