Houston ISD Wins $550,000 in Scholarships
The Houston Independent School District (HISD) will receive $550,000 in college scholarships as the winner of the 2013 Broad Prize for Urban Education.
Open to the 75 largest school districts and others, the Broad Prize "honors the four large urban school districts that demonstrate the strongest improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income students and students of color," according to a news release.
The $1 million prize is split between the winner and three finalists, which each receive $150,000 in scholarships. This year's finalists are the Corona-Norco Unified School District, the San Diego Unified School District, both of California, and North Carolina's Cumberland County Schools.
The seventh-largest district in the United States with more than 200,000 students, HISD also won the Broad prize in 2002, the first year it was offered, and was a finalist in 2012.
HISD was selected as this year's winner for outperforming its peer districts in academic achievement, increasing graduation rates faster than other urban districts, narrowing the achievement gap for Hispanic and low-income students, and improving levels of college readiness.
A video featuring interviews with the superintendents of all four districts is available at youtube.com. Go to broadprize.org for more information.
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Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].