By HISD’s New Education System (NES) effort to transform K-12 education in the district is proving to be a significant step in raising STAAR scores.
While other districts have tried to improve scores by taking more incremental steps, the NES involves whole-scale, systemic reform of curriculum and instructional methodology.
The program was launched at historically underperforming campuses across HISD in the fall of 2023 and was designed to dramatically improve those school in the following ways:
- Improve how students do in school
- Close gaps in student achievement
- Make sure students are ready for life after graduation
What is NES?
The new system changes the way each NES campus operates from top to bottom as follows:
- Uses an innovative staffing model to ensure students receive consistent high-quality instruction by creating the curriculum and lesson plans for teachers to focus on their core classroom duties.
- The system pays teachers and staff higher salaries and offers compensation based on the subject taught, as well as rigorous teacher and campus leadership evaluations.
- Under the new plan, specific instructional programs receive extra resources and support.
- NES provides “Art of Thinking” courses to teach students critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Provide specialty classes in the areas of fitness, music and fine arts, 21st-century media and technology, and hands-on science taught by community professionals with expertise in those specific fields.
- Offer enhanced student engagement by providing paid trips for middle school students to experience new cultural environments.
How is the system different?
The new system reimagines the traditional campus as a more dynamic and accelerated learning environment. Some the features are as follows:
- Students are given short quizzes after every 40 to 45 minutes of instruction for each subject.
- After students finish their quizzes they go to open spaces called Team Centers to discuss what they learned.
- Discipline is handled by administrators so teachers can continue instruction.
- Disruptive students are sent out of the classroom to take a time out, get counseled, or access other services and support.
- NES campuses have extended hours, and open at 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for elementary schools, and 5:30 p.m. for middle and high schools.
The results
Some STAAR test scores in certain grades went up by double digits — while typical improvement is usually only a point or two per subject category within a given grade.
The greatest improvement was in the NES campuses in the following areas:
- 6th grade reading level scores improved by 10 points
- 8th grade math scores went up 14 points
- 5th grade math scores went up by 11 points
Additional information about the District’s grades 3-8 STAAR results is available on the district website.
Based on the results, the Board of Managers approved the 2024-25 budget to reflect the value of the first year of the NES system, and plans to expand the number of NES schools to 130.
