HOUSTON – Amid what Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles described as “remarkable academic progress” in the district, he has made a new promise.
Within two years, all schools in the district will be rated as either A or B.
“We can make this promise so that all can mean all,” Miles said.
Describing the state of American education today, Miles referenced a national report card released Tuesday. Miles says public education has been failing because the achievement gap has not been closed on a large scale.
Referencing a map of Houston in 2023, at the time, there were 121 failing schools out of 271 schools in the district. The majority of the failing schools were in areas of high poverty or where language barriers posed an issue with education. These were marked with pink or red dots.
Moving to a 2025 map, there are no identifiers in areas of high poverty or where there are language barriers.
“Geography does not dictate destiny,” Miles said, referencing the fact that there are no longer any F-rated schools in the district.
Miles also said thousands more kids in the district were now reading and doing math at grade levels. In some subjects, HISD scored above the state average, according to some slides in the presentation.
Miles said they are trying to prepare students for success, defined by getting a livable wage, getting college opportunities, and getting high-performing jobs.
He said they have gotten to this point and will continue to prepare students by having a rigorous focus on staffing capacity, putting kids first, and having leaders in place who are strong at instruction and helping teachers learn and grow.
“There is no finish line, and we still have kids who are behind with 18 D-rated schools,” Miles said before making the promise.
In the promise, Miles said community partners are also involved to help achieve the goal.
“No other district in the nation will attempt this,” Miles said. “The teachers and staff, students believe we can do it.”
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