The Houston Independent School District (HISD) nearly fired countless teachers, not because they failed students, but because a spreadsheet said so. A district-wide data error exposed what many teachers already feared: their futures are being determined by a deeply flawed system driven by corporate logic, not the public good.
A calculation mistake led them to believe a substantially greater number of teachers were in the bottom tiers of performance. It remains unclear how many of the 10,000-plus teachers across the district were informed that their files were under review after the error was discovered.
The district grades teachers on what’s called Quality of Instruction. Four components make up the evaluation system: student achievement data, teacher performance, student survey data, and the school action plan.
The current evaluation system, which is already underpinned by the neoliberal ideologies of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is certainly not an effective way of assessing teachers. Incredibly, though, the district rolled out its even more extreme plan on April 7 to link teacher pay directly to its evaluation system rather than experience or education level, as is the norm.
HISD has reportedly told families that the new compensation system is intended to reward strong teaching and demonstrate the district’s commitment to student success by promoting effective instruction.
For months, Superintendent Mike Miles has claimed that linking teacher pay to evaluation ratings will incentivize stronger instruction and help schools keep their best educators. Under the new plan, a teacher’s salary would be determined largely based on administrator classroom observation scores and student growth on standardized tests.
Corporate logic in schools
These claims—that performance pay will somehow reward excellence and drive student success—are not novel. They reflect a broader shift in education reform that’s been unfolding for decades. Neoliberal reforms to education have systematically gutted funding and transformed school relations dramatically across the United States.
Under the rationale of accountability and efficiency, power has been wrestled away from teachers and the community and towards administrators and corporate reformers. These changes have seen little, if any, positive results because they failed in addressing inadequate funding of schools and pay for teachers.
Furthermore, neoliberalism accelerated this push toward measurability. The obsession with data-driven outcomes is directly plucked out of corporate lingo. Seemingly, everything in education must be quantifiable. But there are innumerable facets of human development that educators play a vital part in that don’t appear on a spreadsheet or a classroom observation.
Moreover, Miles is now planning to cut wraparound services such as mental health counseling and has eliminated the positions of many social workers who support disadvantaged students. These social workers help connect students to essential resources, such as medical care and housing, and assist families in accessing federal and local programs for food, clothing, and other basic needs. Now, their crucial support is being removed.
These vital services are being axed under the claims of efficiency and the obsession with measurability. This issue in Texas is a microcosm of the corporate reforms to education taking place all over the nation.
Incentivizing what?
Though Superintendent Miles claims this pay scale will incentivize effective instruction, it will more likely encourage teachers to spend more time preparing students for these standardized tests that will determine their salary. Educational research largely agrees that some of the most essential skills for 21st-century students are critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and communication; none of which will be developed or cultivated in test “sophistication” sessions.
For those outside the education world who haven’t had the misfortune of hearing it yet, “test sophistication” is the newest term cooked up by corporate reformers—a strategic attempt to distance themselves from the increasingly unpopular term “test prep.” The language shifts while the practice stays exactly the same.
Sadly, this new pay scale will also drive many to simply cheat on these standardized tests. Teacher pay is already meagre. If a raise or lack thereof has real material impacts on a teacher’s life, they could easily be tempted to tamper with results.
Moreover, performance-based systems often encourage teachers to focus their energy on students they believe are most likely to pass, while neglecting those who struggle the most. It’s a strategy steeped in inequality and chasing numbers.
On top of that, these reforms can negatively impact the community as a whole. Teachers will be on edge to push their students to perform well on the exams. This sort of added anxiety and importance placed on student assessments will narrow learning and turn classrooms into high-pressure, test-driven spaces.
In general, merit pay plans foster competition among teachers by singling out a small number of “elite” or “exceptional” educators. This approach directly undermines the collegial and cooperative efforts that are foundational for the most transformational school communities.
Miles of ruin
Why is this being done? Is it simply a reactionary and antiquated view of Superintendent Mike Miles? Or is it something more pernicious? Who is Mike Miles?
