The vision of the Office of Redesign is to change systems at all of our comprehensive high schools so that every student at every high school has the opportunity to graduate on time, ready for a successful future. We strive to make these opportunities intentional and systematic for every student, not random or by luck. Our approach is unique because many school districts choose to redesign only one or two struggling high schools, while AISD and the Office of Redesign believes that we should raise the bar for all of our students on all 11 AISD's comprehensive high school campuses.

The Office of Redesign has aided in the creation of new, innovative schools and academies like Global Tech and Green Tech at Eastside Memorial, the Academy of Global Studies at Austin High School and the New Tech Academy at Akins High School, as well as the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.

Lanier & International High School Open House

In order to demonstrate how Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) is impacting instruction in their classrooms, Lanier and International High Schools will be holding their first Open House Thursday, November 23rd, from 9:30 am - 3:15 pm. All district leadership, campus administrators, teachers, and instructional specialists, are invited to attend. The demonstration Open House will include visits to a variety of classrooms and subject areas at both Lanier and International High Schools, where teachers are putting lessons from QTEL into practice.

Fall Teacher Leadership Retreat

On Tuesday, October 10th, teacher leaders who support the AISD Advisory program will be convening at Austin Community College's Highland Business Center to attend the Fall Teacher Leadership Retreat from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This is an opportunity for Advisory Co-chairs and Site Improvement Facilitators (SIFs) to frame their roles as teacher leaders and envision the direction of Advisory at each campus. Topics covered throughout the day will include: post-secondary planning and access, student engagement, key skills for Advisors, and a choice of topical professional development sessions on a variety of themes.

Putting the Focus on English Language Learners and High School Reform in Austin

The principals from Lanier and International High Schools, Kathy Ryan and Leticia Vega, and two teachers, Kyle Olson and Jennifer Smith, presented with Melissa Hutchins, Office of Redesign, at the Council of Great City Schools Annual Conference in Portland, October 29th. The presentation focused on how the three-year collaboration with Dr. AÌda Walqui and WestEd to implement Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL,) at Lanier and International, is reforming teacher practice. The presentation focused on the substantive QTEL work with these two school communities, and the impact of this work from district, administrative and teacher perspectives. An additional focus of this presentation was how capacity is being built to sustain this effort at these campuses and within the district.

Support for English Language Learners Expands to Reagan High School

After two years of intensive professional development and coaching for teacher presenters at International and Lanier high schools, the efforts of AISD Redesign to increase college and career readiness rates of English Language Learners has expanded to include Reagan High School. A key component of the AISD Redesign efforts, in collaboration with WestEd, to improve instruction for ELLs is to provide direct support to teachers through an apprenticeship model.

As part of the built-in sustainability of the WestEd model, Reagan teachers will participate in professional development, which includes instructional support for core departments with a focus on instructional support in mathematics. A leadership group of teachers/administrators is being trained to carry on this work as professional developers through the apprenticeship process. A unique element of the work with WestEd is the development of sustained capacity to continue the implementation of Quality Teaching for English Learners after the collaboration with WestEd has ended.

Successful Math Camp Kickoff Event Planned at Bowie High School

Austin School District officials and University of Texas professor Uri Triesman will join Bowie math teachers Shannon Hoberer and Mia Iseman and algebra students for an AYD (Academic Youth Development) kickoff event to spark interest in next year's summer math camp. Students and parents who participated in last summer's inaugural program will provide testimonials on how the camp has boosted their math achievement levels. The kickoff will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, in the Bowie cafeteria, located at 4103 Slaughter Lane. [ Read More... ]

Grand Opening Celebration for Eastside Memorial Green Tech and Global Tech Schools on October 13th

State Senator Kirk Watson and Superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen will be among the special guests to attend the official ribbon cutting for the new Green Tech and Global Tech schools at Eastside Memorial High School, at the Johnston Campus. The ribbon cutting will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 13, in the gymnasium of the school, located at 1012 Arthur Stiles Road. [ Read More... ]

First Building the Base Institute for English Learners

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 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.