Andrew Carnegie Vanguard High School, named after Andrew Carnegie,"." Houston Independent School District. June 4, 2007. Retrieved on November 26, 2008. is located in the Fourth Ward of Houston, Texas near Downtown and was formerly located in Sunnyside."1501 Taft Houston, TX 77019" The school serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Houston Independent School District. It is the only High School Vanguard Program in HISD, meaning that all students are labelled as gifted and talented by testing and the school has students take all Advanced Placement core classes as part of its curriculum.

History

Jones High School The HISD Vanguard program was designed to serve the needs of gifted and talented students. From fall 1977 to spring 2002, the HISD High School Vanguard Program was a separate program located at Jesse Jones High School.Carnegie Vanguard — School Information It is one of the many Magnet schools in HISD designed to attract a diverse ethnicity of students by former HISD Superintendent Billy Regan.

Move to Sunnyside Campus The reinstatement of Lawrence Allen, the Jones HS principal, who was put in charge of the comprehensive program at Jones, prompted the HISD Vanguard program separation.Downing, Margaret. "The Great Divide." Houston Press. March 7, 2002. 1. Retrieved on December 22, 2009.

Carnegie Vanguard High School opened in August 2002 in the former Carnegie Elementary School building on Scott Street and Airport Boulevard near the Sunnyside neighborhood.Martin, Betty L. "HOUSTON ISD / Bond benefits Carnegie Vanguard." Houston Chronicle. Thursday December 20, 2007. ThisWeek 4. Carnegie began its first year as a separate school (2002–2003) with 173 students."Carnegie Vanguard High School." SchoolDigger. Retrieved on November 26, 2008. The elementary school students who attended Carnegie Elementary were moved to Woodson Middle School, which became the Woodson K-8 School;Downing, Margaret. "A Split Decision." Houston Press. April 18, 2002. 1. Retrieved on December 22, 2009. Woodson now has only elementary grades.Home. Woodson Elementary School. Retrieved on December 5, 2018.

In November 2008, HISD proposed to rebuild Carnegie and Worthing and have the two schools share the same cafeteria. Parents at Worthing accepted the proposal while parents at Carnegie asked for the proposal to be discontinued due to high violence levels at Worthing.Mellon, Ericka. "Plan for Carnegie-Worthing shared campus raises concern -- UPDATED." Houston Chronicle. November 11, 2008.Mellon, Ericka. "School plan seen as win-lose proposition." Houston Chronicle. November 12, 2008. Retrieved on January 19, 2010.Downing, Margaret. "Backlash Upon Backlash at HISD." Houston Press. December 2, 2008. 1. Retrieved on November 16, 2010. On December 4, 2008, Abelardo Saavedra, the HISD superintendent at the time, shelved plans for Carnegie and Worthing to share cafeterias as the proposal had insufficient support from the board of trustees.Mellon, Ericka. "Carnegie-Worthing shared campus on hold for now ." Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on December 4, 2008. Retrieved on December 22, 2009.

Fourth Ward campus move In 2009, HISD administration proposed relocating Carnegie to the Fourth Ward. District administrators favored the move because students come from across the school district, and the central location would make transportation easier.Mellon, Ericka. "Fourth Ward site likely for new Carnegie Vanguard High School." Houston Chronicle. November 17, 2009. Retrieved on November 24, 2009. During that year the school board approved of the plan.Mark, Steve. "Exit for 2 HISD trustees, new campus for Carnegie Vanguard" (). West University Examiner. December 11, 2009. Retrieved on December 17, 2009. The former Sunnyside Campus has been used for military tactical training by multiple agencies, including the United States Army.

Groundbreaking occurred in May 2011. The current campus opened in August 2012.

Campus

Current Fourth Ward Campus The current campus is located in the Fourth Ward, Houston. It is in proximity to Downtown, and to Midtown.Gray, Lisa. "Gray: Praise for Carnegie." Houston Chronicle. Thursday September 13, 2012. Retrieved on September 17, 2012. HISD provides school bus transportation to students who live more than two miles away from the school."Student Eligibility ." Houston Independent School District. Accessed July 14, 2008. The new campus is located on a plot at the northeast corner of West Gray Street and Taft Street. The new building can house up to 750 students. Parents, staff members, and students provided input for the design of the new CVHS campus. The building committee lobbied for a central courtyard, which is a part of the school's culture.Morris, Mike. "Carnegie Vanguard ‘investors' plan its move." Houston Chronicle. February 26, 2010. Retrieved on March 4, 2010. The new building shares its site with the Gregory Lincoln Education Center."Houston Planning Commission Agenda." Houston Planning Commission. 93/101. September 16, 2010. The district had initially intended for a new campus of the High School for Performing and Visual Arts to be built at the site that is occupied by the new Carnegie.Downing, Margaret. "Carnegie Vanguard May Finally (And Happily) Move To A New Home." Houston Press. Thursday December 10, 2009. Retrieved on September 8, 2011. Rey de la Reza Architects, Inc. developed the current Carnegie campus. The theater building is a former Orange Crush bottling plant and is one of the few remaining Art Deco buildings in Houston. The HISD bond did not cover the Orange Crush renovation.

