$1.5 Million Grant to Create New American High Schools

US Education Department Press Releases

Archived: $1.5 Million Grant to Create New American High Schools A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

FOR RELEASE January 25, 1999

Contact: Melinda Ulloa (202) 205-8811

$1.5 MILLION GRANT TO CREATE NEW AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS

The U.S. Department of Educations Office of Vocational Education has awarded a $1.5 million grant to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in Atlanta for an 18-month effort to transform 25 high schools.

SREB will build on work that began in 1996 to create New American High Schools that fully prepare students to meet the challenges of a changing technological and global economy. These schools expose students to information about careers while adhering to challenging academic standards. They help students acquire the communications, problem-solving, computer and technical skills necessary to pursue college or other opportunities. The schools develop partnerships with the community, parents and postsecondary institutions and are expected to demonstrate sustained student academic performance.

Schools participating in this initiative have committed to monitor their academic activities in order to better gauge their improvement in a number of areas. These include raising student achievement by focusing on specifics such as curriculum, teaching methods, after-school help, accountability, and effective relationships with middle schools and postsecondary institutions.

The following schools have been selected to participate:

Alabama Butler High School, Huntsville

Arkansas Springdale High School, Springdale

Delaware Hodgson Technical High School, Newark

Florida Ft. Pierce Westwood High School, Ft. Pierce Sebastian River High School, Sebastian

Georgia Buford High School, Buford Douglas County High School, Douglasville Mays High School, Atlanta

Indiana Owen Valley High School, Spencer

Kansas Turner High School, Kansas City

Kentucky North Laurel High School, London

Louisiana North DeSoto High School, Stonewall

Maryland Queen Anne's County High School, Centreville

North Carolina Wallace Rose Hill High School, Teachey Western Guilford High School, Greensboro

Oklahoma Durant High School, Durant

Pennsylvania Edward Bok Technical High School, Philadelphia

South Carolina Academy of Arts, Science and Technology, Myrtle Beach

Tennessee Glencliff High School, Nashville East High School, Memphis Page High School, Franklin

Texas Los Fresnos High School, Los Fresnos

Virginia Bethel High School, Hampton

West Virginia Hampshire High School, Romney Summers High School, Hinton

Each school will develop a goal-oriented, three-year action plan in conjunction with SREB staff. A summer institute for school staff will provide additional support.

Gail Schwartz, director of the department's New American High Schools office said, "New American High Schools have proven themselves with high graduation rates, very few dropouts, and enviable college enrollment rates."

The following 16 schools are currently New American High Schools:

California Coronado High School, Coronado Encina High School, Sacramento

Colorado Thompson School District, Loveland

Delaware Sussex Technical High School, Georgetown

Florida William H. Turner Technical High School, Miami

Illinois Adlai Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire

Massachusetts Fenway Middle College High School, Boston

Missouri Gateway Institute of Technology, St. Louis

New Jersey Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Sandy Hook

New York High School of Economic and Finance Saunders Trades and Technical High School, Yonkers

Ohio Greene JROTC Academy, Dayton

Oregon David Douglas High School, Portland

Texas Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Houston Newman Smith High School, Carrollton

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