GenZ on the Rise: The GOP Is Pushing to Steal Students’ Votes, Rolling Stone, 11.28.23

This Nov. 28th Rolling Stone piece by Tessa Stuart made me think of this quote out of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Doesn't this resonate for the moment we're all experiencing right now? I know it does for me.

GenZ youth are a clear force in state and national politics. Born sometime around 1996-2012, they are between the ages of 10 and 27. Many of these are our students in our classes in high school or college. They're the younger ones in our graduate, especially master's, programs. 

They're unlike any previous generation. They are, for example, the most generationally diverse age-generational cohort in U.S. history (e.g., as compared to Boomers, Gen X, or Millennials). The generation following them, "Gen Alpha," will be even more diverse. Key quote:

“Young people are the reason why Biden won in 2020 and Democrats up and down the ballot won in 2022 and 2023,” says Abhi Rahman, national communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “If Gen Z continues to vote, we’re on the cusp of the most progressive era in our country’s history. Republicans know this as well, and that’s why they’re doing everything they can to stop young people from voting, including the fight for restrictions that we’re seeing play out in states like Wisconsin today.”

Yes, they are progressive and within GenZ, this attribute applies more strongly to females than males (Twenge, 2023). I can't help but think about reproduction rights and resistance to macho, misogynist culture playing into this. GenZ youth are also "digital natives." At least in developed countries, they only know this digital, online world that we have created for them—for better and for worse. Appropriately, they've normalized greater openness on mental health and illness. That's also a good thing so that folks don't suffer from stigma or fail to get the mental health services and supports they need.

The pandemic, curiously, gave not only a bump to Boomers and Gen X-ers with expanded computer skills like Zoom conference calls, but GenZ did, too, albeit from a different, more skillful starting point. 

We also got pronouns from GenZ. The right, and some on the left ,decry this, but it's probably because this generation, more than any other prior generation, has simply shown more of themselves and who they are by virtue of social media. I've been studying this for awhile. I find it all so fascinating. Pronouns are not at all about political correctness, but about inclusion in being one's full self and that's a great thing.

What works for GenZ is the one-on-one. They pay attention to people they know and trust and who are authentic with them. So they take in information not just differently, but, I think, with a modicum of healthy skepticism. Tik Tok, specifically, I hear, is also huge for information sharing within this generation and for younger millennials—and for strategizing their next moves, too. Incidentally, older Millennials prefer Instagram and Facebook. I got this specific information from a friend who works at the UT library.

My message to GenZ and younger Millennials is the following: 

First, you are genuinely feared. This Rolling Stones article attests to this.

Second, no matter what, do not let the GOP or anybody or anything try and keep you from voting. Your vote is precious, now more than ever. If all of you vote, you WILL get the outcomes you seek and you WILL position the planet for its most progressive era in human history.

Third, yes, we need world peace and I'm with you on prioritizing the environment.

Fourth, your best resistance to oppression is to resist anyone or anything that seeks to take away your right to an abundant, fulfilling life—even as you always seek justice so that all may share in this abundance.

Fifth, get grounded in community and build ethical relationships that nurture your sense of self and that speak to the value you add just by being exactly who you are. 

Finally, always be ethical and responsible in your uses of power, considering always a role that caring adults, family members and elders play, or can play, in your life as mentors, advisers, and role models. Your thriving depends on your being in community. It's great for your health!

Much love and cariño to all of you in these worst and best of times.

Peace/paz,

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Twenge, J. M. (2023). Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future. Simon and Schuster.

The GOP Is Pushing to Steal Students’ Votes

Instead, they're seeing increased turnout and lawsuits challenging new restrictions

Instead, they're seeing increased turnout and lawsuits challenging new restrictions

LAST WEEK IN Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could invalidate the state’s comically, ludicrously, preposterously gerrymandered maps. If the court strikes those maps down, it will likely mean the end of the GOP’s decadeslong domination of the statehouse — and it will be because of what happened in Dane County in April.

Almost a quarter million voters turned out in Dane, home of University of Wisconsin, for a spring special election — several thousand more voters than turned out in Milwaukee, a county with almost double Dane’s population. A staggering 82 percent of Dane voters cast ballots to elevate liberal Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court. Protasiewicz — whose vote could decide the gerrymandering case — ended up winning by 11 points.

Coming on the heels of the 2022 midterms — when Wisconsin led the nation in youth turnout in the country — the GOP judicial candidate’s April humiliation stunned the party. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker put it plainly: “Young people are the issue.”

