Naaman Forest High School is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
secondary school located in
Garland, Texas
Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is located within Dallas County except for small portions located in Collin and Rockwall Counties. At the ...
, United States. Naaman Forest enrolls students in
grades 9-
12 and is a part of the
Garland Independent School District
Garland Independent School District is a public school district with its headquarters in the Harris Hill Administration Building in Garland, Texas, United States. Garland ISD extends from the Dallas city limits, northeast to the county line and ...
.
In 2009, the school was rated "
academically acceptable
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States. " by the
Texas Education Agency
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States. .
History
NFHS is built on a 62.13-acre site, which backs up to a natural forest preserve. It opened in 1988 with grades 6-9. Naaman Forest dropped a lower grade and added a higher grade until it attained senior high school status in 1992. Naaman Forest today serves 2,600 students, compared with 836 students 20 years ago. Naaman Forest has been fully accredited by the Texas Education Agency and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools since being founded.
Statistics (per 2010)
The attendance rate for students at the school is 95%, compared with a state average of 96%. About 44% of the students at Naaman Forest are economically disadvantaged, 12% enroll in special education, 4% enroll in gifted and talented programs, 24% are enrolled in career and technology programs, and 28% are considered "limited English proficient".
[2007-2008 TEA AEIS Campus Performance](_blank)
Retrieved on 3 December 2009
The ethnic makeup of the school is 34%
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
, 23%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 27%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, non-Hispanic, 16%
Asian/
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, and less than 1%
Native American.
The average class sizes at Naaman Forest are 22 students for
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, 21 for
foreign language
A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...
, 23 for
math, 22 for
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
, and 24 for
social studies.
Teachers at the school have, on average, 10 years of teaching experience and 7% of the teachers on staff are first-year teachers.
Academic programs
Agriculture
Naaman Forest also features Future Farmers of America, which promotes classes such as horticulture, plant propagation, and many other fields.
Building trades
Building-trades classes expose students to the construction field. Each year, the project constructs a three-bedroom, two-bath house that is given to Garland Habitat. The house is built on the school campus and then it is moved to its home site within the city of Garland.
Medical
Naaman Forest also has a career-preparatory program known as clinical rotations. Through this, students receive on-site training at Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Doctors Hospital at White Rock, and Baylor Hospital in Plano. In addition, Naaman is the site for GISD's emergency medical technician and pharmacy technician certification programs. Many clinical students participate in Health Occupation Students of America.
Achievements
Naaman received a Golden Performance Award from TEA for comparable improvement in math performance for the 2007-2008 school year. NFHS has been recognized by'' Newsweek'' as one of the top 1000 high schools in the nation based on Advanced Placement scores. In 2010 and 2011, the Naaman Forest Marching Band won its 20th and 21st consecutive First Division UIL ratings under the direction of band directors Larry Schnitzer, Gregory Taylor, and Matt Rush.
In 2011, the Naaman Forest Jazz Band became an award-winning jazz band, taking second place at the UTA Jazz Festival and first place at the TCU Jazz Festival under the direction of Jazz Band Director Gregory Taylor.
In 2012, the Jazz Band repeated its second-place finish at the UTA Jazz Festival. Also, Taylor was awarded "Outstanding Director".
Sports
Naaman Forest High School is most well known for its basketball team, which has been a very strong competitor for state titles throughout the history of the school. Naaman's basketball team in 2011-2012 went to the Final Four state finals, but in the end lost to Flower Mound Marcus. With this, Naaman Forest's basketball team is recognized as 10-5A District Champions, Bidistrict Champions, Area Champions, and Region II Champions.
Naaman offers basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, tennis, softball, track and field, football, volleyball, and soccer. Naaman competed in the
University Interscholastic League
The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organi ...
Class 5A classification for the 2013-2014 school year, but joined UIL's new Class 6A classification beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.
Notable sports alumni
*
Melvin Bullitt - safety for the
Indianapolis Colts
*
Jacob Lacey - cornerback for the Indianapolis Colts
*
Uche Nwaneri - guard for the
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...
* Prince Ibeh - center for the
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
*
Nick Browne -
2003 Consensus
All-American for
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...
Horned Frogs
* John Harris- receiver for the Texas Longhorns (2010-2014)
*
Reyna Reyes - player for the
Mexico women's national soccer team
See also
*
List of high schools in Texas
This is a list of high schools in the state of Texas.
Anderson County
* Cayuga High School, Cayuga
*Elkhart High School, Elkhart
* Frankston High School, Frankston
* Neches High School, Neches
* Palestine High School, Palestine
* Slocum High Sch ...
References
External links
*
Garland Independent School District
{{authority control
High schools in Garland, Texas
Garland Independent School District high schools
1988 establishments in Texas
Educational institutions established in 1988