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Friends of Travis TAG Vanguard & Academy |
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Sharing the best kept secret in DISD. |
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To contact us: |
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School Phone: 972-794-7500 School Fax: 972-794-7501 E-mail: question@travistag.org Official School Website: Click Here |
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Current and Important |
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1. Is transportation provided? Where does my child catch the bus? Transportation is arranged through the district transportation office and pickup is based on both the closest DISD elementary school to your address and the need to consolidate pickup schools for time and efficiency. 2. What if my child doesn't have ITBS or TAKS scores? [home schooled, private schooled, or out of Dallas ISD] Non-DISD students will sign up at time of application. Current DISD students who didn’t take ITBS last Spring must take the ITBS at their local school before Winter Break. Those students must request to take the ITBS before Oct.29. 3. Can we retake the ITBS if my child’s scores don’t qualify? No 4. What is a Norm Referenced Test? Why doesn’t the TAKS count? A Norm referenced test such as the ITBS compares the student’s results against a national norm (all other students of the same grade, taking the test at the same time). The TAKS is a criterion referenced test, which tests the student on the Texas Education Agency curriculum and determines whether they have achieved an acceptable knowledge ranking. 5. My child did not take the ITBS last year. Will you use their TAKS scores instead of ITBS? How will Travis analyze ITBS scores (that Travis/Spence/Polk applicants will use) vs. TAKS scores (that other DISD applicants will use)? Is there parity between ITBS and TAKS? Travis will ONLY use TAKS scores to determine whether a student can sign up to take the ITBS Saturday testing. Either the Reading or Math scores must be COMMENDED, and both must be passing. ITBS scores will be used for screening purposes. We use the Math Problem Solving or Math Total national percentile score (whichever is higher) and the Reading Comprehension or Reading Total national percentile score (whichever is higher). Neither side can be lower than 75 %tile and the average of Reading and Math must be 82 %tile or higher. 6. In December, my child will have completed only one half year of 5th grade. What grade level ITBS will they be given? 4th or 5th grade level? Students are tested with on level tests so in this case, 5th grade level. 7. How does a parent get a copy of the ITBS test scores and the TAKS test scores? Contact the school counselor. Contact the school’s test coordinator to sign up to take the ITBS. 8. Montessori math is taught very differently from DISD, and math scores are quite typically lower on standardized math tests. Would it be appropriate for me to obtain a letter from the head of my child's school or from the math teacher explaining this, and including this with his application? No, we can only go on the scores received. 9. What if you live out of district? Can you still attend Travis? Is there a tuition fee? Applicants that are out of district can still be accepted to Travis once all other qualified IN district applicants have been offered placement. Currently the district does not require a tuition fee, but there may be a fee of $100 to take the ITBS test. 10. What foreign languages does Travis offer? Travis offers Russian, Spanish and French as an elective to 7th and 8th grade students. 11. What is Travis’s Texas Education Agency rating? The Vanguard has been EXEMPLARY since opening. The Academy has been EXEMPLARY every year, save one when it was RECOGNIZED. 12. Does ethnicity and/or gender have any influence on acceptance? No 13. What extracurricular activities does Travis offer? Travis offers numerous extracurricular activities. Our highly popular after-school enrichment program, taught by Travis teachers, offers classes in art, science fiction, digital photography, math and science team, library and gardening, and other subjects. In addition, Travis students participate in Winston Science competitions, Destination Imagination, TMSCA (math/science), UIL competitions, band and orchestra competitions, Reflections (PTA arts competition) and National Junior Honor Society. 14. What is the rubric for GPA? The GPA is an average of all core classes. Add the grades from Language Arts/Reading, Science, Social Studies, and Math and divide by the number of grades. 15. Does Travis offer advanced classes? The entire Travis curriculum is designed to challenge talented and gifted students. As student progress permits, Travis teachers expand on core required material to give students a deeper understanding of the subjects. All 7th & 8th grade classes are PreAP. By eighth grade, teachers are frequently incorporating high school material into their lesson plans. 