“We’ve got to turn it around if we’re going to win again,” Walker, now the president of a conservative youth organization called Young America’s Foundation, told Fox News. The power that young voters wield was not exactly a revelation to Walker; as governor 12 years earlier, he signed a law making it harder to use a student ID to vote, prompting universities in Wisconsin to offer IDs that met the state’s new standards for free.

Student engagement has only soared in Wisconsin in the years since, but that hasn’t stopped the GOP from pulling pages from the same playbook. Across the country this year, targeted efforts to disenfranchise student voters have ramped up as election after election proved just how critical the bloc is to guarantee Democratic victories. With encouragement from influential GOP operatives, those efforts — which met with middling success in ‘23 — are poised to escalate in 2024. And they speak to a growing fear with which Republican officials and strategists regard young voters.

In Wisconsin, the GOP-controlled legislature has seized every opportunity to try and block students from voting. “We’ve seen really strong student engagement in our last couple of elections,” Morgan Hess, executive director of the Wisconsin Assembly Democrats, tells Rolling Stone. “And suddenly, we’re seeing new legislation that would prohibit student’s ability to vote.”

Hess points to GOP efforts over the past several years to make it harder to register, eliminate drop boxes, shorten early voting, increase residency requirements, and reduce polling locations — mostly in Madison and Milwaukee. “These are very targeted operations that serve to further entrench the power that they already have,” says Hess.

Months after their April routing, party functionaries at the Wisconsin GOP’s convention mulled a resolution demanding college students to vote absentee in their hometowns; one supporter of the resolution declared students had “hijacked” his city. The resolution failed to advance after another official raised the possibility that attacking students’ right to vote could backfire — an argument that seems prophetic in retrospect, as a growing number of polls show Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, outpolling Joe Biden with young voters.

Nevertheless, Republicans in state legislatures across the country this year have proposed laws targeting the student vote. In New Hampshire, House Republicans introduced a bill that would have prohibited any college students who pay out-of-state tuition from voting, and require the state’s colleges to provide the secretary of state with a list of eligible voters. Lawmakers “want the elections to be the reflection of those who reside in New Hampshire towns and who ultimately bear the consequences of the election results,” said Republican Rep. Sandra Panek, who introduced the measure in committee. (The bill was eventually killed.)

The same month, a GOP lawmaker in Texas introduced a bill that would ban polling places at colleges and universities. (That bill has not advanced out of committee.) In Virginia, there was a failed effort to repeal a law that allows anyone 16 or older to register to vote if they will be 18 by the next major election. And, according to the Voting Rights Lab, legislation seeking to change the rules around student IDs was introduced or enacted in at least 15 states this year.

It’s all part of a concerted strategy advanced by GOP operatives like Cleta Mitchell — one of the central figures behind Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. At a summit a few weeks after Wisconsin’s April special election, Mitchell told Republican donors that the party must do more to limit campus voting in swing states like Wisconsin “for any candidate other than a leftist to have a chance to WIN in 2024.”

Students and their advocates are pushing back against these efforts. In Wisconsin, leaflets distributed on campus ahead of April’s special election included information educating voters about the state’s ID requirements. In Idaho — the state that saw the largest increase in voter registrations from 18- and 19-year-olds ahead the 2022 midterms — a law set to go into effect Jan. 1, which bans the use of student IDs to register to vote or cast a ballot, is being challenged in lawsuits by the organization Babe Vote, the League of Women Voters and March for Our Lives Idaho. The groups claim that the law violates constitutional protections against age discrimination in voting.

“Young people are the reason why Biden won in 2020 and Democrats up and down the ballot won in 2022 and 2023,” says Abhi Rahman, national communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “If Gen Z continues to vote, we’re on the cusp of the most progressive era in our country’s history. Republicans know this as well, and that’s why they’re doing everything they can to stop young people from voting, including the fight for restrictions that we’re seeing play out in states like Wisconsin today.”

Cost of Turnover Calculator for Business by The Aspen Institute is Good for Cost of School & District Takeover

Thanks to University of Wisconsin Professor Anjalé Welton for helping me locate this Aspen Institute Toolkit on the cost of turnover in business. It strikes me that in this moment of school and district takeovers, that districts ought to prepare themselves and working closely with their legislators to calculate the real cost of such takeovers—also so that the public can be informed on such matters, ideally, of course, before this happens.

