hisd homework policy

Parent Survey 2022-2023

Grading Categories & Weights

Learning will count for 70% of a student’s overall average and Assessments will count for 30% of a student’s overall average.

Learning includes:

Daily- graded assessments and other products/activities that reflect students’ learning;

A balance of assignments such as classwork, quizzes, exit tickets, checkpoints, and homework;

Assessments include:

Summative assessments, tests, or projects that reflect student learning

Teachers will allow students a reasonable opportunity to make up or redo a class assignment or examination for which the student received a failing grade (EIA Legal Houston ISD 2015). In accordance with Board Policy, teachers will provide an opportunity for students to redo assignments for which they earned a failing grade.

Retests will be offered to all students who score a 75 or under on any assessments. They are responsible for getting all retest information from their teachers. Time-date

Teacher discretion for retest scoring Projects are subjected to a late penalty only.

Plagiarism/Copying /Cheating (including partial copying)

see student handbook for details Student Handbook

Academic Dishonesty

According to HISD Schools Guidelines, academic dishonesty includes cheating or copying the work of another student, plagiarism, and unauthorized communication between students during an examination.

Students found to have engaged in academic dishonesty shall be subject to disciplinary penalties and grade penalties on assignments or tests.

The determination that a student has engaged in academic dishonesty shall be based on the judgment of the classroom teacher or other supervising professional employee, taking into consideration written materials, observation, or information from students.

Academic dishonesty is a Level 2 offense and will result in an administrative referral to determine appropriate consequences.

Late Work Policy-

Late work is defined as any assignment that is not turned in during the student’s scheduled class period, at the time the teacher designates, on the day in which the assignment is due if the student is in class. The teacher will specify, in advance, the time during the period that an assignment is due. If an assignment is turned in after that time, it is considered late.

To better prepare our students for real world experiences and support students in mastery of their learning, students will be allowed a brief grace period. The grace period is intended to support students and families when there are circumstances beyond their control that prevent timely completion of assignments. However, a late penalty will be deducted from the grade of any project or assignment that is turned in after the due date or the grace period allotted for students.

T H Rogers Middle School Late Policy: The maximum penalty for late assignments - 10% off the earned grade, 10% maximum penalty

Each assignment must be turned in within two weeks (14 calendar days) of the original due date. Teachers must record the assignment as "Missing" in PowerSchool. If the missing assignment is not turned in during the window, the late assignment will not be accepted and will receive a grade of zero.

If the assignment is due within the last two weeks of the cycle, the assignment must be turned in by the Friday the cycle ends. After that, the late assignment will not be accepted and a grade of zero will be entered.

-It is the student’s responsibility to determine any make-up work assigned on the day(s) s/he was absent. Students will have five class days to complete any make-up work.

-Students are responsible for scheduling any quizzes or tests they need to make-up.

-Timeliness is essential to student success.

1st\2nd Tardy-student\teacher conference

3rd Tardy-Admin\teacher conference

4th Tardy-lunch detention

5th Tardy-double tardy detention

6th Tardy-AP consequence and discretion

Cell Phones

-Since students will have access to technology in all core classes, there is no reason to have a cell phone in the classroom (unless a teacher gives you permission).

-Teachers will take-up any visible cell phones and turn them in to Mr. Platt.

-After the first offense, students will have to pay $15 to get their cell phones back

PowerUp HUB Portal • Houston ISD

As part of PowerUp — an initiative aimed at digitally transforming 21st-century education — the HUB online platform will eventually become the center of collaboration, personalization, curriculum, instruction, and communication districtwide.

The HUB is designed to help HISD teachers do more in less time and personalize instruction for students. From planning and delivering course work to assessing and reporting student progress, teachers are pulled in different directions. But what if many of the routine tasks they do every day such as creating, collecting, and grading assignments could be automated? And what if it were easier for them to share resources with colleagues and students and develop multimedia instruction? The HUB is designed to do all this and more.

In order to succeed in today's global workforce, students must be able to think critically, make responsible decisions, communicate effectively, and be adaptable and productive. Developing these characteristics requires that students be exposed to technology, resources, and tools they will use in the real world. The HUB will allow students 24-7 access to instructional material, coursework, and digital textbooks from any device and will give them a voice and choice in their learning and in how they demonstrate mastery of a subject. With the HUB, students have a safe space for independent learning, options to submit homework and projects, the ability to collaborate and communicate with their classmates, and the ability to reflect on and take ownership of their learning through blogs, discussion boards, and ePortfolios.

