Alief Kerr High School is a magnet school located in the Alief community, near the city of Houston in an unincorporated area of Harris County, Texas, in the United States. The school is a part of the Alief Independent School District and serves grades 9 through 12. Kerr High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive, during the 2010-11 school year. The school also received the award in the 2016, one of only 26 Texas schools to receive the prestigious award.
History
Kerr High School was formally dedicated on March 12, 1995. The school was named for Carey Jean Kerr, who began her 15-year career in Alief at Chancellor Elementary in 1976. In 1982, she transferred to Alief Middle School, where she was a special populations counselor who worked with at-risk students.
"Her open-door policy inspired a trusting bond special needs kids often find hard to develop...Carey's accomplishments are immeasurable," reads the letter of nomination to the school board.
Ms. Kerr died in 1992 after a severe asthma attack. The school opened in the fall of 1994 and in May 1996, the first class had approximately 55 students graduate.
At the end of the 2016-2017 School Year, many notable staff members from the high school retired, including Principal Greg Freeman, Assistant Principal Terri Laundhardt, and Math Teacher Charlotte Ellzey.
The school currently has approximately 200 students per graduating class along with designated sponsors for each class. The rising class of 2018 is sponsored by George Gendron and Paula Murray.
Structure
Kerr can be best described as part Montessori, part performing arts high school, and part little red school house. Unlike a regular magnet school, such as Houston ISD's DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Kerr lacks an official area of concentration. Unlike traditional campuses, students are not separated by individual classes with one assigned teacher. Students can seek out a variety of peer and teacher input and unlike a one-size-fits-all pacing, students can work at their own pace.
Students usually apply to Kerr in their 8th grade year, but applications can be accepted in later grades. The student and his/her parents must attend an orientation. Afterwards, the student must submit an application. Admission into Kerr is based on grades, student behavior, and attendance records. Traditional high schools in Alief ISD are assigned by a lottery to either Alief Elsik High School, Alief Hastings High School, or Alief Taylor High School. Alief Kerr and Alief Taylor are located across the street from each other; Kerr shares transportation with Alief Taylor.
Kerr High School also recently built an additional building in the summer of 2017, which is targeted towards all the Fine Arts Students, including Band, Orchestra, Choir, Visual Arts, and Theater Arts.
School Wide Traditions
One of the most popular traditions in Kerr High School is the pep rally on the day of the Homecoming Game. Students gather in the cafeteria during advisory and are welcomed by the Kerr Band and several student Cheerleaders. The group performs approximately 4-5 dances and continues to engage with students throughout the day.
Along with the Pep Rally, the school is notorious for its Homecoming Game, where the freshman and senior class verse the sophomore and junior class in a fall football game. Although the school does not have any athletics, the homecoming game compensates for it.
Another event that occurs towards the end of the school year is the week long event of class wars. Students in each grade level comes together in for chances to earn points for their graduating class with activities throughout the week. It is concluded on the Friday of the event week with games and the winning class is determined by who got the highest points overall.
Lastly, the school's theater also hosts an end of the year Smile & Nod play, in which various noteworthy teachers are teased by student actors in an entertaining fashion. However, the act is performed respectively and the tradition has become one of the school's most popular.
Independent Learning
Kerr is based on independent learning. Under a teacher's guidance, the student proceeds through their course on their own. They are given deadlines for completion of assignments, projects, and tests.
Although students are in an independent learning environment, students are welcome to ask teachers for help. From Mondays through Fridays (excluding Wednesdays due to it being a short school day), students can stay after-school for tutorials and seminars in any open academic centers in the school. For example, on Mondays, the Science center is open during after-school hours. Students may also go the library to complete assignments, study, or read during its opening hours.
In many classes, teachers will go over the course material once a week in a seminar. Separate seminar rooms are available for teacher instruction. These seminars are usually given when students received their new PAK or a few days before the testing day as a review.
PAK (Personal Activity Kit)
Instead of traditional assignments, PAKs (Personal Activity Kit) are administered for each class. PAKs include all the work for the unit. Teachers inform students of the objectives, direct them to learning materials, and prepare them for tests/quizzes. The PAK system encourages students to participate in teamwork, seminars, and large groups to provide opportunities for teacher-directed and group learning. After the PAK is turned in, a test is given over the material of that PAK. New PAKs are typically issued every one to two weeks.