This published business tool by The Aspen Institute maps on fairly well in educational contexts. It doesn't capture, of course, all the grief, anger, and trauma as a real cost that we're witnessing right now in the Houston Independent School District after having gotten taken over by the Texas Education Agency. It is nevertheless helpful since folks across the political spectrum do tend to pay attention to money and finances.

-Angela Valenzuela

Cost of Turnover Tool Make the business case to improve retention through upskilling and stability 

March 2019

This Cost of Turnover Tool is a simple, “back of the envelope” calculator to help you estimate how much it costs your business to replace staff. The goal is to reasonably indicate the financial impact of turnover on your company. Some turnover costs – what we’ve called the direct cost of turnover – can typically be calculated using data collected as part of regular firm operations. Other turnover impacts like lower employee morale or poorer customer service – what we’ve called the indirect cost of turnover – are more difficult to quantify, but equally important to consider when assessing the financial impact that turnover may have on your business. Different industries experience turnover in different ways. For example, while a manufacturing firm may engage a staffing agency to hire temporary workers, a retailer is more likely to rely on a fleet of hourly workers who can quickly fill shifts. But a retail business may have longer lines and higher shrink when turnover spikes. This tool allows you to pick the expenses relevant to your organization, and calculate annual cost of turnover by estimating a few costs and using simple calculations. This information can help you make the case for investing in upskilling and other strategies to improve retention. This tool was developed jointly by UpSkill America and Reimagine Retail. To learn more about our work, visit as.pn/upskill and as.pn/reimagineretail.

Getting Started 

To use the tool, you will need to collect some data on the costs of separation associated with losing a worker and of recruiting and onboarding a new employee to work productively. To help collect this information, you should answer the following questions before you start. 

- What position or occupation do you want to calculate costs for?

 - Who do you need to collect information from? 

- Who in your organization has information about separation, hiring, and onboarding procedures and costs? 

- Who is the manager who can provide information about the effects of vacancy and procedures for onboarding new workers for this position?

Direct Cost of Turnover 

A. Estimate separation costs for 1 worker 

- Separation pay 

- Time of HR and other staff to process separation, including participating in exit interview 

B. Estimate daily vacancy costs for 1 worker

 - Typical daily overtime wages for employee(s) that fill in to cover vacant shift 

- Typical daily staffing agency cost for a temporary worker that exceeds the typical daily wage 

- Estimated lost sales from no-shows 

C. Estimate typical number of days to replace a worker 

D. CALCULATE: Total vacancy costs for 1 worker 

- Multiply daily vacancy costs (B) by days to replace a worker (C) 

E. Estimate recruitment/screening costs for 1 worker 

- Prorated cost of advertising the position 

- Prorated share of fees paid to recruiting services 

- Costs of screening and interviewing the typical number of applicants. For example: 

- Time spent reviewing applications and scheduling and conducting interviews 

- Cost of pre-employment testing; staff time to administer 

- Cost of drug screen or other background checks; include staff time to coordinate 

- Hiring bonus or incentive

Continue reading here. 

How social-emotional learning became a frontline in the battle against CRT

I came across this earlier piece and read it in tandem with this one in Vox titled, "Conservatives’ war on emotions in the classroom." While it's not always a good thing to give outrageous ideas any oxygen, both pieces point to how this remains an issue in various legislatures throughout the country while clarifying how SEL has turned into a "boogeyman." The reason seems to be that it, like CRT, is mis-represented as an identity-based curriculum that is not actually taught as such in schools. Moreover, identity-based curricula, it is presumed, equates to "indoctrination." This is an off-putting word that works primarily to put folks on the defensive.

Even if these were somehow "identity-based," it's mystifying how that's a horrible thing. We all have multiple identities. I'm not just a Mexican American, Chicana, or Indigenous, I am also a woman, a mother, grandmother, university professor, policy advocate, scholar, a loving wife, daughter, preacher's kid, military brat, and a member of the human race who dreams of an Earth-conscious, loving world of unity consciousness where our differences are honored and where all, beginning with children, are treated with dignity and respect.

Why not make all of this and more part of the curriculum? That's where it's at anyway, where the action is. It may be technically "soft," but clearly among the hardest work imaginable considering the seemingly interminable violence, war-mongering, and wars that threaten our very existence as human beings on this planet.

