How is it, that a school district that prides itself on having teaching assistants at the ready by to step in for a missing teacher at its large subset of New Education System Schools hasn’t had a math teacher at one of those schools in one class all year, according to one parent?
How is it that Superintendent Mike Miles is able to power point his way through Middle of the Year standardized test score improvements so great that the Board of Managers voted Thursday night to re-set the goals, moving them even higher because in many cases students have already exceeded the original marks, but students complain of mind numbing exercises?
Students addressing the board Thursday night continued oft-heard complaints that these new highly structured classes with their constant testing bore them to tears, that some teachers just hand them a packet of test papers (still filled with errors) and don’t teach them anything and that they want full-length books and class projects restored. They talked about their teachers being judged and scared all the time — which, in turn, the students say, affects them too. They talked about the teachers they respected and liked who aren’t there any more. And how they want them back.
Those and other dichotomies ran through most of the evening’s events at Thursday’s Houston ISD school board meeting.
Parents and students from West Briar Middle School and Wharton Dual Language program school brought their separate woes to the board room, which really weren’t different at all. Both centered on what they see as interference in the schools’ operations leading to the unwanted departure of teachers and administrators, a toxic culture, and what they see as questionable teaching methods.
West Briar parents referenced the letter they sent to their principal and HISD leadership — signed by 400 people — calling for an end to staff turn over and referencing what they termed bullying. Parent Kelly Blikre echoed the letter’s statement that: “Student support and special education services have taken a particular hit: since the 2023-24 school year, WBMS no longer has a social worker, or a wraparound specialist, and has a single guidance counselor to meet the needs of nearly 1000 students.”
In response, Kasey M. Bailey, the West Division Superintendent wrote in part: “I understand your frustrations with the changes and staffing instability at West Briar. I am not personally aware of any bullying among the staff, but I will investigate these allegations myself. Please know that despite the challenges, I have witnessed growth in instructional quality as the year progresses, and out of school suspensions are on track to decrease from last year. I am optimistic that West Briar will continue to improve student outcomes, strengthen instructional leadership, and build a campus culture that the community can be proud of. With hiring season underway for next school year, she is working hard to bring in qualified candidates.”
Superintendent Mike Miles maintains that this massive transformation is what’s needed to retain only the most highly qualified teachers and principals who can lift the lowest performing schools out of the depths and make the ones that have been doing okay, even better. Their data points in terms of student scores back him up.
As for the new impressively long and detailed Teacher Excellence System approved Thursday, will it either richly reward and retain the best of the best teachers, or as public speakers put it, pit teacher against teacher — since it’s assessed on a Bell curve and there can only be a certain percentage of Exemplary teachers?
It was deja vu time in the tale of two districts. Once again the difference between how the district’s administration and Board of Managers see what’s going on and how the adults and kids show up to deliver their messages in one-minute segments approached chasm-like proportions.
Under the new teacher evaluation system, class observations will count for 45 percent of a teacher’s evaluation score. Their students’ performance on standardized tests will account for another 35 percent with 15 percent covered by lesson planning and professionalism and 5 percent to campuswide success.
After reaction from teachers, a plan to include student surveys of teachers was dropped, although Miles said the district may still move forward with that, just not include it in this new teacher evaluation system, at least not for the first year.
Teacher and frequent board critic Michelle Williams said the new teacher evaluation system “is by far the worst I’ve ever seen.” Another teacher and frequent critic MinhDan Tranh said: “Pay for performance does not work period. Schools are not businesses and should not be treated like businesses.
“The proposed teacher evaluation system seeks to have teachers compete with one another rather than work together toward a common goal,” she said. “You’re going to see teachers hiding resources, hoarding materials and not helping their colleagues.”
When Board Member Rolando Martinez asked how this pay for performance model had been successful elsewhere, Miles referenced Dallas ISD which has used one for several years and because of that, its retention rate of high quality teachers is higher than other districts in Texas. It is a system that Miles himself put in place while he was superintendent in DISD.
A question also came up about the DOL or Demonstration of Learning tests that occur after a teacher covers a topic. Student Eliana Gottlieb said that she had understood this was to help teachers determine who didn’t understand the lesson and needs extra help, but said instead these are being used as test grades that can have an detrimental effect on their GPAs.
Board President Ric Campo came to the meeting two hours late; Vice President Audrey Momanaee presided in his place. Board member Paula Mendoza showed up even later than that.
The next board meeting for HISD is scheduled for April 16 at 5 p.m. A board budget workshop is scheduled for next week, at 1 p.m. on March 26.
The West Briar letter:
And the Teacher Excellence System explained in detail:
