By In 2023, preliminary STAAR results from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) revealed that students at non-New Education System (NES) campuses demonstrated a higher likelihood of meeting grade level standards in reading or math compared to students at NES or NES-aligned campuses.
Good Reason Houston conducted a recent early-stage analysis focused on NES schools—28 campuses under HISD Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System—and NES-aligned schools, encompassing over 50 campuses receiving support from the NES program.
The principal findings that Good Reason Houston found were:
- Non-NES campuses showed a higher likelihood of meeting grade level standards in reading or math compared to NES or NES-aligned campuses.
- Despite lower overall scores, NES and NES-aligned campuses exhibited greater growth in 3rd-grade reading and math from 2022 to 2023 than non-NES campuses.
- While 8th-grade reading scores dipped for all campuses from 2022 to 2023, only NES campuses saw an improvement in 8th-grade math scores.
- NES high schools maintained scores above 2019 levels on English 1 EOC exams, but experienced a slight decline from 2022 to 2023. Algebra 1 scores remained notably below 2019 levels across all types of high schools in 2023, with NES high schools witnessing the steepest decline.
- 3rd graders in the Kashmere and Wheatley feeder patterns outperformed peers in other NES feeder patterns and NES-aligned campuses in both reading and math.
