International Baccalaureate school found ways to adapt to increases in student population

School.

In May, the school board voted to rename seven schools that were named after people with ties to the Confederacy, of which Reagan was one.

Principal Connie Berger has been the principal for 10 years.

An alumna of the school, she also began her career in education there in 1984 as a teacher of psychology, history and German.

She worked at Fonville Middle School, Herrera Elementary and was hired as principal at E. A. “Squatty” Lyons Elementary in 2000 and moved to Reagan six years later.

“When I got to Reagan, it was a low-performing school,” Berger said. “I took on a very challenging school, more challenging than I knew.”

She assembled a team of top educators to address the low scores.

“Luckily, I was able to bring in some people I was familiar with from other places who wanted to work with me,” she said.

“And that was beneficial to the entire campus. We rolled up our sleeves, and we had to dig deep to figure out why we were performing low.”

The school staff evaluated all of the pieces, from level of attendance to the quality of the teachers.

“Working together as a team was very important to us,” Berger said.

She discovered that the campus lacked a number of necessary systems to foster communication and keep track of students.

After initiating new methods and attacking the low-performance issues, Reagan was able to up its test scores after a year thanks to the staff ’s efforts.

Berger continues to maintain continual conversations with parents to solicit their ideas and input on the campus.

“I listen to the community about what they want in a neighborhood school,” she said.

For a while, much of the feedback was focused on a desire for more advanced programs.

In response, Reagan became an International Baccalaureate school.

The campus had to pass an authorization process from the International Baccalaureate nonprofit educational foundation to prove that it develops the skills necessary for students to live and work in a global society.

The school was authorized for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program last year and is one of only three schools in the district to offer this option.

“It’s a lengthy process,” Berger said. “We’re very lucky that we moved forward with that.”

The campus has also offered more advanced placement courses.

Berger credits the school’s success to having a stable leadership team.

“We’ve been solid for nine years and that really helps,” she said. “We’re like a family and every student who comes onto our campus knows that we care about them.”

Berger said that paying personal attention to each student is a top priority.

“At the end of the day, what matters most is teaching and learning — and discussing best teaching practices,” she said. “We meet with other high schools. We learn from them and they learn from us.”

Berger continued to face challenges.

The Heights has been growing more and more every year and she has to keep a close watch on demographics to make sure enrollment is at an ideal level.

There are 2,340 students on campus, up from 1,600 10 years ago.

“The growth has occurred gradually,” Berger said.

“Every year, our enrollment has gotten higher and higher. Right now, I can’t accept more students. I have to manage our numbers so we fit comfortably in the building.”

HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said that Reagan is not the only school in the district with an increasing enrollment.

“While other urban school districts in America have seen declining enrollment over the past decade, HISD has experienced steady growth,” he said.

“This is because of strong school choice options that include rigorous neighborhood high schools such as Reagan.”

He added that Reagan’s enrollment has grown by 500 since 2005, a 29 percent increase in a decade.

To accommodate a rising student population, the district will add Mark White Elementary School, which is slated to open in the fall in west Houston.

Spencer said that enrollment has grown in HISD, or at least remained steady, for the past decade.

“Next year’s enrollment projections are similar to the current enrollment of 215,000,” he said.

“Residential development, the job market and confidence in public schools all impact enrollment growth.”

Spencer said that the district employs a full-time staff demographer who monitors housing and economic trends to determine future impact on neighborhood schools.

He added that the administration is seeking proposals from private firms to study the district’s population trends and guide the district in redrawing school attendance zones to accommodate growth.

Since Houston Independent School District offers schools by choice, families may select any school for their children to attend.

Berger said that when students choose Reagan, she knows that her staff is on the right track.

“I’m seeing more and more of our neighborhood kids coming to Reagan,” she said.

Reagan was also named as one of the nation’s top 500 high schools in Newsweek in 2015. Lindsay Peyton is a freelance writer.