Claycomb Associates, Architects

In the face of a looming teacher shortage, Houston ISD hired 839 uncertified teachers for the 2023-24 school year—or about 7 percent of its teaching workforce, according to a report released Monday by the Houston Chronicle. The district reported that it had 11,465 teachers last year. view article arw

Houston ISD's chief operating officer — one of the only senior staffers from former Superintendent Millard House II's cabinet prior to last year's state takeover — left HISD in January, district records show. Wanda Paul joined HISD as chief operating officer in 2021 after four years in that role at The School District of Palm Beach County in Florida. Her departure leaves Scott Gilhousen, HISD's chief technology officer, and Catosha Woods, the district's general counsel, as the only holdovers from House's administration in Superintendent Mike Miles' 12-person cabinet. THE REPORT CARD NEWSLETTER: Sign up for a weekly recap of everything happening in and outside of Houston ISD’s classrooms. view article arw

There will now be more resources for Seguin ISD families with an addition to the district’s sexual and reproductive sexuality health curriculum. The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees recently unanimously approved the Proctor and Gamble Puberty Education video series “Always Changing.” The instructional material will be available this spring for use in the fifth grade. Back in July, the school board, following a recommendation by the Seguin ISD School Health Advisory Council (SHAC), approved the adoption of a sixth-grade program called Living Well Aware as well as a ninth-grade curriculum titled SHARE. view article arw

The Texas Education Agency changed a lot about the state’s standardized test over the past couple years. Researchers and teachers worry the new approach to writing could kill creativity, but the TEA argues it better reflects how learning happens in class. view article arw

The implementation and future expansion of the Montessori Program in the El Paso Independent School District has stirred up mixed reactions from those who are part of the school district. The Montessori Program was implemented at the start of the 2023- 2024 school year at Paul C. Moreno Elementary for students ages 3 to 6 years old, by EPISD’s Superintendent Diana Sayavedra. view article arw

Parents in Florida are overwhelmingly supportive of public education despite claims by conservatives that the system is damaged beyond repair, according to a new poll commissioned by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The survey released earlier this month found more than 83% of respondents consider public education to be a right and say its funding should be increased. The research also showed 92% of parents and 90% of the general adult population believe curriculum should be developed by education professionals. Margaret Huang “In Florida, far-right groups supported by a handful of vocal political activists have created a false narrative that our public education system is broken,” said SPLC President Margaret Huang. “But this could not be further from the truth. Public education remains a cornerstone of our democracy, and Florida parents and residents strongly support public schools and believe in the power of public education to ensure all children can thrive in the classroom and their future.” view article arw

Beaumont — Dozens of students at Martin Elementary in the Beaumont Independent School District are in school on Saturday. The district is no stranger to holding classes outside of normal scheduled hours, normally as tutorials to assist students struggling with school work. But the sessions at Martin are aimed at students doing well academically. Giving them the opportunity to excel even more than they are already doing. Principal Kareem Nelson says, "A lot of times, students who we see perform at grade level or even slightly above grade level, sometimes they can become stagnant and they can stay there, and we always want to increase their mastery level." view article arw

The word “protist” has become embedded in Cailyn Crow’s thinking in recent months. It’s a microscopic organism that the Lufkin High School senior has researched and observed — and it’s something she thinks could deliver great benefits one day to agricultural practices. Her performance at a regional science fair bolsters that conclusion. Cailyn’s science fair project, “Effects of Protist as a Biofertilizer on the Rate of Growth in Plants,” was selected this month as the best high school project in the East Texas Regional Science Fair, held at Kilgore College. That means that in addition to earning a spot at the state science fair in March, she also earned eligibility to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair May 11-17 in Los Angeles, explained Paul Buchanan, who directs the East Texas Regional Science Fair. Buchanan said Cailyn’s expenses for the international science fair will be paid by the East Texas Regional Science Fair. Buchanan, who earned a doctorate in geology, teaches geology, environmental science and earth science at Kilgore College. view article arw

