YISD students, staff head to Austin for Capitol Schoolhouse
The Ysleta Independent School District is among 10 districts in the state invited to participate in the Texas Capitol Schoolhouse, an annual event that brings students and staff to the state Capitol to show legislators how technology is being used in the classroom to prepare students for the 21st century.
The Schoolhouse event takes place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26, in the Texas Capitol Basement Rotunda in Austin.
Representing YISD at the event this year is Del Valle Elementary School, which will send Principal Lisa Lopez, campus technologist Gilbert Acosta, and fifth-grade students Jasmine Candelaria, Moises Chavez, Andrew Felix, Angel Ramirez, and Briana Ramirez to participate in the event. YISD Director of Innovative Learning Micha Villarreal is also scheduled to be on hand.
As part of the event, Del Valle students and staff will join other invited participants in setting up a temporary classroom at the Capitol at 8 a.m., and conducting class as they normally would at their home schools. Throughout the day, state legislators and invited guests have the opportunity to venture through these temporary classrooms to observe and experience how state-of-the-art educational technology is integrated into students’ daily learning environment
This year’s Schoolhouse students are expected to use both PCs and Macs while working with video & sound editing, robotics, drone technology, robots, iPods, iPads, online virtual learning environments, 1-to-1 laptop computing, digital signage, rocketry, high level computer science courses, online interactive learning, and other educational technologies.
Ysleta ISD, a two-time national Broad Prize finalist, serves 42,500 students in pre-K through 12th grade in 63 campuses, including two K-8 international schools and one early college high school. YISD’s state ratings are among the best in El Paso – every campus met the state’s academic standards, and a majority of schools also earned special academic distinctions in reading/English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, student progress, closing performance gaps, and/or post-secondary readiness.
