Measurement of student achievement through rigorous statewide testing has been a standard in Texas for many years. Houston schools implemented its first merit pay program for teachers in the year 2000.

Houston Schools believe the old program had too low incentives and unanimously passed the new model in January, making it the largest merit pay program in the nation. Officials believe the new program ties teacher rewards more closely to student improvement and to individual teacher efforts. Though no research has been done on the impact of such programs on improved student achievement, other programs have been tried in New York, Denver and Kentucky with varying success.

Houston business leaders, who have a stake in graduating future employees who are high achievers, support the new Houston schools’ $14.5 million program.

Houston schools teacher incentives are based on three components:

• The first component is based upon the amount of improvement of a school’s overall test scores, as compared with scores of 40 other schools across the state with similar demographics;

• The second compares student progress on the Stanford 10 Achievement Test and its Spanish equivalent to students in similar Houston schools classrooms; and

• The third component compares student progress on the statewide Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test to similar Houston schools classrooms.

About half of the 12,300 teachers in the Houston schools are eligible to receive rewards in all three categories, possibly earning a total of $3,000 each. The 305 Houston schools principals are eligible to earn as much as $6,000 each, if they have the best achieving teachers. Each of the Houston schools’ 19 executive principals and five regional superintendents are eligible for as much as $25,000.

With 210,000 children, Houston schools is the largest district in the state, and its new program isn’t without opposition.

Teachers unions are typically against teacher merit pay programs, and the Houston Federation of Teachers is no exception. The union represents 40 percent of the Houston schools teachers and believes across-the-board raises and a higher starting wage for new teachers would be more successful in raising student achievement scores. Houston schools start new teachers at $36,050 (lowest in the ten major districts in Texas), and the current Houston schools teachers’ wages are at the lowest end of the nation’s schools.

Many teachers have complained that the program bypasses arts teachers and others with subjects not covered by the testing process. The program excludes special education, preschool and kindergarten teachers, who are the backbone in improving academic achievement in children from low-income families. Additionally, many teachers believe that it forces them to teach to the testing requirements rather than focus on real academic achievement.

The new program also has opened old wounds and raised tensions over the previous merit pay program and its effect upon testing results, which laid the groundwork for a recently exposed cheating scandal. The Texas Education Agency investigated the Houston schools and other districts in 1999 due to suspicious testing results. Houston schools admitted last year that evidence of cheating had been found at four schools and testing irregularities were found at seven others. Eventually, six teachers were fired and several principals were demoted or reprimanded, leaving the city frustrated and bruised by the merit pay program and its ensuing results.

Though the Houston schools’ new teacher merit pay program sounds good in theory, it seems that in practice it is expanding the same old problems encountered with the previous program.

This information on Houston schools is brought to you by .schoolsk-12.com.

Two new achievement systems have been developed and implemented for the Houston Schools &ndash a school board monitoring system and a new appraisal system for the superintendent. The district is committed to improving student achievement, as well as earning the confidence and support of the community. The two systems set new standards for the administrative structure and systematic improvement process for higher scholastic achievement in the Houston schools.

In 2001, Houston schools instituted a Declaration of Beliefs and Visions, which defined for school employees and the community what the district stands for and where it is going. The five goals put forth in the declaration are to:

• Increase student achievement,

• Increase management efficiency,

• Bring all school facilities up to standard,

• Improve public support and confidence in the Houston schools, and

• Create a positive district culture.

The declaration determined to accomplish these goals through:

• An educational structure built upon the relationship between teacher and student,

• Decentralization and shared decision making,

• A common core of academic subjects for all students, and

• Focus upon performance, not compliance.

The two new systems for the Houston schools provide a roadmap to achieve and measure the progress of these goals. Both are detailed and objective, providing a systematic means for meaningful and quantifiable organizational improvement.

Board Monitoring System

The monitoring system is comprehensive and demanding with data-driven accountability. It requires the superintendent to submit regular reports to the trustees on key education issues. These issues are student academic progress and readiness for college, quality of teachers, and how effectively funds are used in support of student instruction.

The reports must be in a specific, standardized format for future comparison. This includes what exactly is to be reported, how it is to be reported (using easy-to-understand data and bar charts), and how often the reports are to be submitted. The board wants nothing to be left to interpretation or guesswork, believing this too often is the cause of misperceptions formed of large, urban school districts. The information is to be used by the board for monitoring purposes, as well as provided to students, parents, teachers, the community, and the news media.

Superintendent’s Performance Appraisal System

The complement to the Board Monitoring System is the new performance appraisal system for the superintendent, which is expected to drive the focus for the Houston schools from the superintendent down to the classroom teacher. The system is objective and quantifiable, allowing the board to focus their attention on the performance levels the Houston schools need to reach. It requires more in-depth reporting and analysis of educational issues than the state of Texas currently requires. Specific goals of the appraisal system are to improve academic performance, management efficiency, and public and employee confidence and satisfaction.

The specific Houston schools educational issues that directly impact students and addressed by both new systems are:

• Dropout and graduation rates &ndash the aim is an 85 percent graduation rate by the 2006-07 school year;

• Achievement gaps by student groups, broken down by ethnicity, economic status, and gender;

• Number and percentage of students:

 Who are promoted to the next grade, as well as those held back,

 Served by special education programs, as well as those who have moved out and no longer need these programs,

 Receiving the highest scores on the state-mandated achievement test, and

 Who take exams for advanced placement courses and those who pass these courses; and

• Student college readiness, including:

 The college-ready scores from the state-mandated achievement test,

 Number and percentage of students taking dual-credit courses, earning college credit while in high school,

 Number and percentage of students who graduate under the state’s Recommended High School Program, and

 Number and percentage of students who score above the national average on the S.A.T.

Other issues addressed that indirectly affect student achievement are:

• Teachers’ attendance rates;

• Number of teachers teaching outside of their areas of certification;

• The effectiveness of tax dollars spent on teaching and the learning process;

• The effectiveness of educational programs costing $1 million or more, and whether they should be modified or discontinued;

• School employee attitudes toward the Houston schools board and their work environment;

• Progress in bringing Houston schools facilities up to standard;

• Public perceptions about the Houston schools board and its direction; and

• Progress in achieving a “recognized” status as an accountable school district.

Both systems outline expectations, set clear direction for action and improvement of quality education, facilitate regular and ongoing discussion for program effectiveness, use straightforward data, and hold the entire organization of the Houston schools accountable. Both systems were developed to evolve and change in response to the Houston schools board and community’s demand for better education for the students and ever-increasing accountability.