Henry B. Zachry Elementary School - Laredo, TX

H. B. Zachry Elementary School (ZES) educates all students effectively regardless of differences in students' interests, capabilities, and learning styles. ZES empowers students for the challenges and demands of the increasingly complex and demanding world. Our faculty has learned to efficiently and successfully disaggregate and analyze student data to develop prescriptive action plans for all students. ZES uses these prescriptive, data-driven plans during small group intervention blocks, after school tutorials, and Saturday classes. Integrating technology in all Kindergarten through 5th-grade classrooms has also played an important role in increasing student academic success. Instrumental to our school success is a strong partnership between teachers and parents. Teachers provide parents with make-and-take sessions to help support learning at home. This created strong bond helps secure the social-emotional needs of the students. The school also encourages parents to be active participants by contributing to the daily educational decision-making which leads to exceptional student performance.

ZES believes that high expectations coupled with dedicated, well-trained teachers and commitment from all stakeholders contribute to ZES's yearly academic excellence. Ultimately, supporting our school's motto, "Determined to Believe, Achieve, and Succeed!" Despite the diverse social-economic and learning challenges faced by ZES, it earned five Academic Distinction Designations assigned by the Texas Education Agency. In addition, ZES earned an "A" rating making it an Exemplary Campus. Furthermore, the Educational Results Partnership identified ZES as a Texas Honor Roll Campus for showing consistently higher levels of student academic achievement among ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.