Houston ISD leaders say the district will have no F-rated schools when the Texas Education Agency releases its latest accountability ratings later this month – characterizing the feat as a “remarkable transformation” as the district enters its third year under state control.
HISD had 56 failing campuses and another 65 schools with D ratings for the 2022-23 school year, which is the latest set of ratings released by the state agency. That also was the last year before Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath installed Superintendent Mike Miles and replaced the district’s elected trustees with a state-appointed board of managers — a move triggered by Wheatley High School’s streak of failing grades from the TEA.
Miles has implemented instructional reforms at about half of HISD’s 270-plus schools, with a focus on improving students’ performance on standardized tests. The state accountability ratings are based largely on students’ results on the STAAR test, taken annually by public school students across the state.
For the 2024-25 school year, HISD’s second under state control, district leaders said they expect to have a total of 18 D-rated campuses, along with 197 schools with A or B ratings. The year before the state intervened, HISD had 93 campuses rated A or B.
“It is a very good performance in relation to the state accountability system, in relation to the state testing system,” said Duncan Klussmann, a former Houston-area superintendent who now works as an associate clinical professor of education at the University of Houston. “That is what the reforms that have been put in place in HISD are supposed to do. The reforms they’ve put in place are very focused on increasing test scores. This is just confirmation that the reforms they put in place to raise test scores have been successful.”
RELATED: Here is when Houston-area school districts start classes for 2025-26
The statewide rating system, along with the standardized test it relies on, have both come under criticism in recent years. Multiple Texas school districts sued to temporarily block the release of both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 ratings – arguing that it became more difficult to earn higher scores in 2022-23 and that districts weren’t given sufficient notice about changes used to calculate the 2023-24 ratings. Judges ruled earlier this year that both years’ ratings could be released, with the 2022-23 ratings coming out in April. The 2023-24 ratings are set to be released Aug. 15, along with the 2024-25 grades.
State lawmakers also are proposing to replace the STAAR test with a series of less extensive exams.
Despite the controversy, Miles and other district leaders lauded their performance in 2024-25, crediting the work of students and their teachers. More than 80 HISD schools went from having D or F ratings in 2023 to having A or B ratings in 2025, according to the district.
“We’ve witnessed remarkable transformations across the district,” Sandi Massey, HISD’s chief of schools, said in a Tuesday news release. “Dozens of schools leapt from D and F ratings to A and B status. These dramatic improvements show what’s possible when we commit to excellence for every student and work toward that every day.”
Although Miles and his reforms have drawn praise from Morath and HISD’s state-appointed board, which awarded him a five-year contract extension in June, the state intervention and the installed superintendent have drawn pushback from educators, parents and community members. Campus protests have regularly been staged in opposition staffing turnover and instructional changes, and Houston voters rejected a $4.4 billion bond proposal last fall in a vote that could be considered a referendum on Miles and his leadership. The district also has continued to see declines in enrollment.
Klussmann said parents must decide the importance of test scores and accountability ratings in comparison to their children’s overall educational experience. And the long-term impacts of the reforms remain to be seen, he said.
“I think the short-term improvements are very impressive from HISD,” Klussmann said. “But you’ve got to pay attention to the long-term effects of the reforms. It’s going to be really important to follow students who have been part of the takeover, follow them long-term. Do more go off to higher ed? Do more acquire a two-year certificate or a four-year degree? Are they successful when they leave the system?”
Great Job & the Team @ Houston Public Media Source link for sharing this story.
