HOUSTON -- A non-profit organization called Houston A+ Challenge is taking unique approaches to make education better, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Tuesday.

Houston A+ Challenge is an independent, innovative nonprofit group that works with six area school districts to come up with better ways to teach children.

"I think it's just coaching and giving some support and giving some ideas and then opening up paths for schools. It's what we're really good at," said Suzanne Sutherland, the Houston A+ Challenge Interim Director.

For 10 years, Houston A+ Challenge has used grants and large corporate donations to help make public schools better. The biggest focus has been on high schools.

Armed with new ideas for age-old problems, the group helped form three model high schools, including the Houston Academy of International Studies.

To fight student apathy, Houston A+ helps train principals of large schools to redesign and create small learning environments that specialize in what students are specifically interested in. One example is engineering.

"When you make the environment smaller and more personable for students and teachers, the success rate goes up," Sutherland said.

She said test scores are going up at four elementary schools, including Aldine Academy, that have been set up as models where fine arts are used to teach all subjects -- from math to science.

"It embeds it in their hands and their brain, so when they're reading, they're making pictures in their heads. In math, they're playing with patterns and manipulators and moving them around to come up with answers, so it's really enhancing our program big time," art teacher Elaine Wilkins said.

A fourth-grade student said her drawings help her picture in her mind what she is learning in other subjects.

"On a test, I have to picture what the test is about. It helps me, so when I picture it, it's easy," said Naimah Stevens, a fourth-grader.

Houston A+ Challenge will join other educators in a conference on Wednesday morning focusing on solving the high school dropout crisis in Texas.

It will be held at the University of St. Thomas from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Pre-registration is required.