This post originally appeared at https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2023/08/28/new-houston-school-superintendent-pushes-substantive-change/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-houston-school-superintendent-pushes-substantive-change

Doing things the same way will get the same results. Good for him for forcing meaningful changes. I hope he will measure and adjust as needed.

One of Miles’ boldest projects has been a major restructuring of 28 underperforming schools, many of which are located in lower-income neighborhoods. Their teachers must now follow a centrally scripted curriculum, with in-classroom cameras monitoring their performance and pay based largely on standardized test scores.

Miles, who developed these ideas as CEO of a charter school network, has said he wants to eventually expand his “New Education System” to 150 of the district’s 274 schools, whose nearly 200,000 students are more than 80% Latino and Black.

Miles also has disbanded a team that supported students with autism, although his staff says special education services will continue as part of a restructuring, and filled some vacancies with uncertified teachers.

His most criticized change is transforming libraries at dozens of underperforming schools into “team centers” where students will get extra help and where those who misbehave will be disciplined, watching lessons on Zoom rather than disrupting their classrooms.