Superintendent Mike Miles explains what’s driving progress in Houston ISD in interview with Good Reason Houston CEO Cary Wright
Two years ago, nearly 35,000 Houston ISD students walked into an F-rated school each morning. Last week, not a single one did.
Superintendent Mike Miles calls it “the largest transformation in the history of the country.” In 2023, 56 HISD campuses earned failing grades under Texas’ A–F accountability system. Today, there are none. The number of A and B campuses has more than doubled—from 93 to 197—meaning three-quarters of Houston students will now attend a top-rated school.
The achievement is even more striking given HISD’s demographics: 80% of students are economically disadvantaged, and nearly 40% are emergent bilingual. Historically, those statistics have been tightly correlated with school performance. Miles notes that in most urban districts, you can predict a school’s rating by looking at the poverty map.
“It’s outstanding,” Miles told Good Reason Houston CEO Cary Wright in a recent interview. “In Houston ISD, zip code no longer equals destiny.”
The superintendent attributes the turnaround to a relentless focus on instruction, systemwide alignment on what high-quality teaching looks like, and robust support for educators. That includes providing teachers, especially in historically low-performing schools, with complete, ready-to-teach lesson materials, freeing them to focus on the craft of teaching rather than scrambling for resources.
“Accountability without support breeds fear; accountability with support breeds higher performance,” Miles said. HISD’s approach, he argues, has been to pair high expectations with the tools and coaching needed to meet them.
The results are changing more than just ratings, he says they’re reshaping mindsets. Miles recalls visiting Hilliard Elementary in the historically underperforming North Forest area, where every school was rated D or F just two years ago. This year, all but one earned an A or B. “Several people were crying,” he said. “What they really got was hope—and a belief that it actually could be done.”
During the interview, Wright emphasized that the stakes of accountability ratings go beyond test scores.
“This is about putting more kids on a path to better opportunities in life,” he said.
Miles agrees. The ultimate measure, he says, is whether HISD students leave school ready for both today’s jobs and the workplace of 2035, equipped with strong literacy and math skills, critical thinking abilities, and the adaptability to thrive in a changing world.
“All means all,” Miles said. “We should not be happy until every school is an A-rated school—and every student gets an A-rated educational experience.”
