As an independent school district, Houston Independent School District (HISD) contracted with four operators of seven External Performance Contract Campuses, or contract campuses. Houston ISD contract campuses receive funding through the district. HISD has implemented a comprehensive performance accountability and compliance monitoring system that…

HIPPY targeted over 600 parents of children zoned to 103 Houston Independent School District (HISD) elementary campuses during the 2019-2020 academic year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the program was delivered in a virtual format, beginning in March 2020, with the majority of parents successfuly completing the 30-week program in 26 weeks.…

Due in part to parent advocacy, Texas passed legislation and released guidelines to support identification and instruction for students with dyslexia, and their families. In alignment with state guidelines, since January 2020, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) implemented an additional instructional intervention using Reading by…

Based on the Lexile® Framework, a scientific approach to reading and text measurement backed by more than two decades of ongoing research, Achieve3000®, a web-based differentiated reading program used by HISD, is designed to improve student reading ability and comprehension of increasingly complex texts by initially meeting students where they are…

This program evaluation observed distal educational outcomes, including reading and mathematics test performance, attendance, and disciplinary actions of students at eight elementary and six middle schools that implemented the To Educate All Children (TEACH) model in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) during the 2017-2018 academic…

Vocabulary.com is an online adaptive game that teaches students words by systematic exposure to a variety of question types and activities and by understanding all the word meanings and nuances as they are learned. Vocabulary.com teaches 14,000 words using over 208,000 questions. It has been implemented with the Houston Independent School…

This program evaluation assessed the utility and efficacy of lead4ward toward facilitating meaningful instructional planning, and improving STAAR reading, English language arts, and math performance of students whose teachers participated in lead4ward professional development. A web-based survey on HISD's HUB yielded responses from 340 educators…

This study explored outcomes related to students' participation in a Houston Symphony (HS) partnership at a targeted HISD elementary school. Students received weekly in-school core enrichment instruction and after-school violin instruction by Houston Symphony Community-Embedded Musicians throughout the 2018-2019 academic year. The study found that…

This report compared the academic achievement of prekindergarten students who were enrolled in Houston Independent School District (HISD) early childhood centers (ECC) during the 2015-2016 school year to their peers who attended school-based programs. Academic achievement was measured on the HISD CIRCLE English and Spanish language, literacy, and…

This evaluation compared mean scores and proficiency levels on the 2016--2017 CIRCLE English and Spanish language, literacy, and mathematics assessments between students enrolled in Early Childhood Centers (EECs) with their School-based Program (SBP) peers. The evaluation helped to determine whether there were observable differences in academic…

The goal of HISD [Houston Independent School District] prekindergarten programs is to offer the youngest learners strong foundations built on solid concept, as well as individual and group discovery. The program curriculum focuses on beginning literacy, numeracy, social emotional development as well as supporting the individual linguistic and…

The "Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students" (Texas State Plan) represents the accountability plan for measuring the performance of districts in providing state-mandated services to students identified as gifted/talented (G/T). The State Board of Education approved revisions in July 2019. The Texas State Plan…

The Texas Education Code (§ 29.051) requires school districts to provide every language minority student with the opportunity to participate in either a bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) program. This evaluation report summarizes the performance of students who participated in the district's Dual Language Bilingual Program. Included…

Since 2007, nineteen Houston Independent School District (HISD) campuses have partnered with Literacy Now to offer the Reading Intervention program. The Reading Intervention program provides individualized, small group reading tutorials for at-risk students in kindergarten to second grade to create proficient readers by the end of third grade.…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) has provided free prekindergarten classes for eligible Houston area four-year old students since the 1985-1986 school year. HISD offers full-day prekindergarten programs to all eligible students within its attendance boundaries. HISD collaborates with four federally-funded Head Start agencies that…