Building a Smarter System for Every Student

Why It Matters:
A child’s trajectory is shaped long before third grade. Quality early education experiences lay the groundwork for academic, social, and economic success. Houston needs robust early childhood systems to ensure every child starts school ready to learn.

Current Challenge:
Only 41% of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in our region are currently enrolled in public pre-kindergarten programs, despite strong evidence of early education’s long-term benefits.

Pre-K Enrollment Expansion

• Expand access to high quality pre-K programs by removing enrollment barriers, ensuring sustainable funding to maintain quality, and investing in coordinated early learning systems that support families and prepare every child, especially those most at risk, for kindergarten success.

Quality Instruction and Progress Monitoring

• Ensure that instructional materials and practices in pre-K through 3rd grade are developmentally appropriate, build strong foundational skills, and are supported by monitoring systems that help schools identify and address student needs early.

Supportive Systems and Integrated Data

• Align state agencies, data systems, and regulations to build a connected early education system that supports families, reduces fragmentation, and ensures children receive high-quality learning opportunities from their earliest years.

Why It Matters:
Students must graduate not just with diplomas, but with real preparation for postsecondary success and living-wage careers. Houston’s economic competitiveness depends on graduates ready for energy, healthcare, technology, and aerospace industries.

Current Challenge:
While 88% of Houston students graduate high school, only 27% complete postsecondary education within six years, and fewer than 25% earn living wages.

Strengthen Alignment with Opportunity

• Expand access to high-quality academic and career pathways in pre-K through 12 education that align with Houston’s high-wage, high-demand fields, ensuring every student graduates prepared for college, career, and economic mobility.

Expand Work-Based Learning and Career Exploration

• Increase opportunities for students to engage in career exploration, internships, and work-based learning that build professional skills, networks, and real-world experience before graduation.

Build Postsecondary Readiness Infrastructure

• Ensure consistent funding, clear metrics, and coordinated partnerships that support schools in delivering strong advising, aligned programs of study, and direct access to postsecondary opportunities.

Why It Matters:
Quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for student success. Houston must become the best place in Texas to teach, attracting top talent and supporting current educators with the tools and compensation they deserve.

Current Challenge:
Teacher shortages, high turnover rates, and compensation gaps threaten the quality and continuity of instruction across Houston’s school systems.

Recruit and Retain Excellent Teachers

• Invest in strategies that attract, develop, and retain high-performing teachers, ensuring every classroom is led by an educator equipped to deliver rigorous, engaging instruction.

Prepare Teachers for Classroom Success

• Strengthen teacher preparation programs that provide meaningful, hands-on classroom experience, ensuring new teachers enter the profession ready to deliver high-quality, evidence-based instruction that meets the needs of all students.

Build Supportive and Fair Evaluation Systems

• Promote evaluation and feedback systems that provide actionable insights, recognize excellence, and guide professional development, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and support.

Why It Matters:
Rigorous, transparent accountability systems ensure all students receive the excellent education they deserve while providing families and communities with clear information about school performance and student progress.

Current Challenge:

Accountability systems must balance rigor with fairness, providing useful information while supporting school improvement rather than punitive measures.

Assessments that Support Learning

• Ensure assessments are aligned to grade-level standards and provide timely, transparent information that helps educators tailor instruction and supports families in understanding student progress.

Transparent and Outcome-Focused Accountability

• Maintain a state’s accountability framework with a clear focus on student academic achievement, growth, and postsecondary readiness, while providing transparent, comparable data that drives improvement across schools.

Data to Drive Continuous Improvement

• Equip school systems with tools and training to analyze data, identify effective practices, and respond to student needs, fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement at every level.

Why It Matters:
Sustainable, adequate funding ensures all students have access to quality facilities, excellent teachers, robust curriculum, and support services necessary for success.

Current Challenge:
Texas school finance must provide adequate funding for all districts while ensuring equity across communities with different property wealth levels.

Provide Sustainable Funding that Meets Student Needs

• Provide stable, predictable funding that enables school districts to sustain excellent instruction, invest in high-quality materials, and ensure students with the greatest needs receive the targeted supports necessary for success.

Invest in Strategies Drive Opportunity

• Invest in what works by directing resources to research-backed programs and practices that have the most impact for students, driving strong academic foundations, accelerating learning, and building the skills needed to thrive in school and beyond.

Ensure Responsible and Transparent Use of Funds

• Promote strong fiscal management practices, data-driven budgeting, and clear public reporting to ensure resources are used efficiently and aligned with student outcomes.