Before entering the education field, Miles gained experience in the military and intelligence services. He served as a Company Commander in the U.S. and was part of the elite Ranger Battalion.
Following his time in the military, he worked for the U.S. State Department as a Soviet analyst within the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, part of the government’s Cold War intelligence apparatus. He later served as a diplomat in Poland and Russia during the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Despite claims of success in Dallas ISD, Miles’s record and popularity tell a different story. The number of campuses rated in good standing by the state fell, and the number of failing schools grew.
While Dallas saw an increase in math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—often called the Nation’s Report Card—reading scores stayed flat. But unlike the state-mandated STAAR test, NAEP doesn’t align with the Texas curriculum and only tests a small sample of students.
Meanwhile, the district’s teacher turnover rate spiked dramatically, rising from 12% to 22% in Miles’ first two years—a clear sign of teachers’ disdain for his draconian policies.
Miles’s time in Dallas was marred by controversy, much of it stemming from his own hand-picked sycophants. He brought in several loyalists from his time in Colorado, awarding them six-figure salaries immediately.
His Chief of Staff, Jerome Oberlton, didn’t last long—he was forced to resign after a federal indictment for taking kickbacks in his former role at Atlanta Public Schools— charges to which he later pleaded guilty.
Another top official, Human Resources head Carmen Darville, also resigned after leaked messages showed her making offensive jokes about race, religion, and age while casually discussing strategies for firing employees.
After leaving Dallas ISD, Miles returned to Colorado to launch and serve as CEO of the charter network Third Future Schools—yet another sign that his focus has less to do with supporting public education and more to do with limiting the collective power of teachers.
In 2022, the Texas Education Agency removed the elected school board of HISD despite them receiving a B grade in the previous year. They also removed the superintendent, Millard House, despite lowering the number of failing schools from 40 in 2019 to just 9 in 2022. Even Houston Federation of Teachers president Jackie Anderson referred to House as “one of our district’s best superintendents.”
Resistance
Parents and educators alike have been dismayed by this wholly undemocratic seizure of Houston’s public schools by the reactionary Governor and Texas Education Agency. The sweeping reforms that Miles intends to institute will similarly drive teachers out of Houston and cheapen the education students receive.
Parents, students, educators, and community leaders have organized against Mike Miles’ reforms since he was appointed in October 2023. Teachers coordinated sick-outs, which were characterized as a form of a strike to protest the working conditions under Miles’ reign.
The Houston Federation of Teachers passed a resolution of no confidence. So too did they help launch the “Fair Pay Campaign.” The NAACP mobilized significant protests against his takeover of education as well as his transformation of libraries into detention centers.
Alternatives
Instead of tying teacher salaries to standardized test scores, Texas could simply raise the starting pay for educators to encourage a new generation of college students to enter the profession. Small bonuses on top of already inadequate salaries are unlikely to revitalize the teaching workforce or improve the quality of education in any meaningful way.
Additionally, increasing teacher autonomy will not only improve outcomes but also inspire educators to grow professionally. Empowering teachers in this way lowers attrition rates as well.
Opportunities for peer collaboration and mentorship will actually increase teacher effectiveness through cooperation, not competition. Any educator will tell you that they grow most significantly in a welcoming and inclusive environment rather than a cut-throat, competitive one.
We teach because we truly enjoy engaging in the process of knowledge construction with students and challenging young people to learn how to think. Education should never be governed by profit, competition, or punishment. Schools belong to communities—not CEOs. The liberatory pedagogical practices of great teachers will not show up on any corporate data tracker.
Public schools must be taken back by educators and the communities they serve. No reactionary governor should have the power to impose an unwanted leader on a city that never asked for him. These kinds of undemocratic seizures of power aren’t just a Houston problem—they’re a threat to every public school.
It can’t just be up to parents or local unions to fight back. The entire labor movement, grassroots organizations, and working-class communities everywhere must stand in solidarity and be ready to defend workers and communities under attack.
The Educators’ subcommittee of the Labor Commission of the CPUSA contributed to this article.
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