Houston ISD’s new system for evaluating its roughly 11,000 teachers looks similar to its current one, maintaining a large emphasis on classroom observations and student test scores, but without a controversial student survey component that had been under consideration, according to draft documents released by the district Thursday.
Under the plans, the bulk of most teachers’ yearly ratings would come from their scores on about 10 to 20 brief classroom observations by campus administrators and how much their students’ performance improves on standardized tests. Additionally, a smaller share of points would be based on teachers’ lesson planning, their contributions to campus culture and a shared school-wide score related to how well staff fulfill a list of annual campus goals.
HISD’s state-appointed school board is scheduled to vote on the evaluation system in March, said Deputy Chief of Academics Alyssa Murray Rocha, who helped design the plan.
Board members have generally supported academic and labor proposals made by HISD’s state-appointed superintendent, Mike Miles. Miles’ critics, including teachers unions and community advocates, have opposed his classroom strategies, often describing them as “drill and kill” methods that reduce teachers’ capacity to encourage deep thinking with class discussions or projects.
If approved, the system would go into effect next school year and would become a main factor in determining some teachers’ level of pay in 2026-27 on a scale that ranges from $62,000 to $92,000 annually, according to draft plans HISD shared with the Houston Landing. HISD leaders have not released details of the potential 2026-27 pay plan. Currently, teacher pay is largely determined by an educator’s years of experience, the subject they teach and which school they work at.
The new teacher evaluation comes after months of incorporating staff and community input into the plans, Rocha said. Her team required that the bulk of the evaluation be based on classroom observation and student test scores, but used months of feedback from teachers, principals, school-based committees and a district advisory group to decide what would make up the rest of the scores.
After hearing hesitation from teachers over whether part of their ratings should come from student surveys, they scrapped that component, which would have made up between 5 percent and 15 percent of the total scores, Rocha said.
“We’ve really intentionally asked for feedback … and made decisions based on what people said,” Rocha said. “I want teachers to be excited about this. I know that evaluation comes with fear and that’s totally natural, (but) we’re committed to making sure we continue to celebrate all teachers.”
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If HISD moves forward with a pay-for-performance plan, teachers at overhauled schools would continue to be compensated as they currently are and teachers at the other half of schools in the district would be placed on the $62,000 to $92,000 scale based on how they score on their evaluations.
Lori Lambropoulos, principal at HISD’s Energy Institute High School, is one of roughly 20 principals who have met regularly with HISD over the past several months to give input on the teacher evaluation. Her school operates on a project-based learning model with less formal classroom instruction than other campuses, and does not follow Miles’ overhaul model. Up to now, her teachers have not been eligible for boosts in their pay, but with the possible changes, she has seen staff get more excited.
“I’ve noticed, some of my teachers who I might have been giving feedback to it seems like for years, they’re now — and especially because … they know there could be potential compensation tied to this — they’re getting a little bit more on board and inspired,” Lambropoulos said.
But Naomi Doyle-Madrid, an HISD parent and member of a district advisory group that reviewed the evaluation plans, said she’s concerned the new ratings won’t give teachers the power to be creative with their lessons. One of her sons used to enjoy open-ended writing prompts, but those have ended under the instructional guidelines brought by Miles, she said. Doyle-Madrid doesn’t expect that to change with the new evaluation system.
“Critical thinking, analysis, comprehension, reading comprehension is going by the wayside when you’re forcing kids into these four-minute intervals of activity,” Doyle-Madrid said. “We’re rushing kids through a process and they’re not able to really think through and discuss and have a more effective outcome.”
See here for the previous update, from September 2023 after the first attempt at a custom teacher evaluation system was stopped by a judge following a lawsuit by the Houston Federation of Teachers. The draft document and a brief summary of what’s in it are in the story, so read on for more. It sounds like this time, HISD actually engaged with teachers and the community and listened to their feedback, which is a rare occurrence and reason for some optimism. I’ll wait to see what the reaction from teachers is on this, but at first glance it seems reasonable. If so, that’s a big step forward.