Carnegie Vanguard High School [1] is a public secondary school in Houston, Texas.
Carnegie Vanguard High School serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Houston Independent School District. It is the only Vanguard Program high school in Houston ISD and offers all Advanced Placement core classes.
Carnegie is the only Vanguard high school in the Houston ISD with 100% of the students gifted and talented in academics. The students come from a wide range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, each of which contributes value to the rich fabric of the academic culture. Each student has been identified as having intellectual, creative, and leadership abilities beyond those typically seen in their age and grade levels. The school encourages students to use their gifts, talents, and leadership to contribute to the betterment of their community.
Retrieved on December 22, 2009.</ref> Ericka Mellon of the Houston Chronicle said that Carnegie is "prestigious."[2] CVHS is rated Exemplary (Highest Rating by Texas Education Agency), Newsweek 2011 Ranked 11th in the nation, Washington Post ranked #13 in the Nation 2011, #1 high school in the Houston Area by Children at Risk, and a National Blue Ribbon School.
The school is named after Andrew Carnegie.[3] The principal administrator is, as of 2009, Ramón Moss. Carnegie's mascot is the rhinoceros. The school was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2008.[4][5]
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The Houston ISD Vanguard program was designed to serve the needs of gifted and talented students. From fall 1977 to spring 2002 the Houston ISD High School Vanguard Program was a separate program located at Jesse Jones High School.
It is one of the many "Magnet" schools in Houston ISD designed to attract a diverse ethnicity of students without forced bussing that were created by former HISD Superintendent Billy Regan. To that end, for a few years, students outside of HISD were allowed to attend its Magnet schools beginning in 1981. That year, the high school magnet programs began teaching 9th grade; the comprehensive programs at all the high schools were still 10th-12th grade (until 1983).
The move that prompted the program's separation from Jones High School was the reinstatement of Lawrence Allen, a fired Jones principal who was reinstated several days later, when he was in charge only of the comprehensive program at Jones.[6]
Parents and staff members decided to move the Vanguard Program to a new campus, so Carnegie Vanguard High School opened in August 2002 in the former Carnegie Elementary School building off of Scott Street and Airport Boulevard near the Sunnyside neighborhood.[7] The current school building has about 42,500 square feet (3,950 m2) of space, including the exterior corridors.[8] The elementary school students who attended Carnegie Elementary were moved to Woodson Middle School, which became the Woodson K-8 School.[9]
Carnegie began its first year as a separate school (2002–2003) with 173 students. This increased to 238 students in 2003-2004 and 254 students in 2004-2005.[10]
In November 2008 Houston ISD proposed to rebuild Carnegie on a site adjacent to Worthing, rebuild Worthing, and have the two schools share the same cafeteria. School board member Larry Marshall, whose jurisdiction includes Carnegie and Worthing, expressed support for this proposal or otherwise to house Carnegie and Worthing on the same plot of land.[11] Parents at Worthing accepted the proposal while parents at Carnegie rejected the proposal and asked for it to be discontinued.[12] The Carnegie parents said that the higher violence levels at Worthing and the parents' fears of backlash against Carnegie students at Worthing cause them to be opposed to HISD's proposal.[13] Peter Brown, the Houston City Council At-Large Position 1, opposed the idea. Brown said that the renovation of Worthing would be less costly than the consolidation. Brown also cited a Gates Foundation study to support his point.[14] On December 4, 2008 Abelardo Saavedra, the HISD superintendent, said that he would for now shelve plans since the plans had insufficient support from the board of trustees. School board trustee Paula M. Harris expressed support for the consolidation plan, arguing that magnet schools and small neighborhood schools, many of which were closed by the district, should be treated in the same manner.[15] Margaret Downing of the Houston Press added that Worthing parents did not like how the controversy "denigrated" the school.[16]
In 2009 the HISD administration proposed relocating Carnegie to the Fourth Ward, near Downtown Houston. District administrators favored the move because students come from across the school district, and the central location would make transportation easier.[17] During that year the school board approved of the plan.[18] The new campus will open on a 6-acre (2.4 ha) plot between West Gray Street and Taft Street. The new building will house around 600 students. Parents, staff members, and students provided input for the design of the new CVHS campus. The building committee lobbied for a central courtyard, which is a part of the school's culture.[19] The new building will share its site with the Gregory Lincoln Education Center.[20] The district had initially intended for a new campus of the High School for Performing and Visual Arts to be built at the site that will be occupied by the new Carnegie.[21]
As of 2011 Carnegie Vanguard had a total student body of 524. A Senior class of 84, Junior class of 119, Sophomore Class of 124, and a Freshman Class of 197.
Class of 2011 - National Merit and AP Honors
6 National Merit Scholars 9 AP National Scholars 9 National Merit Commended Scholars 30 AP Scholars with Distinction 3 National Achievement Scholars 13 AP Scholars with Honors 3 National Hispanic Scholars 61 AP Scholar
Gender
Female 53% Male 47%
Race/Ethnicity
African American 21% Hispanic 24% American Indian 0% White 44% Asian/Pac. Islander 10% Two or More 2%
Newsweek 2011 Ranked 11th in the nation.
Washington Post, #13 in the Nation, 2011
Ranked #1 high school in the Houston Area by Children at Risk
As of December 2008, US News and World Report has ranked Carnegie Vanguard as #79 out of the more than 18,000 participating, public high schools in the United States.[22]
In 2007, US News and World Report ranked Carnegie Vanguard # 96 out of more than 18,000 public high schools in the United States.[23]
In 2008 Carnegie Vanguard was chosen as a National Blue Ribbon School.[24]
In 2009 Carnegie was named the top public high school in Greater Houston by the organization "Children At Risk."[25][26]
In 2010, Carnegie Vanguard High School was awarded #30 (Gold Ranking) by Newsweek
In 2011, Carnegie Vanguard High School was awarded #13 of the Best High Schools in the Nation by the Washington Post
Houston ISD provides school bus transportation to students who live more than two miles away from the school.[27] The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) city bus system also operates the 52 Hirsch/Scott bus line, which stops at Scott Street at Jipsie Lane.[28][29]
Carnegie has no formal feeder patterns as it is a magnet school and serves students from all over the Houston ISD area. Some students who are enrolled in private schools in the 8th grade, such as students from Presbyterian School, choose to go to Carnegie for high school [30]
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