In just a few days after the Texas Education Agency announced former Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Miles as the new Houston Independent School District superintendent, he spared no time making his rounds with the Houston media sharing his perspectives about his plans during this transition.
The former U.S Army veteran, diplomat and former CEO of the charter school network Third Future Schools, engaged the press with open-mindedness about leadership and the future of HISD.
Student achievement is the name of the game for Miles who quickly imposed major changes to HISD, launching the “New Education System” initiative to reconstitute 29 struggling campus, including Kashmere, North Forest and Wheatley high schools forcing employees to reapply for their jobs.
He says the pay-for-performance approach plans to ensure improved instruction in Houston ISD schools with the most need. The better student outcomes, the more teachers can earn. He also plans to cut at least 200 jobs at HISD’s central administrative office to help pay for higher teacher salaries at schools with the most need.
However, critics still raise concerns about his reform strategies, ability to engage the feedback of diverse stakeholders and his combative leadership reputation that precedes him from his past tenure at Dallas ISD, according to a Chronicle interview with Edward Turner, a seasoned Dallas education advocate.
The Defender spoke one-on-one in a brief interview with the interim HISD superintendent on what his priorities are to improve student outcomes in predominately Black schools.
Defender: What are the key priorities to improve low-performing schools in the district?
MIKE MILES: There are several things we need to do. There are three buckets for exit strategy. One is we can’t have any schools with multiple years of D or F scores. The second is that we have to solve the special education challenges that this district has been facing for a number of years. And third, there has to be stronger and more effective governance. But I got a larger priority too, and that is we have to prepare all of our students for the year 2035 workplace and world. Right now, we have a district that is a tale of two cities. We’ve got one group of kids who are doing well. We have a lot of good schools that are effectively teaching their kids and preparing their students. Then we have a vast majority of schools that are not doing as well. The proficiency rate is too low and the achievement gap is too high. We’re going to have to make sure every single one of our kids get the resources and the type of instruction and effective teaching to make sure all of our students get a quality education.
Defender: A major concern for community members is the fact that their elected board members are replaced. Will the community be able to hold you and the board of managers accountable if expectations are not met?
MILES: First of all, I’m going to hold myself accountable. But the board of managers will hold me accountable too. We are going to have clear metrics and outcomes for almost everything we do. We have 11 priority work areas where there are clear outcomes that we’re expecting. At the end of the day, if my team and I can’t get it done, then we need to be gone.
Defender: The community is frustrated with the lack of transparency prior to this announcement. How do you intend to gain their trust and foster community involvement in your decision-making process?
MILES: I understand that prior to [the day of his announcement as HISD superintendent], there hasn’t been a lot of information about what’s going to happen. And when there’s an absence of information, I get that there’s anxiety and fear wrapped around that. I understand that, and the onus is on me to make sure that we take people from their worst fears to their best hopes. And part of that comes from listening. That means part of it comes from trying to persuade people and making sense of the things that have to be done. Part of it is building a case that we need to get things done this year, that our kids don’t have time to wait. This is not like a normal superintendency where you can come in for four months and listen, go on a listening tour, and then take six more months to put together a strategic plan. That would take a whole year. Our kids don’t have that kind of time.
Defender: What are some strategies to improve student outcomes that have worked in your previous role as Dallas ISD Superintendent that you believe would work here in your role as HISD Superintendent?
MILES: Let me just say that Houston is not Dallas, and Dallas is not Houston. Houston has its own context and has its own needs at the same time. They’re both large urban districts and many of the challenges are similar. The number one challenge right now, or at least key action, is for us to improve the quality of instruction for every single classroom. That means we have to highly effective teachers that we train and support, and we have to have principals who are effectively coaching and growing the quality of instruction in every classroom.