SEL is but a step in this direction as stated:

"You can't have those [SEL] conversations without talking about identity ... Social-emotional learning is so that people can get along better. We also have to talk about why people don't get along," Simmons says.

The story below about a school member who faces parents' concerns over SEL in actual conversations, resonates as a way to steer them in positive directions. This actually proves the point that directly addressing emotions in conflictive situations is a kind of skill and practice that helps build trust and that more of us need to have. SEL puts us on just such a path of being more intelligent with our lives and emotions.

-Angela Valenzuela

How social-emotional learning became a frontline in the battle against CRT

Cease-fire is "the only way forward to stop" the Israel-Hamas war, Jordanian ambassador says

It's hard to be a blogger in these times and not comment on the Middle East so here are a few thoughts. I think we should all heed Jordan's ambassador to the U.S. Dina Kawar's words for "strategic" thought and action, particularly in the absence of humanitarian feelings or a moral compass. 

Common ground is a call for peace.

Hence, the only way to be for both Palestinians and Israelis is to call for a ceasefire of the kind that takes leaders back to the negotiating table.

We should be additionally haunted and forewarned by Kawar's wise words that, in effect, Netanyahu is only re-creating Hamas when considering that a majority of Hamas fighters today are themselves already orphans. 

An additional 18,000 orphaned children and counting, will ultimately only find a home among other similarly orphaned children and youth, spelling ever-more trouble for Israel in the near and distant future—and just as importantly, to Gaza. Why add to that count by bombing indiscriminately? 

It is also wise and accurate to not conflate Hamas with either Palestinians or the Palestinian Authority. To understand this in greater depth, read What is the Palestinian Authority and what is its relationship with Israel?

All should also be aware that there is a growing Jewish movement for a

ceasefire and that there are organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace at national and local levels like Jewish Voice for Peace Austin that are calling for a ceasefire and asked via petition for Jews and allies to sign-on for peace on their Facebook page, as well.

Add your name now.

Sign the petition at jvp.org/ceasefire

The [New York Times] ad copy:

B’Tzelem Elohim * All life is precious

Never Again. For Anyone.

Those of us grieving both Israeli and Palestinian loved ones this week know there is no military solution. The only future is peace and safety for all – grounded in freedom, justice, and equality.

Half of Gaza’s population are children. They have nowhere to flee to. The Israeli government has trapped them in Gaza and cut their water, food, and electricity. It is starving them while bombing their neighborhoods one after another.

Join us – American Jews and allies – in demanding the Biden administration facilitate an immediate ceasefire, and stop sending the Israeli military more weapons.

Millions of lives depend on it.

All people of conscience are invited to sign on: jvp.org/ceasefire

This ad already appeared in the New York Times. There is still time to sign. I just did. Not sure whether a two-state solution is where this is all headed or something else. What we do know is that before any policy solution can occur, a ceasefire must be in place. Not a "pause" or "pauses," but a ceasefire with all the hostages, civilians, and detainees on both sides returned. 

Thanks to Gary Bledsoe for sharing this insightful peace.

Peace/paz,

-Angela Valenzuela

Cease-fire is "the only way forward to stop" the Israel-Hamas war, Jordanian ambassador says

BY CAITLIN YILEK

NOVEMBER 19, 2023 / 1:27 PM EST / CBS NEWSWashington — Jordan's ambassador to the U.S. said her country is calling for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas because her country's leaders believe the conflict will fuel radicalism. 

Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar told "Face the Nation" on Sunday that up to 18,000 children could be orphaned from the war in Gaza. 

"What do we do with that?" she asked. "Some studies have shown that some of the Hamas — the majority of Hamas fighters were orphans. Our call here is for a cease-fire. … Not because we want to think differently from the rest of the world, but because we feel that with the Arab countries and with Islamic countries, this is the only way forward to stop this war and to sit around the table and go back to negotiations." 

• Transcript: Jordanian Ambassador to the U.S. Dina Kawar on "Face the Nation" 

Kawar also questioned the strategy behind the Israeli military ordering civilians in Gaza to evacuate the northern half of the territory as it prepared for a ground invasion in the days after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants. In recent days, Israel has told Palestinians to leave parts of southern Gaza. 

"These displaced people were asked to leave the north in no time to go to the south, and now they're asked to leave the south. Didn't didn't anybody think that if Hamas is in the north, they would go to the south?" Kawar said. "Our worry is that this violence is going just to breed violence and it's putting pressure in the region. And if we cannot talk to the moral compass of the world, nor to the humanitarian feelings, let's talk strategic thinking." 

