Houston ISD’s new system for evaluating its roughly 11,000 teachers looks similar to its current one, maintaining a large emphasis on classroom observations and student test scores, but without a controversial student survey component that had been under consideration, according to draft documents released by the district Thursday.

Under the plans, the bulk of most teachers’ yearly ratings would come from their scores on about 10 to 20 brief classroom observations by campus administrators and how much their students’ performance improves on standardized tests. Additionally, a smaller share of points would be based on teachers’ lesson planning, their contributions to campus culture and a shared school-wide score related to how well staff fulfill a list of annual campus goals.

HISD’s state-appointed school board is scheduled to vote on the evaluation system in March, said Deputy Chief of Academics Alyssa Murray Rocha, who helped design the plan. 

Board members have generally supported academic and labor proposals made by HISD’s state-appointed superintendent, Mike Miles. Miles’ critics, including teachers unions and community advocates, have opposed his classroom strategies, often describing them as “drill and kill” methods that reduce teachers’ capacity to encourage deep thinking with class discussions or projects.

If approved, the system would go into effect next school year and would become a main factor in determining some teachers’ level of pay in 2026-27 on a scale that ranges from $62,000 to $92,000 annually, according to draft plans HISD shared with the Houston Landing. HISD leaders have not released details of the potential 2026-27 pay plan. Currently, teacher pay is largely determined by an educator’s years of experience, the subject they teach and which school they work at.

The new teacher evaluation comes after months of incorporating staff and community input into the plans, Rocha said. Her team required that the bulk of the evaluation be based on classroom observation and student test scores, but used months of feedback from teachers, principals, school-based committees and a district advisory group to decide what would make up the rest of the scores. 

After hearing hesitation from teachers over whether part of their ratings should come from student surveys, they scrapped that component, which would have made up between 5 percent and 15 percent of the total scores, Rocha said.

“We’ve really intentionally asked for feedback … and made decisions based on what people said,” Rocha said. “I want teachers to be excited about this. I know that evaluation comes with fear and that’s totally natural, (but) we’re committed to making sure we continue to celebrate all teachers.”

How we got here

The release of the new teacher evaluation system represents something of a do-over for Miles, who tried to revamp HISD’s appraisal system soon after Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed him as superintendent. 

Miles’ first attempt ran into legal challenges when the Houston Federation of Teachers sued HISD in August 2023, winning a court-ordered injunction against the teacher ratings because Miles received enough feedback on the plan as required by state law. That forced Miles to use a modified version of the state’s recommended teacher appraisal system instead. Some teachers still criticized the modified version because it baked in expectations that teachers follow Miles’ preferred instructional methods, namely soliciting student responses roughly every four minutes during lessons.

A few months later in December 2023, HISD’s board voted to allow the district to begin developing a homegrown teacher evaluation system as a part of its District of Innovation plan — kicking off the process that led to the creation of the appraisal HISD released Thursday.

Rocha said her team will continue to adjust the evaluation tool through March, when HISD plans to present a final draft to the board in March, based on feedback in teacher focus groups, campus discussions and several advisory groups.

Linked to performance pay

The new evaluation and the planned incentive pay are “separate but related,” Rocha said. If the new appraisal system does not pass, state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles could still move forward with pay-for-performance plans using HISD’s current evaluation tool.

In fact, teachers working at the original 28 schools under Miles’ overhaul model are already receiving incentive pay this year based on their 2023-24 evaluations, totaling 1 percent to 8 percent of teachers’ base salary, depending on how highly they were rated, Rocha said. Next year, teachers at the 130 current overhauled schools will receive the extra payouts.

If HISD moves forward with a pay-for-performance plan, teachers at overhauled schools would continue to be compensated as they currently are and teachers at the other half of schools in the district would be placed on the $62,000 to $92,000 scale based on how they score on their evaluations.

Lori Lambropoulos, principal at HISD’s Energy Institute High School, is one of roughly 20 principals who have met regularly with HISD over the past several months to give input on the teacher evaluation. Her school operates on a project-based learning model with less formal classroom instruction than other campuses, and does not follow Miles’ overhaul model. Up to now, her teachers have not been eligible for boosts in their pay, but with the possible changes, she has seen staff get more excited.

“I’ve noticed, some of my teachers who I might have been giving feedback to it seems like for years, they’re now — and especially because … they know there could be potential compensation tied to this — they’re getting a little bit more on board and inspired,” Lambropoulos said.

But Naomi Doyle-Madrid, an HISD parent and member of a district advisory group that reviewed the evaluation plans, said she’s concerned the new ratings won’t give teachers the power to be creative with their lessons. One of her sons used to enjoy open-ended writing prompts, but those have ended under the instructional guidelines brought by Miles, she said. Doyle-Madrid doesn’t expect that to change with the new evaluation system.

“Critical thinking, analysis, comprehension, reading comprehension is going by the wayside when you’re forcing kids into these four-minute intervals of activity,” Doyle-Madrid said. “We’re rushing kids through a process and they’re not able to really think through and discuss and have a more effective outcome.”

Key changes

Although the major structure of the new teacher evaluation maintains the same central elements as the current one — namely, classroom observations and student test score increases — there are updates to some more minor components.

The newly released evaluation system includes the following changes:

• Five percent of teachers’ scores would be based on how well their campus achieved a list of goals set out before the school year, which could include factors like raising student attendance or reducing rates of student discipline. The score extends school-wide, meaning all teachers within a school receive the same number of points in that category.

• Teachers seeking any of the top three out of seven performance categories (Proficient II, Exemplary I and Exemplary II) would need to submit an application to be considered as a “distinguished teacher.” The application involves having students take a survey rating their teacher and the teacher submitting a one-page write-up of their contributions in areas like mentoring, leading initiatives, professional development and more. HISD’s academics and strategic initiatives departments would collaborate to review the applications. Teachers who do not apply to be a distinguished teacher would not be eligible to earn any of the top three performance ratings, even if their scores reach the required thresholds.

• All campus principals, assistant principals and other staff evaluating teachers’ instruction would be required to receive training on how to grade teachers, then pass a test on doing so. The measure is intended to ensure evaluators rate teachers fairly and consistently.

• Teachers who are not first-year teachers and whose previous year rating was proficient or higher may opt out of a once-per-year 45-minute classroom observation, with instructional ratings based instead on 10-minute observations at least once per month. The 10-minute observations are required regardless of whether teachers opt out of the longer observation.

• Elective teachers and others whose classes do not include a formal test would receive a list of options for measuring their students’ level of achievement.

• Teachers would be able to earn a small amount of points on their evaluation for their efforts spent preparing and planning their lessons, which is not included in the current evaluation tool.

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