2023 Winter Edition

This year 2,242 QuestBridge Finalists matched and have earned full four-year scholarships awarded by 50 college partners! Match Scholarship Recipients are granted early admission to one of QuestBridge's college partners with a full four-year scholarship, worth over $200,000. This year, Grand Prairie ISD has five students who matched with a QuestBridge college partner!

Please help us congratulate them! #WeAreGPISD

South Grand Prairie High School

Valerie Posso- Colby College

Samantha Nguyen- Boston College

Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy

Kennedeigh Smith- Yale University

Young Women's Leadership Academy at Arnold

Auris Vega- Vanderbilt University

Ashley Salvador- Emory University

Parents, as we close out the 1st Semester of the 2023-2024 school year, we wanted to provide you with the date in which grades must be submitted in Skyward and the date in which you will be able to view the grades. Please see below the dates:

Elementary

• Teacher Submission Date January 10, 2024

• Grades available in Skyward January 11, 2024

Secondary

• Teacher Submission Date January 10, 2024

• Grades available in Skyward January 12, 2024

**Secondary Campuses include School for the Highly Gifted, Moore Preparatory. Travis’ Middle School will be available on the Secondary dates.

Link for parents on how to log into Skyward to view grades

Parent Instructions for logging into Skyward to view grades

Parents, your students have been meeting with their counselors over the last month to choose their Endorsements. It is a graduation requirement, that every student graduates with an endorsement. First, students completed Match Maker in Xello, to decide which career they would like to pursue. Then, students aligned their career choice to an Endorsement. There are 5 endorsements students may choose from:

• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Industry
• Public Service
• STEM (Science, Technology, Math, Engineering)
• Multidisciplinary Studies

After the winter break, students will meet with their counselors again to choose their core courses for high school. Counselors will continue to meet with students until February 6.

Please speak with your student about their endorsement option and the core courses they would like to choose. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact your student's counselor.

Parents, your high school students in grades 10-12 have been meeting with their counselors to choose their courses for next school year and/or to ensure they are on track for graduation. Please ask your students about their visit with their school counselor and inquire about the courses they have chosen. Click here for our course catalog, should you or your student want to know more about specific courses that they've chosen.

ACT scores are here! If your student took the ACT on October 3 during the school day, those results are now available. Students should have created a MyACT account and can log into it to review their scores HERE.

The website also provides valuable information about understanding your scores and how they relate to college readiness and college admissions.

If your student did not register for a MyACT account, the campus testing coordinator will have the ACT ID code needed to create an account. Alternatively, your student should be receiving paper score reports soon, and the ACT ID code can be found there as well.

If you would like to retake the test to improve your scores, GPISD offers Saturday testing this year. Look for Grand Prairie High as the testing site. If a student qualifies for free or reduced lunch, they will be able to request a voucher at their campus to take the ACT for free on Saturdays.

Additionally, school day testing will occur again in the following school year. Seniors that would like to take the ACT the following school year will need to register and pay for the assessment no later than the last school day in August at their campus.

Students have access to MasteryPrep lessons to prepare for testing! Check with your counseling team on campus to find out more about registering for those tests and any applicable fees.

Parent Promise is a scholarship program which provides a pathway for you to earn a certificate or associate degree in order to pursue a career in an in-demand field of study at no cost to you. Parent Promise will cover any gap between state and federal financial aid at Dallas College to make sure tuition is covered.

The Parent Promise is only eligible for parents whose student attends a Dallas County Promise partner school:

Crosswinds High School

Dubiski High School

Grand Prairie High School

South Grand Prairie High School

For more information visit: https://www.dallascollege.edu/paying-for-college/parent-promise/pages/default.aspx

Families, Grand Prairie ISD wants to make sure you're aware that there will be major updates coming to the 2024–25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA/TASFA) form. As a result, the new form will be available by December 31. The delayed launch date will apply only for the 2024–25 FAFSA form. Stay tuned for more information about the financial aid workshops scheduled for the month of January. 💰💸💰💸

Grand Prairie ISD Spring Workshops

• Minimum 3.3 GPA
• Number of Community Service Hours completed in the last 12 months
• Community Service Verification Letters to document the number of hours submitted
• A Letter of Recommendation
• A Short Essay (500 words or less) on the topic: “What does Community mean to you?”

Eligibility:

• Cumulative 2.5 GPA by fall semester of senior year or college GPA must be at least 2.5 overall.
• Participates or leads volunteer community service projects through high school/college or other organizations.
• Must be a female resident of the Dallas Fort Worth area if a high school student or former resident if a college student.

Please apply at: https://www.sistersofsarai.org/scholarships

Students must apply by January 15, 2024.

• The power of AVID Secondary is the ability to impact students in the AVID Elective class and all students throughout the campus. AVID Secondary can have an effect on the entire school by providing classroom activities, teaching practices, and academic behaviors that can be incorporated into any classroom to improve engagement and success for all students.Our nation’s schools are full of students who possess a desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard, but many of them do not truly have the opportunity to be college-ready. These are often the students who will be the first in their families to attend college and are from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.AVID Secondary equips teachers and schools with what they need to help these students succeed on a path to college and career success.

100% Application Completion

100% Promise Pledge

100% AVID Students in Rigorous Courses

100% SAT/PSAT/ACT

OVER $100,000 Scholarships

AVID students at Jackson Middle School were challenged to create a paper table to hold an iPad using STEM.

Email: Jereese.Johnson@gpisd.org

Patricia Calahan

E-mail: Patricia.Calahan@gpisd.org

Dr. Holly Mohler

Email: Holly.Mohler@gpisd.org

Email: Ana.Gonzalez@gpisd.org

Email: Irasema.Sias@gpisd.org