Sweat beads on Houston ISD eighth-grader Roberto Hernández’s forehead as he walks to the corner store for a bottle of water after soccer practice. The late afternoon sun stretches his shadow far across the grass.
Reflecting, Roberto ticks off the ways his campus, Fondren Middle School, has changed this year: Students take short quizzes each day in most classes, the library that used to have beanbags is now filled with desks, and core classes assign half an hour of worksheets after the day’s main lesson.
Those are new policies HISD Superintendent Mike Miles has implemented this year at 85 schools, including Fondren Middle, as part of a district overhaul meant to improve academics. Next year, the model will include 130 schools — roughly half the district.
Under the new structure, Roberto says he feels like he’s learning. The teaching methods are tiring, but rigorous, he says. However, he’s concerned for some of his classmates, who he says often get frustrated and tune out. To avoid the extra worksheets given to students deemed ready for advanced content, they intentionally flunk the daily quizzes, Roberto says.
Why we wrote this story
- HISD Superintendent Mike Miles has described his district overhaul as the biggest school reform effort in modern history. We wanted to hear how it’s going from the students who are living the changes each day.
- Students’ descriptions point to a disconnect between the classroom rules Miles has mandated and the way lessons tend to play out in practice.
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Other students, in rooms designated for quiet, independent work, sneak screen time without adults seeming to notice.
“Most of the time, kids just focus on their phones; they don’t even want to do the work,” Roberto says. “When teachers are not around, when they’re not looking, they just get on their phones or play games. … There’s no one who’s paying attention to them.”
Roberto is one of tens of thousands of HISD students who have experienced Miles’ controversial “New Education System” in real time this year, and one of more than 180,000 attending Texas’ largest district during a historic period of state intervention.
With the better part of the school year in the books, the Houston Landing interviewed 14 HISD teens from 12 different schools — including five overhauled campuses — over the last three weeks to hear their first-hand accounts of the changes. The Landing published a similar report in November . This update features mostly new voices, but includes some overlap.
Together, the students’ perspectives paint a portrait of daily life in HISD schools under Miles’ leadership, now that campuses have had time to adjust to the revamp and students have begun to settle into what some called the “new normal.”
Lorgi Martinez, senior, Sterling High School: Fights are still happening at my school. I don’t think there’s really been much change. I just think it’s been more aggravation from students and teachers and really just frustration.
Christianna Thomas, sophomore, Heights High School: If the bell rings and you’re not in the classroom, you have to go to the auditorium — and we have a pretty big school, so it’s a walk … sit in the auditorium, wait until they let your row go, get a paper, wait like 10 minutes and then you get released back to class. … So, it just wastes so much class time. My friend got (back to class) with 15 minutes left of class because, one day, there were so many kids that were late that it took her so long.
Alexander Hernandez, senior, Energy Institute High School: A lot of the new policies, I guess people just stopped caring. … There’s been a lot less care and stress about the new administration. There’s not a lot of follow through on the things like the cellphones or the HISD-approved teaching strategies and things like that.
Roberto Hernández, eighth grade, Fondren Middle School: We have a lot more (staff). … A lot of them make sure that when we transition to the next class, we have to be at level zero (silent) in the hallway. If we’re not, then that’s detention. It definitely feels more secure, but at the same time, it’s annoying the fact that they just keep watching over us, over and over again.
Teaching the takeover
Miles’ changes to HISD quickly became one of the largest news stories in Houston after his appointment. Some students have attempted to make sense of the issue in their classes and extracurriculars.
In one case, Bellaire High School senior and school newspaper managing editor Ariana Castañeda attempted to pursue stories related to educational changes under Miles. However, campus leadership would decline to answer student journalists’ questions, she said, which had never happened in years past.
In another instance, High School for Law and Justice senior Keira Bradley said one of her teachers assigned a project about the Texas Education Agency’s intervention in HISD. The assignment required a six-slide PowerPoint on the takeover, according to a document Bradley provided the Landing.
Ariana Castañeda, senior, Bellaire High School: In our junior year, last year, (our principal) wasn’t really reluctant to speak on policies that he was hoping to implement or changes that he was hoping to bring to Bellaire. Now, because a lot of what we’re covering, … it’s the district’s policies that are being implemented throughout the school, he hasn’t really been super receptive to answer our questions or emails.
Keira Bradley, senior, High School for Law and Justice: We did a project on the TEA takeover and the requirements were: three things that you find good about TEA, three things that you find bad about TEA and then what is your opinion on TEA. So, they’re making a conscious effort to educate us on what’s going on. My economics teacher was encouraging us that, if we don’t like something, then we need to be attending these (school board) meetings and we need to be speaking out about it so that we can make a change for the students that come after us.
Asher Lehrer-Small covers education for the Landing and would love to hear your tips, questions and story ideas about Houston ISD. Reach him at asher@houstonlanding.org .
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