The Answer - A blog about Education, Preparation, and Commitment.

YES Prep Southwest Named Blue Ribbon School

September 20, 2011 by Chris Claflin

YES Prep Southwest was officially announced as a 2011 Blue Ribbon School this past week.   The Department of Education awards the Blue Ribbon distinction to schools that serve as a national model and have dramatically increased student performance.

This award is based on five years of strong academic achievement at YES Prep Southwest. We join YES Prep North Central as the second YES Prep campus to win this award and will definitely not be the last. Any success this campus has been fortunate enough to experience has come on the backs of the YES Prep system as a whole collaborating, sharing resources and ideas, innovating and creating change together.

If we were a stand-alone campus in a traditional district or a single charter campus our efforts would have been focused on so many

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YP Brays Oaks Visits University of Houston for It’s Second Model United Nations Competition

April 08, 2011 by Sarah Straub

March 30, 2011 is a day that should go down in YES Prep history.  Twelve students from YES Prep Brays Oaks’ campus travelled to the University of Houston to participate in their second Model UN competition. Representing Spain, Argentina, India and Qatar, these students have given up their Fridays for the past couple of months in anticipation of this competition. These students also had the privilege to hear from the Honorable Donna M. Blair, Minister Counselor of the Senior Foreign Service. She has served as Consul General in Nigeria, Mexico, Kenya, Venezuela, Ghana, Spain, Argentina and Hong Kong. She has worked in the State Department in the Bureau of African Affairs, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Bureau of Human Resources. She spoke about the opportunities that

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Fine Arts Thrives at YES Prep Amid Talk of Budget Cuts

April 05, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

In a climate where “budget cut” is heard more often in newscasts than the local weather, special programs in the public school system seem to be shrinking or disappearing all too quickly. As a professional musician, I can’t help but wonder what the future for music holds. What will happen to orchestras when there are no students growing up with music in the schools? What will happen to students as an important part of their cultural education disappears?

Luckily, charter schools seem, even with all of the budget issues facing the nation, to be taking this fight head on. At YES Prep West, every student learns to take an instrument. 76% of our students participate in orchestra. When it comes to the future of our orchestra, there was little doubt who I should talk to about creating a

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YES Prep Brays Oaks Student Receives Award for His Essay on “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity”

April 01, 2011 by Sarah Straub

“When your children are sitting in the chair with you at the end of the day while you are watching the news and they say that a serial killer is out and is in your city, this story is the story that your child will think about when he or she goes to sleep. It makes children go to sleep scared and this fear becomes a part of our society. This is why we should focus some more on good news.”

So states “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity” Essay submission by YES Prep Brays Oaks 6th grader Kenneth Murray for Ms. Sarah Straub’s Media Elective in which students work on yearbook projects, creating advertising campaigns, and creative writing essay contests. Kenneth and the rest of his class were entered into this essay contest, “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity” which is the United Nations’

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yBlazer Studios Releases New Short: Building Classroom Culture with Jamie Elfenbein of YES Prep

March 31, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

YES Prep West 6th grade ELA teacher and all-around amazing person, Jamie Elfenbein was recently featured in a YES Prep yBlazer Studios video produced by teacher Craig Brandenburg.  One theme we wanted to highlight with Jamie was her ability to build spirit and family in her classroom which I think this video does a good job showing.  However, if you ever get the chance to visit her classroom, you should see it

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