16. Are they still dividing the district into areas and taking the top students from each district? Has that changed with restructuring? Yes, the 30%- 70% is used. The top 30% are automatically accepted. The remaining 70% are chosen according to the percentage of students from each of the four Elementary Learning Communities. 17. My child is currently enrolled as a 5th grader at Travis, must they reapply for 6th grade? Welllll,. During the 2009-2010 year, they were waivered and didn’t need to. At this point it is NOT known if the school board will seek to waive more groups through. 18. If my child, a current Travis 5th grader, meets the minimum requirements for enrollment and was commended on all of his TAKS test taken last year, will they be guaranteed a spot in 6th grade? No. Unless the waiver is reissued by the school board as in 2009-2010. 19. Do you have to reapply every year? No. The Vanguard is a two year program, and the Academy is a three year program. Since they are separate, even students in the Vanguard must APPLY for admission to the Academy program. 20. Does my child need to send in writing samples with their application? No. They will be doing a writing test and the NNAT test here at Travis on selected days. 21. The NNAT test? That’s new. What is it? It is the Nagliari Non-verbal Aptitude Test. The students work with drawings and shapes, pattern recognition, and pattern completion. It can be taken by children regardless of primary language. 22. Why did they eliminate the portfolio of work? The three magnet talented and gifted schools for grades 4-8, K.B. Polk, Alex Spence, and W. B. Travis, felt enough information could be derived from an on-site essay, GPA, and test scores. 23. When/where will the essay test be given? The essay test will be given AT Travis on several dates to be determined. 24. What are the criteria for applying to the other Vanguards &Academies? The criteria for the other schools can be found at http://www.dallasisd.org/parents/magnet/ 25 How will the classroom teaching differ from what a typical school classroom teaches? See questions 13 and 15. 26. How often PE is offered? In the Vanguard, daily (with pullouts for band and orchestra). In the Academy every student must take one semester of PE yearly, which meets as a daily class. 27. What specials are offered and how often? All students take gym class and can take band, orchestra, or art. Grades 4-5 attend these classes twice a week. Grades 6-8 attend the classes daily. In addition, grades 6-8 are offered electives of drama, computers, Spanish or French. 28. Do students have access to computers? There are computers in every classroom, and both the Vanguard and the Academy have computer labs that offer fairly open access to students. Plus several of the staff holds computer education certifications or advanced degrees. 29. Do you have recess? We have recess at lunch, weather permitting. 30. Do you offer sports? As a part of the Magnet school program, Travis cannot offer UIL sports. For middle school sports, Travis partners with Spence. Students are also permitted to participate in sports through their local middle schools. 31. What if my child is coming from a Montessori school and doesn't have a GPA? We ask parents to request their child’s teacher to assign a numeric grade. 32. Will the essay question be published before the application interview so they can prepare? Or will the kids need to do it on the fly? The essay question will NOT be published before the essay test. (There is no interview component to Travis applications.) The essay prompts have been chosen to gauge the student’s ability to express themselves in writing and is not testing factual knowledge. 33. May I see the rubric for grading the essay? Will this be practiced in Language Arts? What, specifically, will you be looking for in the essay? Structure, substance, length, etc. Please be specific. Also, how can we help our kids practice for writing the essay? We give parents a copy of the rubric at the time of accepting the application. Writing is part of a student’s curriculum beginning in pre-kindergarten. All language arts classrooms at all grade levels should be practicing writing throughout the school year. We look for structure, complete sentences and thoughts, creativeness, a beginning, middle, and end. We ask the students to write a minimum of 1 ½ to 2 pages. You could have your child write essays or stories at home and check them for the above mentioned items. 34. What are the rules on siblings? This year, will siblings receive any kind of priority if the Travis sibling is in Middle School, rather than Elementary? The policy remains the same. Applicants must first qualify regardless of any other consideration. An applicant to the 4-5 with a sibling who is a Travis 4th grader for the current year will receive priority if they qualify in all areas. 35. Is priority given to DISD kids over private school kids? No. |
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W. B. Travis Vanguard & Academy FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS To be updated with new criteria ASAP when the district gives it to us. Updates in red. |
