A month after announcing a pay-for-performance system for teachers in the upcoming school year, Houston ISD said it is slashing the positions of over 400 uncertified teachers.
These teachers will not be returning to their former roles because they failed to earn their certification within the two-year time frame required by HISD.
A total of 322 uncertified teachers were notified of their termination after regular progress checks and advanced warnings of termination for failure to fulfill this employment requirement.
However, since 84 teachers who also have expiring certification waivers were rated Proficient 1 in the last ratings, they were demoted to teacher apprentices for the 2025-26 school year.
“We’ve been rigorous in our evaluations, and our successful hiring season reflects the excitement many educators feel about joining the district’s remarkable work. It’s important to note that uncertified teachers can be just as effective as certified ones. Many studies show comparable academic results, and several of our uncertified teachers have prior experience in our schools as Teacher Apprentices and Learning Coaches,” Miles told click2houston earlier.
HISD said it is currently looking for teachers and has pledged training, curriculum, and compensation support for those interested in the role.
“With one hand, TEA’s chosen superintendent is trying to fill gaps with uncertified teachers, and with the other he’s planning to implement test score-based teacher pay,” Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson stated on the Texas AFT website in 2023. “So let’s just think through the consequences of these two decisions together. What happens when, a year or two from now, a certified teacher — and their paycheck — is held accountable for the scores of third graders who’ve never had a certified teacher before they set foot in that classroom? Can you think of anything more demoralizing as an employee? Not to mention, the pressure ratcheting up on our students.”
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) allows school districts to hire uncertified teachers to fill their teacher vacancies by requiring them to submit a request to waive the requirements for a limited number of years. HISD elected to use the certification waiver option in order to employ uncertified teachers for this school year.
A Chronicle data analysis showed earlier that HISD’s percentage of uncertified teachers increased from 12% in October 2023 to 19% in October 2024. In August, one in five teachers, ie, more than 2,000 teachers in HISD, were “working toward certification.”
In addition to the uncertified teachers, HISD announced in April that 733 teachers’ contracts would not be renewed, citing performance issues. This brings the total number of teacher cuts to 1,139 positions.
In August 2023, the HISD board unanimously approved a waiver to also allow the school district to employ assistant principals and deans without certification from 2023 to 2026.
