Building a Greater Texas, One Student at a Time
Southwest Schools was founded in 1999 with the goal of providing an exemplary education to students and parents through a school of choice. Students who attend Southwest Schools bring a diversity of interests, cultures, talents, and proficiencies. They have found an atmosphere that encourages students to develop lifelong values and skills.
Mission
The mission of Southwest Schools is to provide children and parents the choice of an exemplary education in a unique, community atmosphere that maintains impeccable standards, respects individuality, cultural diversity, and encourages students PreK-12 to reach their true potential.
Vision
The Vision of Southwest Schools is a greater Texas community in which an exemplary education is provided to every child.
Guiding Principles
Southwest Schools is committed to creating an outstanding learning environment resulting in skillful, knowledgeable, well-equipped citizens who will become successful members of society, enabling them to adapt to the cultural, intellectual, and social challenges in a changing world. We aspire to be the leader and integral part of a consortium within our community that meets that goal. To achieve that ambition, we will apply our collective energies, resources, and talents to all dimensions of the issues of providing high quality education to children and youth in Texas.
Along with others, we will advocate for all of our children. We will reach out with a universal embrace to all parts of our community. We will work constantly to learn more about the evolving issue of early childhood education and we will not hesitate to attempt innovative solutions to this challenge.
In the work for which we are directly responsible, we will:
- Continue to build and establish the resources needed to educate the whole child;
- Create and maintain a unique, small community atmosphere that has been clinically proven to effectively educate children;
- Expand our capacity to provide consultation on our curriculum and educational approaches that make our services more readily accessible in all parts of the community;
- Take appropriate risks to test new ideas and approaches on at least a pilot basis; and
- Assure the continuity of our work by building an organization that is structured and funded to last.
We will aim towards partnering and maintaining child-friendly academic structures that will continue to meet the evolving programs of the schools, while always focusing on the needs of children first. To accomplish this task, we will:
- Create a funding structure that will meet current and future capital needs; and
- Conduct continual needs assessments of the schools and partner agencies regarding physical space to meet their growth and budget projections.
As a leader in mobilizing the community on the task of responding effectively to the issues of high quality education services, we will:
- Bring together a broad base of volunteer community leaders and make them an integral part of our work;
- Be a leader in the creation of collaborative partnerships among agencies;
- Create different types and levels of partnerships and affiliations to create the widest network practicable of individuals and organizations devoted to creating academic excellence;
- Learn from others and partner with others in such things as the creation of exceptional new curriculums, and effective teacher recruitment and retention, while adhering to a “best practices model”, and
- Serve as the place people in the community rely on for the most accurate and useful information on strategies for effective early childhood education and alternative education services.
We will work with others in creating a simplified and unified legislative front that collects and coordinates the development of model legislation that will lead to laws that:
- Become involved with educating others throughout the state on what children need in educational programs;
- Empower children in the educational system; give them a voice and make sure they are heard;
- Encourage and support innovative legislation and statewide initiatives;
We will also establish our program as a viable research tool so that we can learn about what really works in the field of educating our youth. To do that, we will:
- Aggressively seek grants and other research monies with which to expand our ability to learn, and as a result, provide leadership and instruction on the most effective approaches in educating the whole child;
- Draw on the assets created by the number of children we have served to develop a database that will provide a more reliable basis for research;
- Promote longitudinal studies and research and follow up with graduates;
- Make Southwest Schools a place known as welcoming the opportunity to serve as an incubator for innovative approaches in education, and
- Measure our success by the degree to which other educational institutions look to us as an organization that learns how to solve problems through disciplined and creative research.
History
In 1998, Southwest School received approval from the State Board of Education to operate Southwest School as a state approved charter school. In its first year, Southwest School had 250 students. Within one semester, students from across Houston recognized the unique benefits of Southwest School. This demand doubled the schools’ enrollment, causing Southwest School to move to its current location at 6400 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77074.
Today, Southwest School has a high school, middle school, and two elementary campuses separate from the high school. Southwest School also provides educational services to residential treatment facilities in the greater Houston area and Pre-K satellite campuses.
Southwest School is an open enrollment campus with an academic program dedicated towards college prep, vocational education, and career and technology certifications. Our college prep program offers Advanced Placement courses. Through our relationship with Genesys ITS Inc., and Datasors consulting, our students have combined their academic knowledge with practical skills in the area of career and technology programs and work as interns for companies such as Reliant Energy, Duke Energy and Southwestern Bell.
The school emphasizes the Texas Recommendation Plan for Graduation and integrates local credits in enrichment areas for mandatory graduation requirements. Local credits include study halls, tutorial courses, independent learning, and skill-based courses.
