Thursday, September 26, 2013

Houston reforms, often overshadowed, now in the limelight with Broad Prize | HechingerEd Blog

Houston reforms, often overshadowed, now in the limelight with Broad Prize | HechingerEd Blog:

Houston reforms, often overshadowed, now in the limelight with Broad Prize


Philanthropist Eli Broad, left, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, right, congratulate Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier after announcing that Houston is the winner of the 2013 Broad Prize for Urban Education, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.  As the winner of the award that recognizes the public school district making the greatest performance and improvement gains in student achievement, Houston will receive $550,000 in college scholarships for its high school seniors. The three other finalists—Corona-Norco Unified School District in California, Cumberland County Schools in North Carolina, and the San Diego Unified School District —will each receive $150,000 in college scholarships. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for The Broad Foundation/AP Images)
Philanthropist Eli Broad, left, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, right, congratulate Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier after announcing that Houston is the winner of the 2013 Broad Prize for Urban Education. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for The Broad Foundation/AP Images)
Houston has long been a darling of education reformers with its extensive and deeply rooted charter school network and experimentation with controversial ideas like merit pay for teachers. Still, the city’s efforts to shake up its education system tend to get less notice than places like New Orleans or Washington, D.C., where reforms have led to heated and sometimes vitriolic debates about the role of teachers unions, charter schools and accountability for teachers.
Houston is getting more attention lately, though, both good andbad, for its long-running reform agenda. One of its main local charter school networks is about to go national, and it just won its second Broad Prize at a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday after winning in the prize’s first year in 2002.
The Broad Prize recognizes advances made in student achievement in urban school districts. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan presented the prize, which will pay for $550,000 in college scholarship money for Houston students.
Headed by Superintendent Terry Grier since 2009, the Houston Independent School District (HISD)