LIST: Houston ISD announces 19 additional campuses joining the New Education System next year

HOUSTON – Houston Independent School District state-appointed superintendent Mike Miles announced Friday the additional 19 campuses that will be added to the district’s New Education System model Friday afternoon.

• ORIGINAL STORY: HISD adding up to 40 failing schools to New Education System next year

In January, Miles released the district’s 2022-2023 annual school ratings and announced that 40 additional D and F-rated campuses would be added to the NES model next academic year.

Here’s the following list of schools that were recently added:

• Austin High School
• Bell Elementary School
• Deady Middle School
• Foster Elementary School
• Frost Elementary School
• Gross Elementary School
• Jefferson Elementary School
• Ketelsen Elementary School
• Marshall Middle School
• Montgomery Elementary School
• Navarro Middle School
• Neff Elementary School
• Peterson Elementary School
• Reynolds Elementary School
• Ross Elementary School
• Sanchez Elementary School
• Southmayd Elementary School
• Tinsley Elementary School
• Valley West Elementary School

These are the five schools that did not accept NES status:

• Braeburn Elementary School
• Emerson Elementary School
• Jean Hines Caldwell Elementary School
• Love Elementary School
• Shearn Elementary School

LIST: The 40 Schools That Will Join the NES Model In 2024-2025

Among those 40 schools, he also said an additional 24 high D-rated schools had the option to become NES campuses.

Schools Eligible for NES Consideration

• SEE MORE: Houston ISD to start 2024-2025 school year 2 weeks early; board approves new academic calendar

Houston ISD has 35 A-rated schools, 58 B-rated schools, 52 C-rated schools, 65 D-rated schools and 58 F-rated schools.

Miles said although the data was collected before he was appointed superintendent last year, the district used it to determine which schools it would add to the NES model in the fall of 2024, which includes six schools that received a low D-rating (60-64) and 20 schools that received an F-rating (59 or below) that are not already NES or NES-aligned campuses.

• SEE ALSO: Houston ISD asking for feedback on 2024-2025 school calendar options

NES was launched at 28 underperforming campuses in the fall of 2023, and in addition, 57 schools asked to be included in the NES model for the 2023-2024 academic school year. Those 57 schools are known as NES-aligned campuses. In the coming school year, Miles said the district will no longer have a distinction between NES and NES-aligned schools -- there will only be two kinds of campuses NES and non-NES.

Teachers who are currently at the campuses that will take on the NES model in the fall, according to Miles, will not have to re-apply for their jobs like teachers did this school year, but he said they will go through a “proficiency screening.”

“In all 85 (NES campuses), plus up to 40 schools, we will do a proficiency screening,” Miles said. “So, we are going to look at their mid-year data, their spot observations, we’re going to look at their professionalism and teamwork, and we’re going to determine where on the scale they fall; and they have to be proficient or higher to stay. If they are ‘progressing 2,’ almost proficient, then that’ll be up to the principal whether they keep them or not.”

The state-appointed superintendent said teachers who are not deemed proficient or progressing 2, will have to “find a job in the rest of the district (non-NES campuses) until their evaluation comes out.”

• SEE ALSO: Houston ISD officially becomes District of Innovation

“If you are evaluated as ‘unsatisfied’ in the district, you will not have a job in the district next year,” Miles said.

Despite the negative feedback regarding the NES model, Miles said data shows the system is working for the district.

“The combination of data and the direct observation and listening to executive directors and principals, I can say it’s going well,” Miles said. “We put out several times that the discipline issues in the district are down tremendously, and the NES school in particular are down a lot. Teacher absentees are down. We had a decrease of 53% in high absenteeism for teachers, so more teachers are coming to work.”

MORE COVERAGE ON HOUSTON ISD SINCE THE STATE TAKEOVER:

• Houston ISD’s number of D and F-rated schools much higher than in past years, Superintendent Miles says
• HISD adds 57 schools to the New Education System (NES) initiative aimed to help transform campuses
• First look inside Fleming Middle School, the HISD campus KPRC 2 will spend a year chronicling
• ‘I don’t like that 10-minute timer’: Students express concerns with NES Model
• HISD Superintendent Mike Miles answers questions in first community meeting
• HISD shares list of principals chosen for 28 ‘priority schools’ under new reform program
• Who is Mike Miles? Texas Education Agency picks Houston ISD superintendent, commencing state takeover
• Focus on Fleming: HISD looks to reduce achievement gap between students
• Focus on Fleming Middle School: What campus life is like under state takeover
• ‘I want to make an impact’: Fleming MS principal says he’s happy to be part of changes implemented at his school