Centers
Instead of small traditional classrooms, Alief Kerr has large centers for each core subject. Every class in a specific subject is held in the subject's center. For example, all the science classes are held in the Science Center. This includes Anatomy, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. Centers can hold up to 25-150 students. Teachers are responsible for more than one subject at a time. A science teacher may be teaching Chemistry I, Physics I, and AP Physics during the same period. The centers at Alief Kerr include Art, Business, English, Foreign Language, Journalism, Math, Science, and Social Studies. One of the newest addition to Kerr, is the Fine Arts building that was made specifically for Fine Arts. It has a bigger working space for the chior students and art students and a bigger performance area for the theater students.
Webmastering/Computer Science, and Speech are all held in traditional type classrooms. While these classrooms are smaller than the major centers, the classes held in these classrooms still abide by Kerr's theme of independent learning and the PAK system.
Testing
Because of Kerr's unusual environment, traditional examination administration is difficult, especially when other classes are in the center. The three main testing administration methods at Kerr:
- Teachers pull their students away from the center (into a smaller classroom) and administer the test themselves.
- The whole center will have their tests due on the same date and turn into a testing zone. For example, all the science classes schedule their tests on the same date and close the center for testing on that particular date.
- Student takes their test in the testing center.
The testing center is where tests are administered for most classes. A testing center clerk gives the correct test to the student when the student presents a testing pass, which contains multiple sheets on one pass. Right before the clerk gives you your test, it is required for you to sign in and out of the testing center, to ensure you were in the center. The student chooses a seat in the center, completes the test, and turns it in when completed. When the student turns in a test, the student is handed only the last sheet of the testing pass to the student, as evidence that the student took a test. Any electronic devices the students brings must be kept with the clerk until the end of the student's test.
Club & Organization
There are several clubs and organization at Kerr to get student engages in other activities other than academic. Some club organize event throughout the school year to keep both student and staff entertained. Each club has a sponsor who are staff at Kerr who help supervise the club and officers who help run and promote the club. Some clubs at Kerr are:
- Student For Humanity.
- National Honor society.
- National Art Honor Society.
- Art Club.
- Student Council.
- Future Business Leaders of America/FBLA
- Christian Fellowship.
- Muslin Student Association.
- Kerr film society.
- Engineering club.
- Speech and Debate.
- HOME Club.
- Korean Club.
- Anime Club.
- Gamer Club.
- Cadre Kerr.
- No Tiger Left behind.
- Chess club.
- Kerr Pals.
- African Student Association.
The clubs at Kerr encourage students to be more involved in school activities and form friendships throughout that experience. The clubs are welcoming to anyone who wants to join and have after school meetings that get you informed about each club.
Rankings and Acknowledgements
Kerr High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive, during the 2010-11 school year. The school also received the award in the 2016, one of only 26 Texas schools to receive the prestigious award.
TEA Acknowledgements
Alief Kerr achieved the Recognized status from the Texas Education Agency accountability ratings system in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 school years. For the 2009, 2010, and 2011 school year, Alief Kerr received the highest recognition possible, Exemplary, from the TEA.
2008 Texas Education Agency Gold Performance Acknowledgements Program
- Advanced Course/Dual Enrollment Completion
- Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate Results
- Attendance Rate
- Commended Performance: Reading/English Language Arts (ELA)
- Commended Performance: Mathematics
- Commended Performance: Social Studies
- Comparable Improvement: Reading/ELA
- Recommended High School Program/Distinguished Achievement Program
- SAT/ACT Results
- Texas Success Initiative-Higher Education Readiness Component:ELA
- Texas Success Initiative-Higher Education Readiness Component:Mathematics
Children At Risk is a policy research and advocacy organization focused on improving children's quality of life. The organization ranks public high schools in eight counties of the Houston metro area.
Kerr has done well on Children At Risk rankings annually. Kerr is currently ranked 5th in the Greater Houston Area. Kerr is also ranked 4th best as a Math and Science school in the Houston area. In addition, Kerr was 10th "most improved" in the Houston area.
See also
- Alief, Houston
- Alief Independent School District
References
External links
- Alief Kerr Official Website
