Background

In the spring of 2008, the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) School Board expanded and formalized the district’s academy program.

Information provided by the Fort Bend ISD on the research the district relied on in the development of the proposed academy structure showed that a number of states, districts and schools have started career academies because such academies have been “found to be effective in improving student achievement.”[1]

The implementation was based on research and studies of academy programs from around the nation.

In February 2011, the district shut down the Game Design Academy at Willowridge High School and took the next year to review a plan for consolidating the remaining academies onto one campus, Marshall High School.[2] This consolidation plan, in contrast to the original implementation which has each academy embedded in a host school, was ultimately rejected as not in the best interest of the academy program.

Now, not even a year from the results of the original plan of consolidating the academies, in a workshop on 10 December 2012, members of the FBISD School Board have again proposed the idea of consolidating all the academies onto a single campus.

Why? What has changed in less than a year? Where is the research that contradicts the research on the original implementation?

[1] "FBISD To Shut Down Game Design Academy At Willowridge | InstantnewsFortBend.com." InstantnewsFortBend.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2012.

[2] "Fort Bend ISD Academy Proposal – Research Supporting The Academy Structure | InstantnewsFortBend.com." InstantnewsFortBend.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2012.

We, the undersigned, take a stand against consolidating the FBISD Academy Program onto a single campus. We are in favor of having each academy embedded in a host school. We believe it is better for all the students, both those who have chosen to be involved in an academy and those who have chosen not to be, academically and socially, for the academies to exist within the larger context of a host school and campus.

Furthermore, we, the undersigned, ask that any discussion of changing the current implementation of the FBISD Academy Program involve the parents and students of the academies, be preceded by proper research and a proper study, that a complete plan be put in place with the financial, academic, and social impact clearly presented, and include public hearings to discuss any plan, as was done previously.

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