Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center was founded back when the Allen Brothers first landed on the banks of Buffalo Bayou and was newly resurrected in 2008. The school was touted for many years as the second oldest high school in the state of Texas. It is by now surely the oldest high school in the state. Sam Houston is located at 9400 Irvington Blvd. in Houston, Texas. The school houses grades ten through twelve and is part of one of the largest school districts in the state, Houston Independent School District.
SHMSTC is home to the oldest high school newspaper in Texas, the Aegis, established in 1889. The world’s first girls’ Military Drill Squad, initially the Black Battalion named for a former principal who found the squad, F.M. Black; now called the Tigerettes, originated at Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center.  One of our past presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson taught English and Speech here in the 1920’s.
 

Sam Houston MSTC is often nicknamed “Sam by its students. It was founded in Downtown Houston officially as a public school in 1878 as Houston Academy. Since then, it has had several name changes.

The school was originally all white; it was desegregated in 1970 and today has a mostly Hispanic Student Body. Approximately 90% of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Students have made notable progress on statewide standardized tests most specifically TAKS over the past six years but the gains were not enough…

“Sam Houston High School, which has been rated as “academically unacceptable” for five straight years and faces possible closure by the Texas Education Agency if it doesn’t improve enough to earn an “acceptable” rating, made progress nearly across the board. Sam Houston’s passing rate in reading improved from 73 to 78 percent this year, math passing rates rose from 44 to 46 percent, and science passing rates increased from 45 to 49 percent. Only social studies fell at Sam Houston, but this year’s passing rate of 82 percent in social studies is still high. HISD officials will not know whether Sam Houston made enough progress to get off the “unacceptable” list until a ruling is made by the TEA.”        

Notable Alumni include Jeff Hunt- Chief Executive Officer of GCI Group, a public relations firm, Olga Gallegos- former Houston ISD board member and administrative aide to Texas state representatives Ben Reyes, Al Luna and Roman Martinez, Jack Valenti- long time president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

In 2007, Johns Hopkins University referred to Sam Houston as a “dropout factory” where at least 40% of the entering freshmen class does not make it to their senior year. This image of Sam Houston is set to change with a new emphasis on Math, Science and Technology. In 2008, a new leadership team came to Sam Houston charged with the task of turning the school around. They were to totally restructure the school, intervene in academic arenas, tighten discipline, restructure the staff, replacing as many as 75% and set goals for the school not only to be academically acceptable but recognized in the state’s eyes in the near future.

Feeder patterns for Sam Houston include:

HISD    North Region

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