Jordan's King Abdullah has criticized the Israeli offensive, calling on the international community to push for an immediate cease-fire to end the killing of innocent Palestinians and allow humanitarian aid into the region.

U.S. officials have said anything more than a temporary cease-fire to allow for the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid would empower Hamas, while Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. 

"It is putting a lot of pressure on His Majesty, on the government because people are angry," Kawar said of whether the war could destabilize relations between Jordan and Israel. "They see the images every day. I mean, we're all angry. It's very humiliating. It's very hurtful and it's inhuman. And we're just wondering how far is this going to go? We're calling for a cease-fire. We're calling to go back to negotiations." 

Caitlin Yilek

Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at cbsnews.com and is based in Washington, D.C. 

She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a 

member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the 

National Press Foundation.

Test-Optional Policies Now Dominate Higher Ed, by Jacquelyn Elias, Chronicle of Higher Education

Many colleges and universities have prolonged their test-optional policies for this past year's 2023-24 admissions cycle, and in certain instances, for an extended period. Harvard applicants have posted this related notice on application requirements website:

"For the College Classes of 2027-2030, students may apply for admission without standardized test scores."

From College Curators, 2022-23

Similarly, UT-Austin is test-optional as are and many other highly selective institutions that you can learn about here.

It's so interesting, if not aggravating, to ponder why so many of our nation's universities are increasingly test-optional but our K-12 schools are not. What we do know is that increasing the numbers through diversity is a need for higher education institutions increasing drops in enrollment numbers (see previous blog: The Shrinking of Higher Ed In the past, colleges grew their way out of enrollment crises. This time looks different.) 

Clearly, higher education is different from K-12 public education such that we can all surmise what's going on here. I have looked at high-stakes testing over the years and land on the view this agenda is not about truly providing our children and youth with opportunity, but about profits for the test companies, while disempowering our youth who test poorly so that they don't grow up to be critical and threaten the incumbencies of those in power. Tests are also about reproducing white privilege in society and serving the neoliberal ends of privatizing, marketizing, and corporatizing public schools. 

If you know anything about how the Houston Independent School District (HISD) got taken over by Mike Miles' charter management organization, test scores are key. Accordingly, read this piece in Texas Monthly titled, "Welcome to Houston’s No-Longer-Independent School District." 

What about "test-optional?" It actually sounds patronizing to me. How about grasping the bigger story here on how these tests are anti-democratic. To be clear, I totally believe in assessment, just not these offensive mind-numbing, disempowering, reductive, and objectifying tools we have to hurt some kids, while providing others with a false sense of superiority. 

Eyes wide open. It all connects.

-Angela Valenzuela

Test-Optional Policies Now Dominate Higher Ed

By  Jacquelyn Elias

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Admissions policies that give applicants the option of whether to submit their standardized test scores have been growing steadily over the years, sparked by long-running concerns about how the tests can contribute to racial and socioeconomic inequality and more-immediate pandemic-driven logistical challenges.

Lately, a sea change has overtaken higher education: Over 800 institutions shifted to test-optional policies between the fall 2019 and fall 2021 admissions cycles, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Education. Only about 160 institutions still classify themselves as requiring test scores.

The change has become sufficiently widespread that the Education Department will incorporate choices for test-optional, test-blind, and test-required in its data collection, the first update to this part of its admissions table since it was created seven years ago.

Which institutions have made this change, and what effects has it had? See below.

What happened to test scores at test-optional institutions?

To see how submission rates and test scores changed from 2019 to 2021 at institutions that went test-optional, search below. (Go to link search 850 organizations).

Methodology

This analysis looks at over 1,400 institutions that reported their admissions data to the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (Ipeds) for the fall 2021 admissions year. The data set does not include institutions with an open-admissions policy. Only Title IV, degree-granting, four-year institutions that admitted more than 50 students in the fall of 2021 were included. For-profit institutions were excluded.

Ipeds presents four categories for universities to choose from when reporting their admissions considerations: “required,” “recommended,” “considered but not required,” or “neither required nor recommended.” Test-optional is defined as any institution that did not report that test scores were “required.” This includes all institutions that listed test scores as “recommended,” “considered but not required,” and “neither required nor recommended.”

A version of this article appeared in the December 9, 2022, issue.

