This teacher in Houston reviews what is happening in HISD schools.
Anyone know the HISD superintendent Terry Grier?
The teacher’s evaluation:
Another transplanted North Carolina education experience. I teach in Texas in the largest school district that has inherited one of North Carolina’s education mediums, T. Grier. In his ready, shoot, aim masterplan, all teachers are graded on the growth of their students on a year to year basis, as the statistical junkies decide that growth will be measured on EVAAS- a nonpeer reviewed performance analyis program. This is in addition to a whole slew of other tests. We personally ran into an issue where our social studies students were passing 95% of the tests or higher provided by the State, but when the results did not grow past 95% the teachers were penalized! There is no average of, say, three years performance, or a plateau of achievement where the grading stops, but a slap for high achievement – the District refused to reconsider our highly validated protests.
Teachers were baited with the prospect of “bonus” money, and assumed we were like pipe salepersons who would do more for a bigger payday. A teacher might earn up to $7,000…great, but there have also not been any raises for over 4 years. The bonus money available has been reduced by half, so the District reduced the teachers who could obtain a bonus – no senior level teachers, art, electives, nor foreign language because??? those subjects do NOT have to be tested. In our case, high performance ran into an effective ceiling. So now, bonus money has shrunk, teachers salaries have been reduced, a bait and switch incentive atmosphere has been created. Incentives in business are great, this is not business. Teachers do not get to select inputs and the inputs change, perhaps dramatically, year to year; or we average over 37 kids in a class compared to 30, but that should’nt really effect performance. It defies good science to measure unlike test groups.
Morale in our District is terrible, particularly with the school administrators who cringe when the headquarters decides on some new hoop teachers and students need to jump through. For example, we are supposed to drop students into category buckets within the first month so we can establish their goals…what sense does that make? who knows kids after a month? and then the system crashed, or dropped data or just didn’t work. Nobody holds senior administration accountable.
So fair is fair, how are Grier and the District grading themselves in the Broad competition they flaunt? 1) on the basis of how many kids take the SAT 2) how many kids take Advanced Placement courses and 3) how many more kids graduate. Fine as it goes, but a) the District paid for the SAT for all 10th graders b) it pays for any AP tests and recruited teachers and kids who were completely unprepared for this incredibly rigorous course load (SpEd kids were enrolled in some cases!) and c) created an on-line self paced Grad Lab program that is never backstopped for performance nor any real check on comprehension. There are no effective teacher unions in Texas (no strike state), so no one can blame that factor on Texas’ dismal performance of Houston’s. Maybe it is the super? From North Carolina Greenboro, then San Diego…any comments from other teachers who taught under T. Grier and dealt with the North Carolina experience?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I left HISD for this very reason. I am in a different district now, but still know others who are stuck. The pressure that my school was under to perform was so intense it almost ended my marriage, because the strain I was under bled in to every other facet of my life. It was either leave the district (and students and teachers that I had a VERY strong bond with) or leave my marriage. Though I miss the teachers and students I left, I made the better decision for me.
I have no experience with Terry Grier, but I left teaching when Eric Smith, the former superintendent of Charlotte Mecklinberg Public Schools, came to my district. Not only were teachers denied, yet again, a cost-of-living increase, but Dr. Smith implemented these same AP/SAT/IB programs, instituted policies that either required (or highly encouraged) teachers to pay their own way to become AP-certified, and pretty much re-directed the county’s education budget toward College Board programs.
At the time, he was an officer on the Board of Directors at College Board, which was making a lot of money from all of this and no one seemed to notice this blatant conflict of interest.
Terry Grier was superintendent in Sacramento, CA some time ago. I don’t think he stayed very long (and may have been asked to leave). I only remember that he wanted kids to wear uniforms and he supported the concept of having a Waldorf inspired elementary school program (advocated by district teachers and parents). Today the one campus program serves grades K-8 and there is a small Waldorf inspired high school. Both schools are regular district schools (not charters) whose students choose to attend.
Oh yes, the teachers in San Diego do not have fond memories of his top-down style and tangled with SDEA regarding merit pay, often creating a teachers vs kids atmosphere by pitting both against each other. He focused largely on drop out rates.
There are number of issues here that do need clarification and correction though I agree with the spirit of the post. Much of the morale issue has to do with changes imposed by the Texas Legislature, Texas Education Agency and the new standardized testing regime that began to be rolled out last year, not to mention the disastrous economic downturn and Draconian budget cuts. Context is key as in the Spring of 2011 nearly 1,000 faculty and staff were laid off including my spouse. HISD is also caught up in the “reform” movement and has adopted a number of elements that do cause conflict and confusion.