Previous Sunnyside Campus The previous Carnegie campus was located in the former Carnegie Elementary School building off of Scott Street and Airport Boulevard near the Sunnyside neighborhood. The former Carnegie Elementary building had about of space, including the exterior corridors."Plans ready for Carnegie Vanguard High School." Ultimate Montrose at the Houston Chronicle. December 8, 2010. Retrieved on December 21, 2010. The old campus was located adjacent to a horse pasture. Lisa Gray of the Houston Chronicle said that the "shabby" campus was "far not only from most of its students' homes, but also from most Houstonians' consciousness." Gray also said that "By accident, the old elementary school's layout promoted the kind of effortless mixing that the latest designs for offices and research facilities strive to encourage."

Academics Classes Carnegie Vanguard offers only Pre-Advanced Placement (Pre-AP) and Advanced Placement (AP) courses in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies as well as Honors elective courses in core subject areas. The curriculum for every course is written to go above and beyond state and district standards. Carnegie Vanguard courses move at a quicker pace, cover more material, and are project based. They rely heavily on discussion and seminar style delivery of course information and the use, interpretation, and delivery of research.

Each Carnegie Vanguard student is required to take at least 10 AP courses before graduation: AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Capstone {Seminar and Research}, AP Physics 1, AP Human Geography, AP World History, AP US History, AP Economics, and AP US Government and Politics. Students can potentially take up to 18 Advanced Placement classes if desired.

Rankings For the past several years, Carnegie Vanguard has been consistently ranked as a top 30 public high school in the country by several major magazines and journals, including Newsweek, The Washington Post, and U.S. News & World Report. 20132014201520172018Washington Post17236 N/AU.S. News & World Report28143815Newsweek13119 N/A

Standardized testing Carnegie scores the highest scores on the SAT and PSAT on the Critical Reading Section and Mathematics Section in HISD, just beating Debakey High School.

Admissions The school capacity is 750 students. About 185 spots are available for incoming ninth grade students and a small number of spots are available for incoming tenth graders. CVHS is not a zoned school so students in the immediate neighborhood are not automatically accepted. There are no admission spots for 11th and 12th graders. Carnegie has an admission rate of about 13% and receives over 1500 applications for less than 200 seats every year.

The Carnegie application process segregates students by whether or not they are Gifted and Talented (G/T) in HISD. Students not already identified as G/T in HISD or attending a private school must take a test to see if they are G/T and provide other academic information while qualified HISD G/T don't need to provide anything more.

Qualified applications are placed into a lottery to see if they will be accepted. Students that are poorer and/or minority do receive more preference in the lottery. The school automatically accepts qualified students who have siblings that currently are in the ninth through eleventh grade at Carnegie, given there is enough space.

Carnegie has no formal feeder patterns as it is a magnet school and serves students from all over the HISD area. Carnegie attracts many students who are enrolled in private schools for middle school.

Student body Demographics The school capacity is 826 students.

2023-2024 Ethnic Demographics:

33% Hispanic

33% Asian

19% White

11% Black

4% Other

College matriculation 100% of students that graduate from Carnegie attend a 2 or 4 year college or university. Usually most graduates chose to matriculate at the University of Houston or the University of Texas at Austin.http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/9526.PDF?CFID=73199592&CFTOKEN=82414028 Carnegie students have also been accepted to many prestigious and highly selective colleges including Rice University, Carnegie Mellon University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Notre Dame, Stanford University, Bowdoin College, Wellesley College, Duke University, University of California - Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Spelman College, Howard University, University of California - Los Angeles, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Brown University, Columbia University, Tulane University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Drake University, University of Virginia, University of Michigan, New York University, Washington University in St. Louis, Tufts University, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago.

Clubs

Clubs ClubDescriptionInteractOpen Volunteering Club who hosts the Annual International Festival. It is the largest club in the school.National Honor Society (NHS)Application Based Club for High Achieving Students.RoboticsOpen Club competing in both VEX and FIRST Robotics competitions. Students have regularly reached the world championships for the Vex Competition.Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)Open club for female students interested in STEM. UIL AcademicsOpen club for educational competitions against other schools. Carnegie has won almost all local tournaments.Environment, Community, Outdoor (ECO)Open club for being earth-friendly and going on camping trips.Junior State of America (JSA)Open club for Non-Partisan Political Discussions and attendance of political conferences each semester.Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society)Application based club for High Achieving Students in Math.International Thespian Society (ITS)Application based club for students interested in theater. They won the state title in UIL Theater in 2014.Hispanic Honor SocietyApplication Based Club for Hispanic students or high achieving students in Spanish class.Red Cross ClubOpen club for supporting the Red Cross organization.Swimming DownstreamClub aimed towards helping incoming freshmen better adjust to CVHS environment.

Activities

Fish Camp