Some Texas school administrators were surprised this month to learn short written responses on the newly redesigned state assessment will be scored by a computer program instead of human graders. The Texas Education Agency has pointed to efficiency gains and insists the grading program is consistent and accurate, but the rollout has left some administrators with more questions than answers. The state agency this fall launched the new grading system for short-answer questions on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, a series of standardized tests students begin taking in third grade. The agency used a computer program to grade short written answers for students who took the STAAR in December, when usually only high school level tests are offered, said Jose Rios, director of student assessment at the TEA. view article arw

The class of 2022 in Leander ISD displayed a slight decline in college, career and military readiness; however, several grades and student groups showed improvements on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test in 2023, according to new district data presented at a Feb. 15 board of trustees meeting. The lowered performance in college, career and military readiness was impacted by the pandemic as students took classes online and found Advanced Placement courses more challenging, said Emily Gray, LISD senior coordinator of K-12 measures. view article arw

ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – The Ector County ISD Children’s Center at Zavala Elementary recently earned the Four-Star Texas Rising Star certification from the Texas Workforce Commission. The Texas Rising Star program certifies licensed childcare centers throughout the state on a scale of two to four stars, with the Four Star rating being the highest designation. “I am extremely proud of the effort of the staff at the ECISD Childcare Center. The team went the extra mile to meet the criteria and demonstrate to the appraisers they are serving families at a Four-Star level. We are one of only three Texas Rising Star Four-star childcare centers in this area. We are making an IMPACT,” said Assistant Superintendent for Student and School Support Alicia Syverson. view article arw

Georgetown ISD students saw small growth in scores on the most recent administration of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, the latest academic performance report shows.  In the latest Texas Academic Performance Report presented to the Georgetown community, students showed overall growth across several areas covered in the exam:Reading, grades 3-8: 2% increase in average scores  Math, grades 3-8: 5% increase in average scores  End-of-course English exams: 9% increase  End-of-course math exams: 10% increase  End-of-course science exams: 7% increase  End-of-course social studies exams: 6% increase view article arw

CONROE, TX -- Conroe ISD earned the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) 2024 Award of Excellence in Financial Management for a second-consecutive year, which was presented at TASBO’s annual conference Wednesday. The District was one of only 32 to qualify for the distinction, given annually since 2020 to Texas school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and education services centers that demonstrate professional standards, best practices, and innovations in the area of financial management and reporting. view article arw

Only 7, he’s HISD’s c-h-a-m-p

February 2608:30 AM
 

Only 7, he’s HISD’s c-h-a-m-p The district’s youngest ever spelling bee winner is just getting started By Sam González Kelly STAFF WRITER Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Zachary Teoh, 7, a first-grader at River Oaks Elementary School, finished first at the Houston ISD spelling bee earlier this month. view article arw

By next school year, the Houston Independent School District will have new leaders, but little is known yet about what exactly this will mean for students, staff and parents in the district. State Education Commissioner Mike Morath said Wednesday that he will appoint a board of managers to temporarily replace the locally elected Houston ISD board of trustees. This comes after years of scrutiny of the district by the Texas Education Agency because of repeated low student performance at Phillis Wheatley High School and allegations of misconduct by previous trustees. The board of managers would be in charge of the school board’s duties, which include approving a school budget and tax rate and setting district policies in areas like school safety and instruction, as allowed under state and federal laws. view article arw

SAN ANTONIO - It's a big change. Several key subjects in the STAAR test- like reading and writing skills- will be graded under a new system moving forward. The Texas Education Agency announced the change in December -- explaining that they will be grading constructed and extended constructed response questions with their automated scoring engine, or ASE. "It has access to a vast database. And it's very good at memorizing rules for punctuation and grammar." Here's an example of a constructed response question [graphic] students are then required to fill in the answer to that question in the space below. view article arw

The transition at the Waco-area school district will shed light on how the TEA returns control after a takeover. The state is currently overseeing Houston and La Joya ISDs.  The Texas Education Agency has begun the process of handing back local control to the Marlin Independent School District after seven years of state oversight.  The state first took over the district in 2017 and appointed a board of managers to replace the district’s board of trustees following five consecutive years of failing grades in the state’s accountability rating system. State oversight was extended in 2019 due to a lack of improvement. view article arw

