Recent Round Rock Leader story covering the new High School:
http://www.rrleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=18611
Thoughts about PSIA and TAPS
Last weekend private school students from all across the state, each either a 1st or 2nd place winner of their district competition held earlier in the year, competed in the PSIA State Championship at TCU. It was wonderful to see smart kids from almost 100 different elementary schools competing, and exciting to see how much these kids have already learned.
Looking at the feeder schools to the new High School I was pleased to see that both Holy Family and St. Theresa middle schools did well. In middle school Science (both schools nearly swept their district meets) and Vocabulary (1, 2 and 5th place finish in State in 6th grade) they did particularly well. With the improvements in Math from the introduction of Accelerated Math, and already strong middle school science programs, it will help the new high school.
The perennial middle school science/math state champions, the Village School, located in Houston, has set a high bar but with the introduction of another Catholic High School, the middle schools are likely to improve as well.
St. Michael’s does well in TAPPS, the High School equivalent of PSIA and AIPL (the athletics league). St. Stephens and St. Andrews compete in the Southwest Preparatory Conference instead, and the two large Texas Jesuit High Schools compete in UIL. Looking to the future, it will be interesting to watch how St. Dominic Savio High School does in competitions and who its arch-rivals will be.
Math Curriculum
One suburban Washington school district shows a nice chart online which details the possible sequences of math coursework which a student might take through grade school and high school.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/Math%20Pathways.pdf
I liked that they have cut down the extraneous courses (leaving only a few e.g. “Consumer Math”), but I was puzzled that they don’t offer an option to complete Algebra II in less than 1 year as was done in my High School. As a result, it looks like the only possible way to take Calculus as a Junior (as 5 to 10% of my High School typically did), is by having (at least) Honors Geometry in 8th grade which is not yet common in middle schools. Nationally more than 60,000 students take an AP Calculus exam as a Junior (or earlier), and schools today use a variety of approaches: adjusting the curriculum, doubling up courses or accelerating students to allow this. The obvious advantage of having strong math preparation early, is that it makes the science teacher’s job easier as many of the theoretical concepts become easier to grasp, and there is less “memorization drudgery” required if students understand the underlying math concepts.
It is interesting to view how the better public school districts, like this one, handle Math curriculum, as we try to make the new High School the best choice in the area for Science and Math.
The crisis in US education: High School Math
I just returned from a business trip to Germany where in free time I had an opportunity to discuss High School mathematics with coworkers from many different countries – all of which I found out have much more rigorous requirements than Texas. When I got back and talked about this with some of our friends, I realized that even many “advanced” students at St. Michael’s (which is a fine school, far better than most in Texas) are only reaching AB calculus – which my foreign coworkers do not consider particularly “advanced” … On the plane ride home I began the following paper describing the problem in more detail, and why I think St. Dominic Savio High School may address it. conquering-low-expectations-through-sdshs
One challenge that we face, is how to improve our skills without losing the traditional advantage that our better schools have over the stereotypical schools in Asian countries which overemphasize “rote learning.” If our schools have been better at teaching students independent thinking and creative problem solving, we don’t want to lose that as we improve our standards. Fortunately this seems to be possible based on research by the College Board and Department of Education.
News coverage of groundbreaking
Groundbreaking covered by News 8 Austin:
http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=206332
and others:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24232239/
I also now see that the official web site for the high school is now online:
http://www.austindiocese.org/StDominicSavioHighSchool.php
and has some pictures of the groundbreaking ceremony:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diocese_of_austin/sets/72157604676909986/
Pope talks about Catholic education in US today
As we think about the role of the new high school, I found it interesting to read USA Today describing the pope’s homily today in which he touched on the critical need for Catholic education:
[He is] calling on Catholics to educate their children in the faith and to evangelize to the world. The pontiff called for stronger Catholic teaching to prepare youth for the challenges of secular society and for “cultivating a mindset, an intellectual culture which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith’s vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of American society.” “Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the church in America but for society as a whole?” Benedict asked.
Later Thursday, in one of his most anticipated speeches, the pope told leaders of America’s Roman Catholic colleges and universities that academic freedom has “great value” for the schools, but does not justify promoting positions that violate the Catholic faith. The former academic said that church teaching should shape all aspects of campus life and that Catholic educators have a “profound responsibility to lead the young to truth.” “I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom,” Benedict told hundreds of educators gathered at Catholic University of America. “Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.”
Father Dominic Foster, a priest from St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa., said the most important aspect of Benedict’s speech and his papacy is the unity of faith and reason.
“When you remove faith from society, you remove an important source of ethics. He’s calling on Catholic educators to make their contribution to a public life,” Foster said. “Every university, if it’s doing it’s job, is pursuing truth. But the Catholic university is doing it from a 2,000-year-old perspective. The Catholic church has a definite understanding of human dignity, and human dignity can’t be affirmed without a reference to God.”
News from last informational meeting
Scott from the diocesan development office gave a presentation on the campaign for the new high school tonight. Dr. Vanders and the Langes also helped. I was glad to see that the room (at St. Margaret Mary) was full.
For HS details see the “Information about the School” category, but tonight there were some interesting new developments presented.
1) The chapel is intended not just for private reflection, but also to allow Eucharistic Adoration (which was wonderful to hear) – and does not have to be large enough for mass since the gym and church can be used for that.
2) They are on track for construction planning and zoning, and currently more than 75% through construction drawings
3) When asked about handling special needs children, Dr. Vanders noted the diocese’s desire to be able to accommodate some special needs children at the new high school (more if enough resources are available to hire a couple special education teachers).
4) Fundraising continues. They have the land and the campaign has raised 8 of the 15 million needed for the first phase. The second phase (to bring the capacity to about 500 students) would require about 8 million more and the third phase (to bring the capacity to at least 750) is about 6 million. They presented a chart with the cost breakdowns for each phase. This would be a great time to talk with Debbie and Scott. Dr. Vanders also indicated that they can envision expansion to 1000 students if necessary. Despite the larger than expected enrollment projections, the site can handle more than 750 if needed with smaller adjustments to the plans than one would think (the first phase already includes some of the more expensive costs cafeteria, library etc.)
5) the cafeteria is really a “cafetorium” (cafeteria/auditorium/2nd gym). Until the high school grows enough to need the whole thing it will be shared with Holy Family school (seems like common sense) – but with a barrier separating the High School children from the younger children.
6) Neenah is being extended to ease access to the site and a nearby neighborhood. Some sports fields and drainage area will be on the south side.
As Kevin Lange mentioned, few times in our lives do we get a chance to “make a difference” in the world – those donors are doing just that. Remember to contact Debbie Ortiz (debbie-ortiz@austindiocese.org) for more information.
Floor plan for St. Dominic Savio High School
The floor plan for the initial phase of the new high school likes like it will be sufficient for the first 4 years at least. Looks good.
The long term floor plan (phase 1, 2 and 3) looks good too:
Enrollment forecast
Enrollment forecast.
The school could offer a sufficient variety of classes even with smaller enrollment, but given the number of feeder schools and the interest we have seen, I am not surprised with this rapid projected growth even in the early years.
