What’s Right With Our Schools: Howard’s Level 5 Status
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Our tour of local schools that have achieved Level 5 Status concludes with a stop at the home of the Hustlin’ Tigers. Great things are going on at the Howard School.
We caught up with a very proud Executive Principal Dr. Leandra Ware.
Dr. Ware said the following about the new status:
“All across Hamilton County schools, we know that in this school district, the district received a level five, which is exceptional growth. We’re just really proud of all of our schools, our students, our families that really worked hard to make that come to fruition for this school year. For Hamilton County Schools. The Howard School is a place, as a graduate, I know it’s a place for rich history and traditions of excellence. This year was no different. We came in the doors in 2018, and we have worked very hard. Anyone that knows Howard knows that Howard has always been 98, 99% African American. However, today we are at 60%Latino and about 40% African American. And what’s significantly different about that is about 40% of our students are what’s called newcomers. Those are students that come to us. They speak very little English, and even when we talk about Spanish, the dialects are so different, and so, when we’re trying to build that language acquisition for our students, when we’re trying to immerse them in the vocabulary and just familiarize them with what they need to know to be successful here in high school and on any state assessment, we know that we have to go those extra measures to make sure that they’re ready to tackle those situations, and they’ve not been in a formal education background for about four years on average. So, when you talk about achieving a level five here at Howard School, that is an amazing affirmation of the hard work, the dedication, and the potential that’s always existed in this building. Howard has adjusted. Even though there has been a shift significantly in our demographics, it still allows us to be a school of excellence. It still allows us to embrace a culture that’s maybe different from what a lot of people in the community have known Howard High School to be. But it does not stop us from again being that number one school that take any of those challenges that we have come together collectively and very concertedly to make sure that all of our students get a quality education, and they leave us prepared to thrive in our environment.”
