America’s biggest education experiment is happening in Houston. Could it change U.S. schools?

Todo cambió. Everything changed.

That’s how Arturo Monsiváis described life this year for his fifth-grade son, who attends Houston ISD’s Raul Martinez Elementary School. Teachers raced through rapid-fire lessons. Students plugged away at daily quizzes. Administrators banned children from chatting in the hallways.

In the next few years, Morath likely will begin gradually bringing some of HISD’s elected trustees back onto the school board, as outlined in state law. From there, they will decide which Miles policies to keep or dismantle.

Three of HISD’s nine elected trustees responded to interview requests for this story: Sue Deigaard, Plácido Gómez and Dani Hernandez. They said they want to see multiple years of data on the impact of Miles’ approach before solidifying their impressions.

Most said they would reverse unpopular details of Miles’ plan, such as requiring some children to carry a traffic cone to the bathroom as a hall pass, but they found early evidence of the academic impact promising.

“If I had to make a decision right now of whether to continue (the overhaul model), I would,” said Gómez, who represents parts of eastern and central HISD. “There isn’t enough data to say, ‘This definitely works,’ but there’s enough for me to want to continue on this path.”

Asher Lehrer-Small covers Houston ISD for the Landing and Danya Pérez covers diverse communities. Reach them at asher@houstonlanding.org and danya@houstonlanding.org .