People hold up signs at a news conference, March 3, 2023, in Houston while protesting the proposed takeover of the city's school district by the Texas Education Agency. (AP Photo/Juan A. Lozano)
While Houston ISD has seen drastic improvements over the past school year, the district is now narrowing in its focus on multiple schools.
The 17 schools identified as “special focus schools” in August were chosen because they received a C or D accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency, and either declined in ratings from the previous school year or remained unchanged.
“Every year we tend to work with schools who need a little extra support that may not be getting it with the transformation,” Chief of Schools Sandi Massey told Click2Houston.
As a special focus school, the campuses will now be required to use HISD curriculum, which includes specific instructional materials, tiered learning, timed lessons, and specifically is tailored to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Many of these curriculum changes were made last minute right before the school year started, resulting in teacher and parent frustrations.
Earlier this week, several parents of Lantrip Elementary students gathered outside of the school to protest it being designated special focus, saying that the changes have resulted in teachers being micromanaged, leading some to leave altogether.
“Teacher retention is an issue that they should be working on and telling people ‘It’s our way, which is the only way, or else you leave’ – that’s not going to help,” one parent told the Houston Chronicle. “How many teachers have left this year? How many great teachers? How many teachers have been reassigned?”
Several Durham Elementary parents had also expressed their concerns during a school board meeting last month.
The focus schools are:
- Barrick Elementary School
- Benbrook Elementary School
- Durham Elementary School
- Garcia Elementary School
- High School Ahead Academy
- Burnet Elementary School
- Carrillo Elementary School
- Clemente Martinez Elementary School
- Lantrip Elementary School
- Love Elementary School
- Pleasantville Elementary School
- Bastian Elementary School
- Foster Elementary School
- Law Elementary School
- Braeburn Elementary School
- Piney Point Elementary School
- School at St. George Place
“We provide the lesson objective, the demonstration of learning, the many quizzes, the answer key, the actual PowerPoint, the differentiated instruction, the tech, different texts, we provide everything,” Superintendent Mike Miles told Hello Houston. “So, there’s not a huge period of adjustment.”
The district has been under state control since 2023, and has since doubled its A-rated schools. Since the takeover, the district has also seen a dramatic decrease in failing campuses, going from 121 D-and-F-rated campuses to 18. No campuses received an F rating this past year.
