Waller ISD

The Waller Independent School District is the second largest in total square miles in the Houston area, encompassing 328 square miles in Waller and northwest Harris Counties. Seven Waller ISD campuses serve over 4,600 students. In 2003, student ethnicity is 55.2% Caucasian, 17% African-American, 26.2% Hispanic, and 1.5% Asian and American Indian.

Waller ISD is a dynamic and fast-paced school district that provides an excellent education for students PreK through the twelfth grade. Innovative thinking and teamwork are its hallmarks, and over the past few years Waller ISD has emerged as a state and national leader in technology education. All schools and administrative buildings in the district are fiber optic networked, providing all classrooms and libraries with direct Internet connections. Each campus has a technologist on site and there are more than two dozen integrated technology learning programs in use throughout the district.

The success of the Waller ISD technology education program is readily apparent in four American Computer Science League Championships in three years, twelve qualifiers for the 2001 Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) Regional Computer Contest, a sixth place ranking in the 2002 TCEA State Computer Contest, a third place win over 65 (mostly 5A) schools in the 2002 Fifth Annual Compaq Code Wars Computer Contest, and numerous other student wins and placements in competitions usually dominated by larger metropolitan schools.

The most recent example of Waller ISD technology education success occurred at the 2002 American Computer Science League All-Star Contest held in Montreal, Canada. In this higher level of world-wide competition, the Waller High School Intermediate Team placed twelfth in the Large School Division and the Waller High School Junior Team, who went into the contest ranked number one in the nation as National Champions of their division, placed sixth. In addition, five Waller High School students received individual awards for outstanding test scores at the contest.

Sixty percent of Waller ISD graduates are college-bound and well over a million dollars in scholarships and grants were awarded to WHS students last year. In 2001-2002, Waller ISD TAAS scores showed remarkable gains for the second year in a row, including 12 of the highest scores ever recorded in the district. An overall performance score of 86.9 was up 2.6 points over 2000-2001 scores, creating a total gain of 7.1 points over the past two years. In 2002, Waller High School took First Place in the annual District 18AAAA U.I.L. Academic Meet. (At that time, District 18AAAA consisted of Brenham ISD, Huntsville ISD, Magnolia ISD, Montgomery ISD, Navasota ISD, and Waller ISD.) And in the spring of 2003, WISD third-graders scored 94% on the English version of the TAKS reading exam (the state average was 89%). Waller ISD has three Recognized campuses - Waller High School, Jones Elementary, and Roberts Road Elementary.

Waller ISD also provides a number of other educational opportunities, including special education for preschool and school age children as well as a variety of adult education programs. Professional growth opportunities available to its personnel include Reading Renaissance Model and Master Classroom certification, Bilingual programs through Texas A&M University, Carnegie training, Boys Town training, CPR certification, and a state and nationally acclaimed program of technology staff development.

For more information on Waller ISD, including the wide variety of sports and extracurricular activities available, see the state and national award-winning Waller ISD web site at www.waller.isd.esc4.net.