Houston Independent School District: 'Superintendent Miles is previewing the new teacher evaluation system'

As part of plans to revitalize the Houston school system, Superintendent F. Mike Miles is sharing information about teacher evaluation at the New Education System (NES) Schools in the district and would like public input. On July 25, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) posted on Facebook about the opportunity to preview teacher evaluation systems and give input, asking parents to fill out a survey if they've received one from their principal.

Miles is previewing the new teacher evaluation system for NES and NESA (New Education System Aligned) campuses and is seeking input from the teachers, families and surrogate decision-making committees at NES and NESA campuses. If you get a survey from your principal, please share your thoughts.

The Texas Education Agency controls the HISD, as of March 2023, and as part of that change, Miles was installed as the superintendent. He previously worked in Dallas, according to his official biography, and is the founder and CEO of Third Future Schools, which is touted as a “school transformation system.”

It is under that model that he is reshaping Houston Independent School District, and that includes teacher evaluations. There will be two systems: one for NES and NESA schools and one for campuses that are not tied to the education system (NES) program.

The HISD webpage for these changes explains: “Teacher evaluations must reflect the needs and priorities of HISD's students and be deeply connected to professional development, compensation, continuous improvement, recruitment and retention and the development of a high-performance community of educators. No district can significantly improve academic achievement or student success if it does not ensure effective instruction is happening in every classroom and if its teachers are not incentivized to continuously improve their craft. To properly support teachers and continuously improve the quality of instruction, the district and its leaders need an effective evaluation system tied to compensation.” The NES and NESA teacher evaluation system can be viewed online.

There are four main areas in the assessment of teacher effectiveness: Student achievement outcomes, which are assessment scores from state, district or national tests. Teacher performance will be determined by scores on an evaluation rubric, and spot observation will be used to assess the teacher’s quality of instruction.

Student surveys for teachers in grades 3 to 11, and a school action plan, which the district notes is a group performance metric. Teachers will be put into four categories, depending on whether students take assessments and whether they will participate in the survey. The breakdown of each teacher category’s evaluation is included in the document, on page 7.

For non-NES and -NESA schools, teachers will undergo spot evaluations, on-the-job coaching and information from student achievement data and surveys. But these teachers are evaluated in three categories: student achievement outcomes, teacher performance and school action plan. In this model, teacher performance will account for 60% of a teacher’s evaluation, while student achievement will be 25%, and the school action plan is the remaining 15%.

The teacher evaluation of non-NES or NESA schools in the district is available to view online. Feedback must be received by Monday, July 31.