It's horrible to learn that under Superintendent Mike Miles' leadership—after his and the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) takeover of Houston Independent School District (HISD)—children "are receiving no instruction or assistance in Spanish at all." Stated differently, their civil right to bilingual education is getting denied. I imagine that this will play out in court at some future point, as the damage is predictable and already evident. Special education has also been decimated (see People's Report of HISD takeover at State Board of Ed). Miles' curriculum is fully mandated and it is destroying teachers' morale.

When HISD Superintendent stated—in reference to his own teachers and community members—at a Texas Tribune Festival event in Austin last September, “If they don't want to work in that kind of culture, they need to make the decisions that's right for them,” geez, how dismissive can a public school leader be?!!!

Plus, Miles is not only being racist against Spanish-speaking children and hostile to the public, but also anti-public education itself. With his own words and arrogance, he demonstrates how his agenda falls squarely in line with the privatizers like Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and many in the Texas Republican leadership that represent urban areas as opposed to those representing rural areas that have solidly voted against vouchers.

As a public, we all need to care about HISD. A first start is to listen to the
People's Report of HISD takeover at State Board of Ed. Their testimonies begin at  1:09:00 (full testimony) on the meter with a shorter version taking place here. This is a clear attempt to dismantle public education in Houston. 

The testimonies further point to how democracy is literally at risk given that there is no one in government to whom they can appeal this decision. As Commissioner Morath himself has been inaccessible to these parents, teachers, and this community, they had no choice but to testify at the Texas State Board of Education that says it has no jurisdictional power over the matter. Even the legal advisor at the Texas SBOE didn't know where to direct those that testified.

It's all so surreal. Do listen at least to the shortened version of the testimonies on Youtube. 

It's not just an invasion, but an ambush. And the children suffer.

-Angela Valenzuela

Support for Houston ISD’s Spanish speakers has dwindled under state-appointed leader, parents say

For one reading class, Superintendent Mike Miles said instruction would focus on English, even if it meant risking state funding for dual-language programs. Parents say it goes further than that, adding that their kids are receiving no assistance in Spanish at all.

BY BRIAN LOPEZ

OCT. 3, 20235 AM CENTRAL

Celina Manzano takes her children to school at Pugh Elementary School in East Houston on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023.

For Celina Manzano, Pugh Elementary School in East Houston is no longer the welcoming place it used to be.

Manzano’s family mostly speaks Spanish, so her son Maycol’s teachers used to provide them with translations of his homework and make time for her to ask questions. But under the leadership of the state’s recently appointed superintendent, most of those teachers left after they were required to reapply for their jobs.

Accommodations for Spanish speakers are practically gone, Manzano said. Maycol, who started second grade this year, has told her he doesn’t want to go to school anymore.

It’s been over a month since the Houston Independent School District started its first school year after the state ousted its democratically elected school board and replaced the district’s previous leader with Superintendent Mike Miles. Since then, complaints have been piling up among Spanish-speaking families, who say they are not getting the support they need. In Houston ISD, about 36% of students are either bilingual or English learners.

The state’s takeover of the district was in response to years of poor academic outcomes at a single campus. Under Miles’ tenure, Pugh Elementary and more than 80 other campuses now operate under his “New Education System,” which he describes as an “innovative staffing model that puts the focus on classroom instruction and improved student outcomes.”

Classes used to be half in English and half in Spanish in dual-language schools like Pugh. Miles previously said that dual-language education would continue and even expand under the NES model, but parents say that support for Spanish speakers has dwindled.

Mike Miles, the state-appointed superintendent of Houston ISD, discusses public education in Texas' largest city at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 23, 2023. Eddie Gaspar/Texas Tribune

Credit:

In particular, the new “Science of Reading” class — based on psychology and neuroscience research on how children learn to read and the skills they need to do so — is taught only in English.

“You cannot read well if you can’t decode, and you cannot decode if you don’t do it in English,” Miles said at a community meeting in July where he explained his approach to families. “So we’re gonna do the science of reading, decoding and language comprehension in English, and then we will supplement [many English learners’ native] language, Spanish.”

Miles told The Houston Chronicle last month he would try to keep reading instruction as close as possible to the 50-50 model, but his priority would be teaching children the science of reading, even if the uneven split means losing funding. State law requires dual-language programs to divide instruction equally between English and an English learner’s native language.

Miles did not respond to an interview request or emailed questions.

