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Our summer programming is one of the strongest school initiatives that involves many partners in the community. For 3-5 days our students are completely immersed in community outreach whether it is through a campus experience at Texan Women’s University or Southern Methodist University or serving food at a women’s shelter through our Each One Reach One Camp. These camps open our students to a world outside of theirs and many grow in empathy for others which cultivates a culture that values citizenship and growth instead of competition and self-gratification.

Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.

As part of the College Bound Initiative, we know there are many opportunities for parent education to help first generation parents support their daughters in an intense academic program, and understanding how to become a supportive parent when daughters leave home for college after graduation. One of the programs we initiated 5 years ago was our Senior Transition Nights. Our college bound advisor and our librarian jointly implement College 101 and Ignorance Is Not Bliss on separate evenings to make sure that both parents and students are ready for the final steps toward living on campus as a healthy, emotionally self-sufficient young woman who knows how to advocate for herself on the campus. At College 101, several admissions counselors from other colleges, current Rangel college students and alumnae parents advise students on the nuts and bolts of what to do once admitted to college. At Ignorance is Not Bliss, health professionals, counselors and therapists who work on college campuses present information to students and parents, and alumnae and their parents reflect on their own experiences to help answer questions.

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.

Our summer programming is one of the strongest school initiatives that involves many partners in the community. For 3-5 days our students are completely immersed in community outreach whether it is through a campus experience at Texan Women’s University or Southern Methodist University or serving food at a women’s shelter through our Each One Reach One Camp. These camps open our students to a world outside of theirs and many grow in empathy for others which cultivates a culture that values citizenship and growth instead of competition and self-gratification.
Our largest student led organization, LULAC Council 1021, involves 163 of our students. Together, they service over 5,600 hours of community service to various organizations throughout the Dallas community.
We have developed collaborative partners with the Perot Museum and the Dallas Museum of Art as part of our STEM focused middle school summer programs. The weeklong 6th grade camp at the Perot is designed to support the 6th grade Science curriculum students will study their first year at Rangel. The DMA has developed a STEAM experience at the museum which starts at our 8th grade summer camp, and extends through their 8th grade year with 3 additional day visits to take a deeper look at the collection through the lens of science, math, engineering and technology.

As part of the Each One Reach One service leadership summer program, we initiated a partnership with New Friends New Life, an organization that assists women and their families who have been victims of sex trafficking. That partnership has blossomed this year into a collaboration with NEST, whose mission is to educate students about the trafficking industry and efforts to bring it to an end. As part of a pilot program where Rangel sophomores (and sophomores at our sister school in Austin, the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders) learned about how and why trafficking is so widespread in the United States, Rangel students and NFNL will partner to host a student forum at the George Bush Presidential Library Feb. 23, with speakers and experts addressing what efforts are underway in Texas. This program exemplifies how our young women step into leadership roles when they are informed and are passionate about an issue.

Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.

Our College Bound Initiative is the core of our success for college readiness. From the beginning, our school started with college readiness in the first two grades - 7th and 8th grades - with the notion that is was not a question of "If you will go to college" but "Where you will attend?" Exposure to this concept starts in 6th grade when students first hear about all the ways a college education is feasible - starting with financial aid. Students make college visits starting in middle school, often in conjunction with another conference or opportunity, like a middle school GT conference at SMU. The college bound advisor holds the key position to this initiative. Her singular focus is on preparing young women and their families (85% of whom are first generation college students and 83% are low SES) for this actuality. SHe is charged with finding the right FIT for each student, based on their aspirations, needs, and goals, as well as school proximity to home, school size, school's accommodations to first generation students and underrepresented students, and financial aid. Rangel must not only raise college ready students (academically, socially, emotionally) but also college ready parents. Having an experienced professional who can deliver this custom-made advising program at a single gender school, with the student/ advisor ratio that is realistic, has been proven over and over again with our continued track record of 100% admissions to 4 year colleges upon high school graduation. The other part of this deliberate program is that we measure our success not by college admission alone, but by a 4 year completion rate. We are only as successful at our school as our graduates are in college and graduating on time. We are continually tweaking our programs, based on the feedback from our alumnae.

Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.

"Funds are used to support effective, research-based educational strategies that close the achievement gap between high-and low-performing students and enable the students to meet the state's challenging academic standards." (taken from the Title I website page) More specifically, our use of Title I funds include: parent involvement activities, highly qualified teaching positions, reading material and novels, targeted professional development for teachers, science equipment and supplies.

Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.

Academic excellence is the pervasive component of our school culture. Irma Lerma Rangel, our school's namesake, was the first Mexican-American woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives. She dedicated her career to championing minority, women's and student issues. Her spirit continues to inspire our school's core values (College Readiness, Service Leadership, Health and Wellness) which are brought to life through experiential and service learning, summer enrichment camps, advisory and mentoring programs and a college preparatory curriculum. One of the characteristics of a Rangel graduate is the number of experiences she has had away from campus that allow her to see professional women who have assumed roles of leadership, and learn their journeys to that point were not all easy or straightforward. We intentionally move them to places where they may experience discomfort, and provide them with the support or multiple chances to try it again. They are offered a myriad of experiences: to trips to our state Capitol to meet legislators, trips to DC to participate in a wide range of conferences: STEM, United Nations, cultural affinity conferences, engineering conferences, luncheons with CEOs and attending events with prominent women speakers. They are encouraged and expected to speak their mind, participate, volunteer, and lead. As a result, these young women start political organizations on campus, travel abroad to teach, attend conferences representing their schools, and recognize that there is no fear in making the attempt, failing and starting over again.

• Category 1

  Selected in 2015

• Grades: 6 - 12
  School Setting: urban
  Town Population: 2
  Student Enrollment: 563
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 15.6%
  White/Caucasian: 7.8%
  Hispanic: 73.6%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 2.7%
  Native American: 0%
  Other: 0.3%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:24
  % Reduced Lunch: 80%
  % ELL Learners: 7.6%
  Founded: 2004
• PRINCIPAL:
  Lisa Patrick Curry
• CONTACT:
  1718 R B Cullum Blvd
  Dallas, TX 75210
  972-749-5200
  licurry@dallasisd.org