With a leadership change in any school district comes uncertainty and anxiety. The uncertainty and anxiety are even greater when the new leadership is state-appointed, as is the case with the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) takeover of school districts. The state implements takeovers when a school within the district receives multiple consecutive years of low ratings, and one of the first things that happens after a takeover is that elected officials lose their power. An unelected board of managers takes over the district’s supervision and decision-making.
If words like state-appointed, takeover, unelected, and supervision sound scary, they are. With an unelected board of managers appointed by the TEA commissioner, there is a roadmap to follow. One that lends itself more to unquestioningly following the TEA commissioner’s expectations and one that is less likely to take community input into account before making decisions. Before takeovers, elected board members take in community input at their regularly scheduled board meetings. They are held accountable to the community in local elections.
The question is: should the TEA commissioner make all of the decisions he has traditionally left to locally elected board members? From where he sits in Austin, Texas, does the TEA commissioner know all about the individualized district needs in the TEA-taken-over districts to place a superintendent and a board of managers? The districts under a TEA takeover are Houston ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Lake Worth ISD, Connally ISD, La Joya ISD, Sheperd ISD, South San Antonio ISD, and Beaumont ISD.
The commissioner and the board of managers that he appoints make major decisions that affect every student, parent, and staff member. In the long run, they affect every community member, too. Yet they are appointed, not chosen by the people. Where exactly is their accountability? When the community speaks up against a measure, and the unelected board of managers still votes unanimously in its favor, is that not a silencing of the community?
As the largest school district in Texas, Houston ISD has seemingly been the most watched. Changes in several of these districts include strict expectations that teachers follow scripted lessons with timing expectations. In other words, teachers do not have the autonomy to adjust the day’s lessons based on their students’ needs. They have lesson slides to follow. School administrators and district leaders regularly visit classrooms to observe these lessons in action. They provide feedback based on what they see (or do not see). In this type of school environment, administrators do not have much autonomy either, as they must ensure that their teachers follow the lesson slides and meet the timing expectations. After all, their supervisors are observing them too. When teachers are not on the slide at the right time per their posted schedule, corrective action follows. This could be a conversation between the teacher and the principal. It could also be a conversation between the teacher and the executive director or with whoever is visiting from the district.
The reasons for not being on the right lesson slide at the right time are ample. It could be a student-to-student conflict that the teacher has to address. It could be students showing a lack of understanding, and the teacher deciding they needed more time. It could be that the teacher was out sick for two days and is trying to catch up.
The question is: will the leader visiting the classroom accept it graciously, or will it lead to a verbal warning, a letter of concern, etc.?
The problem is that uniformity (such as lesson scripting) doesn’t work because every district and every school within it is different. There are different demographics, different community needs, and different ways to respond to student needs. Teachers will tell you they have to adjust instruction to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of their classrooms. This could be as simple as giving a student more time to process the question. It could also mean implementing more project-based learning to increase student engagement on the topic.
When strict time stamps are in place, students may shut down due to a lack of understanding, frustration, or boredom. And among the best practices in schools, scripts and strict timers are not it.
The Dallas Morning News recently posted a tracker showing which Texas school districts are at risk of takeover. According to the tracker, several districts are at risk, including Austin ISD.
The reforms in Houston ISD have spread throughout Texas, as previous Houston ISD district leaders are now leading takeovers in other districts. The level of control over so many school districts is unique to Texas. Other states are watching. Other states are considering.
But are they reading the research on best practices for student success?
My Take & What The Research Says:
There is always an instructional scope and sequence provided by district leadership for schools to follow. Districts often purchase certain resources and expect schools to use them.
Despite the provided curriculum and resources, there is still a general understanding that teachers and school leadership have the flexibility to meet their students’ needs. This could mean the school leadership is using school funds to purchase an additional resource that may be effective for their students. It could mean following the district’s guidance on which Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to focus on for a given unit, but using a novel rather than the provided readers. This is what makes each school instructionally unique. There are teachers in the building who ultimately make instructional decisions daily based on their students’ needs. There are principals and assistant principals who trust them to do so and collaborate with them along the way, using student outcome data.
But this collaborative, trust-based atmosphere is not the norm in schools under a TEA takeover, which imposes strict instructional models in certain schools.
The changes reported by staff within schools include loss of autonomy, micromanagement, and corrective action. They are detrimental to public education and are driving educators out of the field. They are causing families to abandon their neighborhood public schools.
Parents need to be vigilant.
With the drastic changes happening in Texas schools, especially those under a takeover, it is vital for parents to remain informed. Talking to their children about their instructional day provides insight into the practices in place.
Questions to consider include: Did my child have enough time to complete their work? What are they reading in their literacy class? Did my child understand what the teacher was teaching, or did they show confusion? What would happen if they got frustrated in class?
If any of the child’s responses cause concern, then reaching out to the school is the best next step. Parents can ask school staff what their child learned that day, which resources the teachers used, and how they determined whether their child understood the learning… and what happened if they did not.
Parents can ask these same questions at their district’s board meeting. Whether it’s in person, via email, or in online posts, there are various ways to speak up.
These questions matter. These schools are worth saving.
*Stay tuned every Sunday for an educational blog where I share insights from my 15 years in public education, including as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal. I also have the added perspective of conducting an educational study for my doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership.
The next post will be about the State Board of Education’s vote on the social studies TEKS.
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