No more 'F' schools in Houston: Mike Miles takes a victory lap

In 2023, 45 percent of Houston students attended a school with a "D" or "F" rating, based on scores on state tests. (The Texas Education Agency does the ratings.) Two years later, there are no "F" schools and only 7 percent are at a "D" school. Seventy-four percent of students are at an "A" or "B" rated campus, reports April Towery in the Houston Press. That's up from 35 percent in 2023.

Superintendent Mike Miles, appointed by the state to improve achievement, announced the new rankings Tuesday. He talked to Kevin Mahnken about the need "to go bold and go big."

Miles' reforms, which he calls the New Education System, seem to be paying off. “We are providing a proof point that it can be done, and that Black and brown kids challenged by poverty and language barriers can rise to high expectations," he told Mahnken. "Don’t sell them short. Don’t say it’ll take eight years or five years to do it.”

Miles thinks raising achievement will reduce declining enrollment. "Yeah, I think we can compete with the charters."