Houston Independent School District (HISD) has come up with a new evaluation system for teachers, Teacher Excellence System (TES.) In the draft proposal, teachers would be graded by their students test scores, classroom observations, and their planning and professionalism. Teachers will be put into percentage categories based on their performance. The percentage categories are labeled as, “unsatisfactory”, “progressing I”, “progressing II”, “proficient I”, “proficient II”, “exemplary I”, and “exemplary II.” The bottom 3% of teachers will be labeled unsatisfactory and the top 3% with be labeled exemplary II, everyone else falls in the in between.
According to the district, 35% of the teachers rating would come from test scores and 45% from classroom observations, including on the spot observations and formal ones. The observations are required for all teachers that score below a certain percentage. 15% would come from how a teacher prepares for a lesson and their use of data plans, and the last 5% would be their devotion to overall campus achievement. The district surveyed 18 schools on the proposed TES system, the district meets with principals and teachers who serve on the committee to receive their feedback. There are representatives from elementary, middle, and high schools.
These evaluations will eventually affect teacher’s pay. By the 2026-2027 school year HISD hopes to adopt, a “pay for performance” model, for all teachers who do not work at New Education System (NES Schools), according to the district, salaries will be based on “instructional effectiveness.” Teacher salaries have increased by $8,000 since the 2022-2023 school year, teachers who work at NES Schools saw their salaries increase by $13,500.
HISD West Division Superintendent Kasey Bailey said in a recorded presentation, “You know, that’s major because a lot of our NES Schools are hard-to-staff schools, so we’re definitely making sure that we get effective teachers in some of our hardest areas.” No teachers will see a reduction in their base salary under the pay for performance model. Many teachers are against the pay for performance model, the districts largest teacher union the Houston Federated Teachers president Jackie Anderson told the Houston Chronicle, “We are opposed to any type of pay for performance. Teachers should all be paid. We all work together. That type of pay-for-performance is divisive, and teachers should all be treated equally. They should all be supported.”
Student surveys are excluded from the evaluations, the district decided not to include them because of previous feedback that was received. According to Superintendent Mike Miles, the “quality of instruction” makes up the largest component of the evaluation, including monthly classroom observations. In a survey only 28% of teachers agreed that monthly observations would be beneficial. The Houston Education Association president Michelle Williams told the Houston Chronicle that the system they are trying to implement is not in the best interest of teachers and the ideas of what “quality instruction” is has changed a lot within the last year. “It’s not a true system; an evaluation system is not supposed to trick teachers. This does that.”
