Eastside High School (Austin, Texas)

As good as it gets: What school reform brought to Austin

"Take an economically and racially diverse urban school district emerging from a long history of segregation. Add an energetic, capable, bridge-building superintendent with ambitious district-wide goals to improve graduation rates, school attendance, and academic performance. Consider that he was well funded and strongly supported by city leaders, teachers, and parents, and ask how much changed in a decade of his tenure -- and what remained unchanged?" (Cuban, L., 2010, p.288)

History

• 1960, the new Johnston High School was opened in East Austin (the predominately Mexican-American section of Austin).
• 1980 a district wide busing plan was imposed by a federal judge to integrate Austin's public schools and equalize the quality of education. Students from the predominantly Anglo northwest area of the city were bused to Johnston in the southeast area of the city.
• 1990, a citizen-led attempt to rename Johnston High School, named for Albert Sidney Johnston, a Confederate Army general, was defeated. The Austin school board voted to keep the name.
• 2007 Johnston High School became the second forced school closure in the state following the state legislature giving the education commissioner the power to order school shutdowns in 2006.
• 2008 State Education Commissioner Robert Scott said that he made a cursory review of the Austin school district's plan for the Johnston High School campus and was happy with what he saw, in effect quashing speculation that he might allow a nonprofit group to manage the Johnston Campus. The reopened campus was renamed East Side Memorial.
• 2011 Austin ISD Board of Trustees approved the merger of Global Tech and Green Tech into one campus pending approval by the state agency of the campus re-purposing plan.

Programs

• Austin Desegregation Plan
• Liberal Arts Academy Magnet School
• Distance Learning Lab
• Delta Program
• 21st Century After School Programs
• Twilight School

Johnston Principals

• Dr. Gordon A. Bailey (1960-
• James Richardson (2000)
• Sal Cavazos (2000-
• Dr. Celina Estrada-Thomas (2005–2008)

Focused Academy Directors

• Director of the Liberal Arts Academy at Johnston High School, Dr. Paula Tyler (1987–2002)
• Director of the Academy of Arts and Humanities, Jacquelyn Robertson (2005–2009)
• Director of the Academy of Scientific Inquiry and Design, Jonathan Harris (2005–2009)
• Director of Academy of Technology, Scott Lipton (2005–2007)
• Director of Twilight School, Wilia Bailey (2008)

East Side Memorial Principals

• David Kernwein, Ph.D. (2008–2009)
• Connor Grady, Green Tech High School (2008–2011)
• Moises Ortiz, Global Tech High School (2008–2011)
• Leticia Vega, International High School (2008–2011)

External Links

• Whitaker, R. (2011, May 27). Proposal marries Global Tech, Green Tech high schools: Eastside Memorial together again. The Austin Chronicle [1]
• Liberal Arts and Science Academy (2011) Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School of Austin, Texas
• Austin ISD (2007). Albert S. Johnston High School. From the desk of Dr. Estrada-Thomas. [2]
• Kurtz, M. (2000, June 14). Johnston High gets principal from Bastrop. Austin American Statesman Archives. [3]
• Reston, M. (2000, Dec. 12). Austin's Johnston High gets new principal. Austin American Statesman Archives. [4]
• Garcia, J. (1990, Sept. 2) Students opinions mixed: Integration's great they say; busing isn't. Austin American Statesman Archives. [5]
• Smith, S. (1990, June 26). Next middle school to be named Baily. Austin American Statesman Archives. [6]

Additional Resources

1. Berliner, D. (2005). Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform. Teachers College Record, August 02, 2005 Retrieved from: http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=12106
2. Berliner, D. (2009). Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. Retrieved from http://epicpolicy.org/publication/poverty-and-potentialDuncan, G. & Murmane, R. (2011). Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN: 978-0-87154-372-1
3. Duncan, G. & Murmane, R. (2011a). Economic Inequality: The Real Cause of the Urban School Problem. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-06/news/ct-perspec-1006-urban-20111006_1_poor-children-graduation-rate-gap
4. Gosier, C. (2011). To Improve Schools, Fight Poverty, Education Expert Says. Inside Fordham Fordham University. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/inside_fordham/september_12_2011/news/to_improve_schools_f_80025.asp
5. Krashan, S. (2011). Our Schools Are Not Broken: The Problem is Poverty. Commencement Speech, Graduate School of Education and Counseling, Lewis and Clark College, June 5, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/Our_schools_are_not_broken.pdf
6. Marder, M. Failure of U.S. Public Secondary Schools in Mathematics: Poverty is a More Important Cause than Teacher Quality. Austin: University of Texas UTeach. Retrieved from http://uteachweb.cns.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/BrokenEducation2011.pdf

Institutional links

• Albert S. Johnston High School