Some good news we could all use.
One year into Achieve 180, early results show marked improvement at many of the district’s chronically underperforming schools. After years of falling behind academically, the 42 schools covered under HISD’s targeted improvement plan reported, on average, about twice as much academic growth as students across the state and district, according to preliminary state standardized test scores released in recent weeks.
In interviews and presentations over the past month, HISD administrators heralded the early results as evidence the district is raising achievement in schools that long have ranked among the worst in the region. Several of those schools have drawn additional scrutiny as the district faces potentially major sanctions — either a state takeover of HISD’s locally elected school board or forced campus closures — if they do not immediately improve.
HISD did not earn an A-plus across the board — English test scores at its longest-struggling high schools barely moved, and parts of the Achieve 180 plan fell flatter than expected — but the results were enough to raise spirits in a district besieged by the threat of sanctions tied to poor academic performance.
“Any time you see growth in any one of our campuses, you’re happy,” said Erick Pruitt, HISD’s area superintendent over 32 of its 42 Achieve 180 schools. “However, our team is not satisfied with the growth.”
[…]
CJ Rodgers, the principal of a Chicago Public Schools turnaround campus affiliated with the Academy For Urban Leadership, a nonprofit that helps operate low-performing schools in the city, said it is common for test scores to rise immediately when chronically struggling campuses receive intensive support.
“We spent the entire first year really re-establishing routines, how we want to do school, and that goes from the students to staff to lunch room to custodians to teachers,” Rodgers said. “I think the difficult part about this work is how you sustain it.”
HISD leaders have said they want Achieve 180 to last at least three years, and the district’s proposed budget included an additional $3 million for the plan this year. Trustees rejected the budget proposal on June 14, though they are expected to vote on a revised proposal this week.
However, it also is possible Achieve 180 gets short-circuited in the coming months. Under a law passed in 2015, four of HISD’s longest-struggling schools must all meet state academic standard this year to avoid the Texas Education Agency replacing HISD’s school board or closing still-failing campuses.
TEA leaders have not committed to which sanction they would impose, but their public comments suggest replacing the school board is more likely. New trustees could decide to hire a new superintendent who scraps some or all of Achieve 180.
I would hope that whatever happens with the TEA, Achieve 180 is allowed to continue. Seems to me that if a program like this can get this kind of result at long-struggling campuses, the state would find it in its interest to help fund similar programs elsewhere. Maybe someone should ask Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick about that. Be that as it may, I’m glad to see the good results, and I hope we are all committed to seeing them continue. In the end, it’s the success of the students that really matters.