New Teacher Evaluations Underway

CASE is a collective of Houstonians committed to ensuring every student within Houston Independent School District (HISD) has the opportunity to receive a high-quality education.

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Recognizing and Rewarding Most Effective Teachers

HISD has rolled out a new, innovative teacher evaluation system that aims to identify and reward its most effective teachers.

Teachers will now be evaluated on factors including professionalism, student achievement, and quality of instruction, and the results of the evaluation will determine the campuses at which certain teachers are placed. The Houston Chronicle’s full story is here.

Why it matters: As HISD stated, “Districts that are concerned about educational equity and who want to turn around academically struggling schools should place their most effective teachers with their least proficient students.” These new evaluations allow HISD to assess teacher performance and then match the best teachers with the students that need them the most.

Go deeper: The teacher evaluations rely on data gathered periodically from multiple sources throughout the school year.

What’s next: The highest-performing teachers will be eligible to teach at NES campuses, where student proficiency is lowest, but salaries are highest.

What they’re saying: “In theory, using a screening process to find high-quality teachers and place them in schools where students face particular barriers and need to be able to be on a college ready track, that makes perfect sense to me and it is in line with research.” - Toni Templeton, a senior research scientist at the University of Houston Education Research Center.

Spot Observations Improving Instruction

KPRC2 explored HISD’s new “spot observations” in its latest installment of their year-long case study of Fleming Middle School. Check out the full story here.

What are spot observations? Spot observations occur when principals briefly step into classrooms to observe and make sure high-quality instruction is taking place and students are learning their lessons. These observations are designed to provide instant constructive feedback to teachers while being minimally invasive to their classrooms.

Why it matters: Instant feedback on the quality of instruction allows teachers to know whether they are on the right track or if they need to course-correct. This in turn ensures that students are getting the best instruction possible at all times.

Go deeper: These spot observations will be a factor in teacher evaluations, which will eventually determine teacher pay and placements. By understanding how well teachers are performing, the district can place the best teachers with the highest-need students.

What they’re saying: Devin Adams, Fleming’s principal said, “One thing that the superintendent has done a really good job of is just the accountability of the quality of instruction that’s happening in the classroom, from the teacher to the leaders on the campus to my leaders. We are all held accountable for the quality of instruction that is happening to the exact same degree and/or standard.”

ICYMI: HISD Investing in Teacher Workforce

Although there is a nationwide teacher shortage, HISD is making sure its students never go without high-quality instruction. HISD recently provided $1 million in “Grow Your Own Grants” to three Texas universities to strengthen its teacher workforce pipeline. HISD’s News Blog on the program is here.

The first three universities to win the competitive grants were Texas Woman’s University, Prairie View A&M University, and Tarleton State University.

Why it matters: The grants will allow aspiring teachers to pursue bachelor’s degrees tuition-free and also cover costs for teacher certification. Participants will also be paid as full-time teaching assistants while they pursue their degrees. Eliminating financial barriers will allow many students to become teachers that otherwise may not have been able to.

By the numbers: The program will prepare and place 133 new educators in HISD by the 2025-2026 school year in the following areas:

Go deeper: This program will produce teachers for the highest-need subject areas, including early childhood, special education, and elementary reading. These positions are the most difficult to fill, which is why HISD is taking a proactive approach to make sure their students have access to teachers with these specialties.

What they’re saying: “Houston Independent School District is focused on ensuring every child has not only the teacher they need, but deserve, by investing in opportunities for school-based employees to become teachers,” said David Donaldson, founder of the National Center for Grow Your Own. “These grant awards are an efficient use of taxpayer dollars that will lead to an incredible return on investment of over 130 new and debt-free teachers.”

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