Parents say the changes have gone further than that, noting that this school year their kids are receiving no instruction or assistance in Spanish at all.

Marta Quinteros said her 8-year-old son Angel struggles to speak and understand English, and she feels like the district isn’t doing enough to support her son like last year.

Quinteros said when she asked teachers and administrators at Scroggins Elementary School if they could explain lessons slower or in Spanish to her son, she was told they couldn’t.

Angel has also had issues with bullying but told Quinteros he hasn’t told anyone at school because he is afraid school officials will tell him he needs to speak English and he can’t do it that well.

“‘I’m not going to learn English, I’m not going to,”’ Quinteros said her son has told her.

Duncan Klussmann, a clinical assistant professor of school leadership at the University of Houston, said Miles’ reforms are affecting Spanish-speaking and bilingual families because they do not allow for a lot of customization in students’ learning.

“What we know about education is when 1,000 students walk into a building each day they all have very different needs that need to be addressed,” he said. “It's still yet to be seen if the system that has been put in place will address the needs of bilingual students.”

Public education observers, teachers and parents have described Miles’ leadership and vision for the district as military-like and test-score-driven.

Several Houston ISD teachers and community members have criticized him for his “my way or the highway” approach, with Miles saying that those who don’t like his changes can choose to leave the district.

“If they don't want to work in that kind of culture, they need to make the decisions that's right for them,” he said at a Texas Tribune Festival event in Austin last month.

Under the NES schools, which were selected for the most significant immediate overhauls, every teacher had to reapply for their jobs with no guarantee they would be rehired. Those who stayed are monitored to make sure they are sticking to the curriculum and instructional materials provided by Miles’ leadership team.

Educators say Miles’ system has a rigid approach to teaching. They are tasked with following a strict teaching schedule, which district leaders created to reduce the time teachers spend preparing curriculum. Detractors say it limits educators' ability to decide how to teach their classes.

Teachers who spoke to the Tribune and requested to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation said Miles’ system requires them not to spend time repeating lessons — even when they feel like students didn’t fully understand the material — and to skip any ice breakers or socializing in their classes. Miles has monitors in NES schools to make sure teachers are not deviating from the curriculum.

Miles believes the bad experiences some teachers have described are purely anecdotal and has framed them as examples of the “status quo” thinking prevalent in the state’s education system.

David DeMatthews, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin who has followed Miles’ career, said his approach will likely boost test scores. But DeMatthews doubts that such a system will produce sustainable academic improvements or help create a conducive environment for learning.

“That type of teaching is not going to be engaging over time. It's not going to be rewarding for teachers,” DeMatthews said. “This is a very fast-food approach to education.”

But Miles also has people rooting for his success. Sue Deigaard, a former Houston ISD school board member, said while she agrees that Miles’ changes have been abrupt, the district probably needed them.

“The intention to not waste another year for students who are behind is a commendable approach,” Deigaard said. “Our kids have had enough lost years.”

But she added that the new leadership could’ve done a better job at gathering input from the community, especially from people on those campuses that have experienced the greatest changes.

Klussmann said the underlying issue with the new system is whether Houston ISD leadership will give families options to opt out if it’s not working for them — especially in the midst of recent Republican efforts to allow parents to be more involved in decisions about their children’s education. One of the main arguments some Republican leaders have made for “school choice” — a proposal that would allow parents to use state funds to pay for their children’s private schooling — is that it would give low-income families more freedom to leave their school district if they’re not happy with it.

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott called state lawmakers to return to Austin for a special legislative session starting on Oct. 9. He didn't indicate what the focus of the session will be but he has long said it would be on school choice, one of his biggest priorities this year.

“State leadership and the Legislature really focused on parental choice this last year and the parents should have a say in the type of education that their child is getting, and I think [whether Houston ISD lets parents opt out] is going to be a test at the state level,” Klussmann said.

Manzano said she is lucky to live in a school zone that would allow her to switch districts if she remains unhappy with the changes at Houston ISD — she could go to Galena Park ISD east of Houston — but many parents don’t have that choice, and their kids must conform to the new rules or fall behind.

For both Manzano and Quinteros, if things don’t change, they will look elsewhere for their children’s education.

“If things continue like this, I have to take my son out of this school,” Manzano said. “I don’t like what’s going on.”

Celina Manzano's children head to school at Pugh Elementary School in East Houston.
Danielle Villasana/ Texas Tribune