Nearly a year into the state takeover, appointed Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles says he has uncovered long-standing inefficiencies, wasteful spending and redundancies that he plans to fix to free up money to support his school reforms without drawing down district savings. The superintendent said the plan unveiled Tuesday will support the addition of over 100 schools to his New Education System next year, paying for higher salaries and other elements of his controversial reform program. Though Miles did not give an estimate of how much the cuts will save or how much the expansion will cost, he promised his planned corrections would keep the district’s rainy-day fund above $850 million. view article arw

Gateway College Preparatory School may be able to enroll more students next school year with the opening of a high school annex building. In August, the Georgetown charter school will open a $7.4 million high school annex with 15 classrooms and a special education wing. The project will also add more parking lots. view article arw

In a Tuesday morning press conference, state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles vowed to address systemic inefficiencies across Houston ISD. For the first time since the summer, he also addressed overstated cuts to the Central Office. view article arw

Tracy Smith sees her class as “adding back some fibers that were taken out of the cloth of American history.” Smith teaches African American studies at Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy — a Dallas Independent School District campus named for the first Black woman to serve on the school board. Her students analyze art from the Harlem Renaissance, study historically Black colleges and contemplate their roots. Ariah Barnes, 17, said the class opened her mind. view article arw

Cutting Off Qatar

February 2008:30 AM
 

he Texas A&M system Board of Regents voted last Thursday to close their branch campus in Doha, Qatar. No incoming class will be admitted for this fall, according to a system spokesperson, and the campus will cease operations by 2028. The decision comes just three years after Texas A&M renewed its 10-year contract with the Qatar Foundation, a state-sponsored nonprofit that partners with many international universities to operate satellite campuses in the Persian Gulf country. There was no public discussion of the issue at the board meeting; the vote for closure was introduced and finalized in less than a minute. It was an abrupt and unceremonious end to a 21-year partnership worth hundreds of millions of dollars—and, some say, a harbinger of future challenges for international branch campuses in a politically charged environment. view article arw

Director of Communications Rosemary Gladden said that the new EAC will be utilized in an ongoing format to form considerations around education-related topics. “Our committee will have a broad range of stakeholders to ensure representation of multiple perspectives,” Gladden said. view article arw

Regarding “HISD names 19 campuses joining New Education System for 2024-25 school year after opting in,” (Feb. 9): One of the most important things we can give our children is an education: the tools to become all they can be. Right now, Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles is insisting that he can create those opportunities by micromanaging each classroom and every minute of instruction time. He is wrong. I have been teaching for 50 years, first in public schools and then in private ones. I have won awards for my work. I cannot count the thank-yous and the expressions of gratitude I have received from my students. view article arw

The growth around the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been significant over the last decade. With urban sprawl, there are fewer farms. However, one school district just outside the city is determined to keep kids connected to agriculture. view article arw

Texas students’ written responses on the STAAR test will most likely be scored by a computer, rather than a person. Some education leaders are confused by the change and question how using this technology to assess essays will impact students and teachers. State officials say this system is not the same as the generative artificial intelligence that powers programs like ChatGPT, but a tool with narrow abilities that can improve scoring efficiency.  The Texas Education Agency quietly rolled out a new model for evaluating student answers on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, in December. Roughly three-quarters of written responses are scored by an “automated scoring engine.”  Officials emphasized that these engines don’t learn beyond a single question and are programmed to emulate how humans would score an essay. The computer determines how to assess written answers after analyzing thousands of students’ responses that were previously scored by people. view article arw

AUSTIN, TX - February 12, 2024 – The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has notified the Marlin Independent School District (MISD) that the transition of district governance from the appointed Board of Managers to the elected Board of Trustees has been initiated. As part of the transition process, two elected Board of Trustee members will reassume their governance authority and become part of the Board of Managers. In a letter to Marlin ISD Superintendent Dr. Darryl Henson, members of the current MISD Board of Managers, and elected Board of Trustees, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath selected Billy Johnson and Rosalyn Dimerson as the first two elected trustees to join the Board. Johnson and Dimerson will join the three-member Board of Managers to create a five-member governing board. “This transition signifies an important milestone for Marlin ISD,” Commissioner Morath said. “Through diligent oversight and the collaboration between the Board of Managers and Superintendent Henson, MISD has made substantial improvements in both academics and governance. I am confident the governing body of Marlin ISD will continue to propel the district forward and allow for a successful resumption of duties for the elected trustees.” view article arw