As is usual, the new testing law was vaguely written and much punting went on down to the district and campus level. Any new testing program causes commotion, but the new STAAR End of Course caused sheer panic as no one at any level seemed to be able provide any accurate information though HISD continually held meeting after meeting stating how the new test was going to be significantly harder than the TAKS which is was replacing. “The old TAKS Commended will barely be passing under STAAR.” Not quite the case. In addition many subjects that have never been tested were going to be tested.
In many ways, HISD pioneered the Value Added Model of teacher accountability and incentives based on that curiosity through its ASPIRE program. The reduction was not half though the budget dilema did cause a reduction. Many feared there would no funds at all, but the State and HISD did follow through.
I also disagree with the post that non-core teachers were not eligible as in fact they are eligible for campus based awards. The reduction was not half though the budget dilema did cause a reduction. Some people received a few hundred dollars based on that alone. In my case, I received none according to the matrix used even though I had some of the highest passing rates on new STAAR benchmark tests, AP exams and the old TAKS tests. I was also caught in the district wide drop in 6th and 10th grade scores that has persisted for years for unknown reasons.
However, HISD publicly acknowledged that the system was not perfect , delayed disbursement of the awards pending a recalculation to try to account for various flaws. However, many see the program as seriously flawed and have left or would like to . Seeing colleagues receive thousands when you receive none is a disincentive. As many know, the Value Added system is flawed and as long as HISD persists in using it for bonuses and now has built it into the new Appraisal system, more are likely to leave voluntarily or be misidentified as “ineffective”.
The new appraisal system is the brain child of TNTP through HISD’s Effective Teacher Initiative partly funded by the Gates Foundation as I understand and it was rolled out last year just as the new STAAR was just as the entire district was adjusting to the new tighter budget landscape. Teachers are now required to provide far more documentation from far more sources and to have far more people observing their classes. More meetings were required as well about the system. Add that to the testing and everything else and real conversations about teaching and leaning were pushed aside. The new system is elaborate and ranks teachers from 1-4 in numerous categories for an overall ranking of ineffective to highly effective.
When you put all of the above together, it make for a confusing and confounding educational landscape. The opportunity for improvement is in change management. Since HISD could do nothing about the STAAR implementation timeline, it should have delayed the new Appraisal system until adjustments could be made to the new regimen especially in light of the massive cuts the year before. The various items above do not validate each other as a teacher can have great STAAR scores, low or negative EVAAS scores, decent AP scores and still be ranked ineffective or effective at best. That would be me and I am considering leaving HISD and public education all together.
I do applaud Dr. Grier and the HISD Board for passing a resolution last May that over 800 school districts have passed asking the Leg and TEA to reduce standardized testing, but the frenzied atmosphere created at the school level and the low morale is abysmal. Thoughtful responses to education reform are laid aside in a
self serving grab for awards based on the worst measurements and indicators such as the Broad Prize, US News, Washington Post and others. Seems that self promotion is the priority over teaching and learning.
You seem very informed. Please comment on the perceptions of teachers in HISD in terms of EVAAS. Supposedly EVAAS includes no covariates to account for SES status and other important student background data like other VAM models do. Beardsely slammed EVAAS in their report from epaa.
Have teachers seen that report and watched the accompanying video?
Thanks for an interesting and insightful post.
All the teachers that I know are mystified by EVAAS as no one can explain it adequately. A colleague of mine was an actuary and could not fathom it. EVAAS has been a part of the incentive system for some years and when the district began to send administrators out to spread the word that it was now going to be incorporated into the new appraisal system, the leaders could not clarify any more than my friend the actuary.
The report was circulated at the end of Spring as was the video. It was entertaining if not sad and enraging.
Any teacher worth their salt and with a few years experience can tell you that classes and cohorts have their personalities and abilities. This is especially true in HISD where choice has been around for some time. My testing results have varied over the years. My AP results doubled this year over last years. I did make some adjustments but not that I could identify any variable that would explain that increase. My test did see increases over last year nation-wide though not a doubling. Must have been the cohort.
HISD is a substandard district of teachers lured in by a downward economy. The main problem is the management at the campuses.
I’ve worked there as a teacher and its not at all about achievement , its about test scores. If you want your child educated…pay for private school, and if you can’t teach them at home or get a pet.
Recent voice surveys are begin tampered with at Furr High School. Students are begin brought in to the office to complete them. Then after being read by administrators they are brought back in and “convinced” into changing their answers. How is this an anonymous survey HISD?
Well, teachers were told that taking them was part of the school accountability,so if they are tracking which teachers are taking them, I question the anonymity as well!