Irvin’s “Rocket New Tech School” recognized by the White House

The Obama administration hosted its first-ever White House Summit on Next Generation High Schools last week.

According to a news release by the White House, Next Generation High Schools are “schools that incorporate key elements of redesign including more personalized active learning. Access to real-world and hands-on learning such as “making” experiences…and a focus on expanding STEM opportunities for girls and other groups of students who are underrepresented in these high-growth well-paying fields.”

Among those acknowledged was Irvin High Schools “Rocket New Tech School”.

The El Paso Independent School District and New Tech Network partnered together to implement an innovative school within a school at Irving High School. This is Irvin’s first year with the “Rocket New Tech School”.

The new school is one of two new tech schools in El Paso, with “Cougar New Tech” at Franklin High School being another, and it is one of nearly a dozen in the state of Texas.

The school will be the platform for launching students into Irvin’s T-STEM courses beginning 9th grade year. According to the schools website, the cornerstone of Rocket New Tech and T-STEM’s unique learning environment will be project-based learning (PBL).

T-STEM courses include Engineering, Biotechnology, Media Production, Cyber Security and Computer Technology.

The new learning technique, PBL, is an attempt at teaching students the core values of trust, respect, responsibility, collaboration, critical thinking, and technology.

Instead of handing out daily assignments, teachers assign periodic projects that require critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication.

The Rocket New Tech School was the only El Paso and Texas New Tech campus to be recognized by the White House for its work.