The Borger Independent School District (ISD) voted unanimously Thursday to move forward on consolidating the Spring Creek If voters approve, the effective date for the consolidation would be July 1, 2024. The facilities and equipment of Spring Creek ISD will become the property and be maintained by Borger ISD. ISD into its school system. For the measure to move forward, most voters from both school districts must approve the consolidation in an election to be conducted May 4. view article arw

In Fort Worth, it’s pink slips for staff. In Irving, they’re shutting down a school. Librarians in Keller ISD will have to split time between multiple campuses, even affluent Carroll ISD in Southlake says they’re facing a substantial loss. Public school districts in North Texas saying they can’t pay their bills with the amount of money they’re getting from the state of Texas. "Well, I never liked to be told I told you so. So I'm not going to do and I told you," said Stephanie Elizalde, Superintendent, Dallas ISD But she did tell us, all last year, that the money wasn’t enough to keep up with inflation, wasn’t enough to handle all the mandates schools are being forced to pull off. "We certainly saw this coming. We were reading the tea leaves. And so we started to make cuts in advance," she said. view article arw

Texas students’ written responses on the STAAR test will most likely be scored by a computer, rather than a person. Some education leaders are confused by the change and question how using this technology to assess essays will impact students and teachers. State officials say this system is not the same as the generative artificial intelligence that powers programs like ChatGPT, but a tool with narrow abilities that can improve scoring efficiency. view article arw

WINONA, Texas (KETK) – Winona Middle School is one of five campuses nationwide and the only campus in Texas receiving a $10,000 award for excellence in teaching. Nacogdoches Public Library given state award for excellence The principal spoke with KETK about why their school was selected, learning it took a shocking amount of change and improvement for this campus to be noticed nationally. “It means so much to us that our hard work is being recognized even at the national level,” said principal Johnny Walker. view article arw

The National Student Support Accelerator is working with Stanford University to see how well artificial intelligence works with high-dose tutoring. Ector County ISD is the guinea pig for the project. The purpose of the National Student Support Accelerator is to provide wider access to high-impact tutoring and other resources that will help students accelerate through their learning journeys, Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Lilia Nanez said. ECISD has been using Air Tutors and FEV Tutors for about three years. It began after the effects of COVID on student learning were revealed. About 3,000 students are currently being provided with high-dose tutoring. FEV is now trying out an artificial intelligence feature that gives tutors different options on how to respond to student difficulties. view article arw

Uloma Achinanya of Margaret Long Wisdom High School in Houston receives national recognition for pioneering innovative classroom strategies while driving high expectations and student achievement. NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Curriculum Associates has named Uloma Achinanya of Margaret Long Wisdom High School in Houston, Texas to its 2024 class of Extraordinary Educators, an annual program that celebrates and connects exemplary teachers in Grades K–8 from around the country. Selected from hundreds of nominations, Achinanya is among the 32 educators from 19 states and the District of Columbia who exhibit best-in-class use of i-Ready®, i-Ready Classroom Mathematics, and/or Ready®. Most importantly, Achinanya has also promoted growth and achievement through formal assessments, pioneered innovative engagement tactics, served as a steward for high expectations and student achievement, and created equitable environments for her students. view article arw

Austin’s public school system has cleared a major hurdle in its goal to keep control of its special education services. At its meeting on Feb. 8, the board of trustees announced that the district has cleared the backlog in evaluations for students requesting the services, the problem that caused the state to threaten to take over the district’s special ed department last year. view article arw

MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Midland ISD is continuing its efforts to expand the Education and Training program, equipping high school students with skills and certifications necessary to begin a career in teaching. 85 total students from Midland High, Legacy High, and Coleman High Schools are currently participating in the program, including 50 upper-level students. Juniors and seniors in the program can gain hands-on experience by visiting one of five elementary schools, three days a week, to observe and assist in classrooms and teach group lessons. view article arw