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As part of Give Kids Good Schools Week 2007, Atascocita High School in Humble ISD invited community members to visit the new campus to see and feel the impact that small learning communities are having on students. Houston A+ Challenge co-hosted the event on October 16, 2007.
Atascocita High was built after the rapidly growing Humble community decided that their new large, comprehensive high schools needed to be built differently, in order to provide a more personalized education for students.
Since 2003, Houston A+ Challenge has supported Humble ISD's efforts through grant funding and coaching provided via the Regional Network for High School Redesign. Humble's existing comprehensive high schools are also being retrofitted to partition smaller groups of students and faculty into "houses," or small learning communities.
Atascocita opened in August of 2006 with about 2,000 students separated into six separate houses that reside in separate diamond-shaped wings of the 425,000 square foot building. Each house has its own principal and counselor, and students take their core classes together with the same set of teachers. (Students may visit other houses for elective courses, especially in junior and senior years.)
To facilitate cross-curricular planning and coordinated student interventions, teachers meet for two hours every Thursday morning, before students arrive. In addition, each student is assigned an advisor who stays with them for all four years.
The result for students is positive. "Sometimes you need a little push, and when a teacher really knows you, they can say, 'You can do better.' I like that," said senior Ray Craft, president of the student body's Eagle Forum and a guide for the Give Kids Good Schools visit.
"The small learning communities really fell like just one big family," added senior Rachel Atkinson, PTSA Student Vice President. "It's so personal, you know that there's nothing you can't do."
Since last year, Atascocita has already experienced rapid growth, with more than 3,100 students enrolled in grades 9-12 for the 2007-08 school year. A new wing and more "houses" for are being planned, to replace temporary bungalows -- but Atascocita Principal Lawrence Kohn and Humble ISD Superintendent Guy Sconzo say the commitment to keeping the school "small" will remain.
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