This research brief is Part III of a four-part study of decentralization in Houston Independent School District (HISD). This part examines the impact of decentralization on student outcomes. In hopes of improving student performance, HISD implemented decentralization throughout the 1990s (see Part I of this project for a detailed discussion of the…

In this brief, we describe the distribution of college prep course offerings across Texas and determine which school characteristics are associated with higher and lower numbers of course offerings. We also examine how college prep course offerings are related to student-level college prep course-taking and, in turn, how course-taking behaviors…

According to the Texas Education Code §29.121 and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy, Gifted and Talented (G/T) students are "those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age,…

According to the Texas Education Code §29.121 and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy, Gifted and Talented (G/T) students are "those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age,…

According to Section 29.123 of the Texas Education Code, the "Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students" (G/T) forms the basis of program accountability for state-mandated services for G/T students. In the Houston Independent School District (HISD), G/T students were served through one of two program designs:…

Recent studies on professional development programs indicate these programs, when sustained, have a positive impact on student achievement; however, many of these studies have failed to use longitudinal data. The purpose of this study is to understand how one particular instructional practice (STEM PBL) used consistently influences student…

According to the Texas Education Code §29.121 and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy, Gifted and Talented (G/T) students are "those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of at-risk student mobility on academic achievement in an urban elementary school. Math and reading scores from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) of 172 third, fourth, and fifth grade students from an urban school district in South Central Texas were examined to determine whether…

Public education in the United States is currently enveloped in an era of intense accountability. At the national level the "No Child Left Behind Act," demands accountability in any district or school receiving federal funds One of the goals of the No Child Left Behind legislation had its roots in the Texas education accountability…

This article examines the achievement effects of a prosocial classroom and instructional management program--Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline (CMCD)--implemented at 14 elementary schools in a single geographic feeder pattern of a large, urban school district. State reading and mathematics achievement data were collected over 2…

Reports results of research on efforts by the Houston School District to raise students' reading and mathematics scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Houston lowered the achievement gap between whites and Hispanics and African-Americans and made greater gains than the five other major urban school districts. (PKP)

Describes efforts to implement standards-based reform in the Houston School District using both a top-down and a bottom-up approach, where local schools were allowed considerable autonomy in achieving reform, but given direction, training, and resources by the district. (PKP)

To examine how neighborhood characteristics influence academic achievement, data were drawn from a community survey of low-income neighborhoods and linked with data on performance on standardized testing for third-grade students attending elementary schools in those communities. Results of multilevel logistic regressions indicated that probability…

This report provides annual information for the 2000-2001 school year on grade-level retention in the Texas public school system, based on the Public Education Information Management System. Data on retention are provided by grade, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, participation in special education, degree of English proficiency, and…

The Emergency Immigrant Education Program of the Houston Independent School District (Texas) was intended to provide services to help immigrant children achieve a satisfactory level of academic performance. A total of 12,135 eligible immigrant students were identified in the Houston schools through October 1995, an increase of 149% above the…