Hermelinda Rodriguez Elementary School

Hermelinda Rodriguez Elementary School is named after the Austin Independent School District's (AISD) first female Mexican-American principal. During her distinguished career, Hermelinda Rodriguez was a pioneer in bilingual education who was dedicated to improving Austin's school system. As a principal, she developed a bilingual curriculum that later became a state curriculum requirement, and she went on to serve as the district's director of elementary school management, making history as the institution's highest ranking Mexican-American woman.

It is in the spirit of its namesake's commitment to education that Hermelinda Rodriguez Elementary School approaches teaching. The school serves students pre-K through fifth grade (including free pre-K for qualifying families) and seeks to "develop the whole child academically, ethically, emotionally, physically, and socially to build lifelong learners."

In 2004, Hermelinda Rodriguez Elementary School implemented KidBiz3000 for its students. The innovative platform is a web-based reading and writing instruction program for second- through eighth-grade students that integrates with the teacher's lesson plans and curriculum. The program allows every teacher to assign individualized reading and writing assignments according to each student's personal level, offering personalized coursework that can improve proficiency.