HOUSTON – Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath spent time at Houston ISD for the first time since the state takeover.
He toured an elementary, middle, and high school that are following State-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ new education system model Tuesday morning. Morath says he waited until the middle of the school year to visit to give teachers time to get comfortable with the new curriculum.
KPRC 2 caught up with Morath at Kashmere High School, where he talked about his time on the campuses.
“What you can see is really a night and day difference in terms of the degree to which students are engaged in rigorous academic discussion. They are learning math both conceptually and practicing it procedurally. The reading materials with which they are engaging are robust. They are learning about the world and the arts. It was incredible, not just what you would think of as core academic rigor. I was able to see arts classes, kids doing yoga. It really was a holistic education experience with joy and love and all of the zest for life. It was great to see, and it was great to see all of the changes that happened because our kids needed to see improved academic supports,” said Morath.
Morath says he believes the NES curriculum will close achievement gaps in HISD. He says the TEA will be looking at several indicators to determine how students are learning under the new administration, including kindergarten and college readiness data, and math and reading achievement data.
Some parents, students, and teachers who’ve talked to KPRC 2 about the changes in HISD have expressed frustration about the pace and rigor of the NES. Some fear it will cause some students to fall even further behind. KPRC 2 questioned Morath about the concerns.
“If you think about this logically for just a moment and a student in middle school happens to be two grade levels behind—if all you ever do for that student is teach them the very next thing that was, in fact, two grade levels behind—that student will never catch up. You cannot create an environment where it is true for all children that they are being prepared for the American Dream—they are being prepared for success and deny them access to grade-level rigorous content. Students need to be wrestling with Shakespeare; they need to be wrestling with complex text—the complex ideas that are in those texts—the vocabulary that those texts have embedded in them. At the same time, they need what I refer to as scaffolded supports—things that work to provide them the kinds of learning objectives that they need—also to cover ground from two years ago,” said Morath.
Morath says the district will be evaluated in two years to see if HISD’s goals and exit criteria are being met to end the state takeover and return the district to elected leadership.