According to the Houston Independent School District website (2018), the school was opened around 1969 and has been acknowledged for its academic and athletic performance. Welch positions itself as an institution that has high expectations towards both learning and teaching. Consequently, it has numerous academic and ancillary offerings. Accordingly, the school considers its purpose as the provision of an environment that is safe, nurturing and encouraging to enable students attain their academic potential. Furthermore, this school strives to instill a college-bound culture in its students by offering an engaging, technology-rich, and student-centered learning environment (Houston Independent School District, 2018).
Academically speaking, the school offers several programs that ensure the college-bound culture is attained. For instance, the school has Pre-Advanced Placement (Pre-AP) courses along with Gifted and Talented (GT) programs to prepare middle school students for the demands of high schools. This means that the school offers classes that prepare middle school students for college-level classes that they will take in high school (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Furthermore, the GT program identifies students who display academic abilities beyond their age. Significantly, students get challenged by being taught faster and deeper on the course subject matter. The enhanced scope of learning is to better prepare students for the requirements of high school and college. Advancing further the college-bound theme, the school offers high school credit classes for Algebra, IPC, and Technology (Houston Independent School District, 2018). For instance, the Algebra classes enable students to deepen foundational skills while expanding their understanding through other mathematical experiences.
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Further still, the Leader in Me program equips students with the skill set required for the remaining phases of education and life (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Specifically, the program is evidence-based and uses the social-emotional approach to teach students leadership and life skills. Apparently, this school has at least four programs for ensuring the academic success of its students. Furthermore, the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) ensures all students are assessed to determine whether they meet grade-level expectation (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Fundamentally, STAAR ensures college-preparedness by measuring whether students are adequately preparing for both high school and college.
On the other hand, the schools’ ancillary offering includes Art, Band and Physical Education. Again, the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program specifically prepares students for college life by focusing on the development of writing, reading, critical thinking, and organization skills (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Similarly, student organizations are facilitated by the support of the school administration and some correspond to subject content matter such as Art club. Significantly, the schools governing body mandates student organization members the role of student leaders and correspondingly accords them responsibilities (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Specifically, students whose grades have been falling stand to face consequences within their respective organizations. Here, either teachers or the assistant principal could restrict student participation in student organization activities based on grades.
According to Morgan, Salomon, Plotkin & Cohen (2014), the extent to which students are connected, safe and engaged is crucial to both academic and personal success. Advancing further this notion, they note that schools can create learning environments that are secure and welcoming, reduce chances of students misbehaving and increase educators’ ability to manage student behavior (Morgan, Salomon, Plotkin & Cohen, 2014). Safety implies the school respects, supports, and welcomes its students in addition to their physical wellbeing. To achieve this schools must create positive environments and have school district codes of conduct that promote effective adult-student relationships and are geared towards improving class attendance. Welch is in the Houston Independent School District which has a digitally accessible code of conduct detailing the rights, privileges, and obligations of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the board of education (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Furthermore, the code details disciplinary procedures for student misconduct.
According to Masino & Nino-Zarazua (2015), supply-side interventions alone are less effective in improving education quality and student learning. Put differently, their findings suggest that the provision of qualified and adequately manned teaching staff alone does not improve student learning. However, two or more incentives aimed at improving student learning and education quality are more effective when implemented together (Masino & Nino-Zarazua, 2015). Welch has a talented, experienced faculty and administrative body. Secondly, academic resources seek to prepare students for college-life by imparting among other things leadership and life skills. Critically, such resources seek to inculcate lifelong learning skills in the students. Therefore, Welch has implemented several interventions aimed at improving both education quality and student learning (Houston Independent School District, 2018).
Welch middle school’s purpose is the creation of a college-bound culture and provides an appealing, student-centric, and technology-rich learning environment that delivers quality education. While the school does have activities in addition to academics, focus remains on ensuring academic success. The only recognized safeguard here is the control of participation in student organization activities based on grades or behavior (Houston Independent School District, 2018). Potentially, this deters students from prioritizing athletics over academics. Also, the teachers involved in these programs participated in either college level or high school level sporting activities and hold university degrees.
Significantly, the situation is the same across the academic faculty, therefore, there does not appear to any difference between the sports and academic departments. Zakrzewski (2013), notes that creating a shared vision based on personal dreams fosters the trust required to actualize the shared vision. Seemingly, the school’s administration proactively engages both students and the community to in what appears to be trust-building efforts aimed at achieving its vision. Generally, it seems that Welch middle school is allocating resources towards ensuring the academic success of its students.
References
Houston Independent School District. (2018). Welch Middle School . Houston Independent School District. Retrieved from https://www.houstonisd.org/welch . Retrieved on September 17, 2018.
Masino, S., & Nino-Zarazua, M. (2016). What works to improve the quality of student learning in developing countries? International Journal of Educational Development, 48. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059315300146 . Retrieved on September 17, 2018.
Morgan, E., Salomon, N., Plotkin, M., & Cohen, R. (2014). The School Discipline Consensus Report: Strategies from the Field to Keep Students Engaged in School and Out of the Juvenile Justice System [Executive Summary]. The Council of State Governments Justice Center . Retrieved from https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/SDCPExecutiveSummary.pdf . Retrieved on September 17, 2018.
Zakrzewski, V. (2013). How to Create a Positive School Climate. Greater Good Magazine . Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_create_a_positive_school_climate . Retrieved on September 17, 2018.
