High school secures grant
FREEPORT — About 300 eighth-graders typically leave Freeport Intermediate School each year to enter Brazosport High School as freshmen.
When it’s time for the students to graduate, the number of seniors walking across the stage drops to about 200, sometimes slightly less.
Brazosport High Principal Gary Jones gave the statistics before speaking about goals of the school’s Freshman eXperience program, which is new this school year. The school’s goals include increasing the graduation rate, decreasing the dropout rate and increasing enrollment in advanced placement courses.
“We’d like to see at least 280 walk across the stage at Brazosport High School,” Jones said.
The school has secured a $746,037 grant to help it work toward the goals.
As part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Smaller Learning Communities grant program, the school will receive $458,369 over three years. But the school could get $287,668 more in fourth and fifth years of the grant, depending on available funds and whether the campus has been successful in working toward its goals.
Brazosport is among a small number of high schools in the nation to receive the grant, said Becky Rinehart, executive director of curriculum and accountability for Brazosport ISD. The news was announced at a school board meeting this month.
Plans are to use funds to bolster the Freshman eXperience program. As part of the program, ninth-graders and their teachers are divided into two teams, with each team sharing the same group of teachers. The teachers also have the same conference period, enabling them to better communicate with each other about students and plan lessons.
Hopes are for the smaller learning communities to create environments in which students can be more successful.
Grant funds will be used for staff development, educational programs, a model schools conference and planners for students, Jones said.
“A smaller learning community is not just for ninth grade,” Jones said. “Now, we’re looking for ways to include how we’re going to bring in 10th- through 12th-graders into this process.”
High school officials recently went to a San Antonio campus to see how it used a program called AVID, Rinehart said, noting it is something that is being investigated. The AVID program, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is designed to help middle and high school students prepare for and succeed in college.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Smaller Learning Communities program provides funds to local education agencies to “support the development of small, safe and successful learning environments in large high schools as a component of comprehensive high school improvement plans,” according to its Web site.
Types of projects funded are those that “undertake research-based strategies to develop, implement and expand smaller learning environments” with strategies that include establishing magnet programs or “schools within a school,” which is similar to Brazosport’s program, starting block scheduling, teacher-advisory programs or other innovative programs, the site states.
A single high school can receive up to about $1.2 million to implement a grant
