Something for everyone
TASD magnet schools offer students myriad paths to success
An investment in education pays the best interest and Texarkana, Ark., School District continues to make a return on this investment that will earn the city dividends for years to come.
Superintendent Dr. Becky Kesler and the TASD family deliver an enriched educational experience through innovative teaching and student-voiced changes.
Attracting more students to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) has become a national priority and TASD does that by adapting to the current technologies and learning habits of the next generation.
TASD is a magnet school system comprised of 10 campuses: a pre-kindergarten center, five elementary schools, a middle school, a junior high school, a high school, and a charter school. Kindergarten through eighth grade has its own core magnet theme and offers special instruction and programs appealing to individual interests and preferences of students.
This year, more than $1.6 million was spent on technology upgrades including 2,566 devices for student use including iPads and Chromebooks that are now available at a virtual one-to-one device per student ratio. The focus on technology and potential of young minds is a move Kesler is excited about.
“Kids have technology in their hands all day long,” she said. “This is no longer a textbook society.”
To help guide this new society, Kesler said she has a “dream team” in College Hill Academy of Design including Principal J.R. Arnold and Assistant Principals Lekia Jones and Tracy Boyles.
“We want the kids to be creative and exploratory in their learning,” Arnold said.
College Hill Academy of Design services grades five and six offering specializations in arts or sciences along with an updated media center and stateof-the-art engineering lab that meets the needs of a diverse, growing student body.
“We will be introducing gaming and robotics through math classes this year,” Arnold said, offering an example of a student using coding to repair broken functions in a classroom robotics unit to illustrate how new courses would improve the learning process.
College Hill administrators expressed interest in a student council and a intramural sports program and are considering adding gymnastics, performance dance and drama classes at the elementary and middle schools. Several area professionals have even agreed to assist.
Arnold said the elementary schools focus more on a concrete set of learning skills meant to give children a strong foundation for future academics. The design of College Hill builds on the skills students learned in elementary school and helps them find non-traditional solutions to problems.
The idea of “project based learning” throughout the magnet system as a means to “increase student engagement and desire to learn” is a primary goal that has produced seven AP Scholar Award recipients this year.
While College Hill offers many options to succeed in different areas of interest, it is far from the only unique area of study in the district.
Fairview Elementary is an aerospace and pre-engineering discovery magnet where students learn about space exploration with significant emphasis on the STEM curriculum. Kilpatrick Elementary’s area of specialty is bio-medical engineering and offers classes emphasizing biology, food and health.
Trice Elementary is the renaissance magnet where performing and visual arts are the primary focus. Union Elementary is listed as a Da Vinci magnet and like the man the school drew its inspiration from classes offered here will create well-rounded students capable of being artists, writers, scientists, or entrepreneurs.
Ever mindful of the future, TASD has built prosperous, working relationships with Southern Arkansas University and University of Arkansas Community College at Hope. Kesler and the TASD team are already feeling good about all the future will bring and the long-lasting effects of the district’s approach to education.
The district has engineered several opportunities for students to get a remarkable, personalized educational experience tailored to their specific strengths and interests in a curriculum that has been made for the students, and in part, by the students.