HISD staff, faculty, and students can log into the HUB 24-7 from any device with Internet access using their HISD login and password. A parent component to the HUB will be unveiled in 2069.

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News from Houston ISD

Plan for the new school year with a variety of after school programs.

As the largest school district in Texas, HISD is comprised of diverse families and communities and offers a variety of after school programming to meet and accommodate a wide range of needs.

The two primary programs utilized by HISD schools are Texas ACE and CASE for Kids.

Texas Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) is a no-cost program for K-12 students in Title 1 schools. The program provides students with homework help, tutoring, and other needs-based assistance. With a focus on engaging, hands-on learning experiences, Texas ACE aims to inspire positive behavior and improved academic performance in participating students as well as offer a safe place to go outside of school hours.

Texas ACE offers sports, clubs, and enrichment activities such as youth development and project-based activities that help to nourish a desire for learning and build confidence and leadership skills. For older students, Texas ACE offers career planning support, SAT/ACT prep, and assistance with college and financial aid applications.

Texas ACE is available at the following campuses:

Elementary Schools Ashford Elementary School Billy Reagan K-8 Dogan Elementary School Foerster Elementary School Golfcrest Elementary School Highland Heights Elementary School Hilliard Elementary School Janowski Elementary School Seguin Elementary School Shadydale Elementary School Shearn Elementary School Whidby Elementary School

Middle Schools Attucks Middle School Sugar Grove Academy Middle School

High Schools Chavez High School Washington High School

The Center for Afterschool Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for Kids is an afterschool intermediary program and a branch of the Harris County Department of Education. CASE provides multiple resources for students to promote social and emotional learning sills, literacy, and enthusiasm for learning for economically disadvantaged students between the ages of four and 12, or up to age 19 with a documented disability.

CASE offers programs such as the All-Earth Ecobot challenge, a STEM competition for fourth- to eighth-grade students who are interested in engineering and robotics, and CASE Debates, a debate club where at-risk students are equipped with critical thinking skills and practice teamwork and communication.

CASE for Kids is available at the following campuses:

Benbrook Elementary School Briscoe Elementary School Burnet Elementary School Fondren Elementary School Gallegos Elementary School JP Henderson Elementary School Lockhart Elementary School Lyons Elementary School Rucker Elementary School Tijerina Elementary School

HISD’s Nutrition Services Department provides afternoon snacks at more than 120 campuses in order to ensure that students are fed as they participate in after-school activities. HISD also partners with the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Feeding Program, and students enrolled in this program are eligible to receive a complete dinner on school days. Contact your student’s campus to see if this program is available.

For students looking for something specific in an afterschool experience, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office has developed the Out2Learn Program Finder , an online database tool that includes more than 8,000 free or low-cost resources for afterschool activities in the Houston area. Users can narrow their searches by cost, zip code, and age group to find the perfect program for their child.

More after school programs may be available at other campuses. To see what programs your campus is offering, please contact your school’s after school coordinator.

For more information on the afterschool programs available at HISD campuses, visit the After School Programs website .

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Tea head mike morath visits houston isd campuses as “new education system” reforms expand.

The Texas Commissioner of Education stopped by the state’s largest school district on Tuesday, nearly a year after he announced the takeover of Houston ISD. He toured Kashmere High School, one of the first campuses to enter the reform program. 

For the first time since he announced the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District nearly a year ago , Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath visited campuses during instruction on Tuesday.

"I, of course, have visited Houston schools many times over the years, and what you can see is really a night-and-day difference in terms of the degree to which students are engaged in rigorous academic discussions," Morath said during a press conference after his visit. "It was really a holistic educational experience with joy and love and all of the zest for life that you want to see in schools."

Morath praised the "New Education System (NES)" reform program — a major part of the state-appointed administration's effort to improve student test scores. In a marked shift from HISD's previously decentralized approach, the current 85 NES campuses must use a district-approved model of instruction and centrally created curriculum. The NES program is intended to be the driving force towards ambitious, test-based goals set by his appointees, who hope to cut the gap in test scores between Black and Latino students and their white peers almost in half over the next five years.

"We can celebrate high levels of achievement in a whole host of areas, but fundamentally, one of the core duties of school is to make sure that we have an educated citizenry," he said, pointing to the importance of non-tested areas like extracurriculars and character growth. "And so we need to make sure that we do see reading, writing and math achievement in addition to growth in these other achievements."

The reforms have contributed to increased teacher turnover , mixed feelings from students facing the changes, and, in some communities, backlash from parents who aren't excited about the prospect of their schools becoming NES next year.

The centralized curriculum and staffing models remain a point of contention, with many community members speaking out against the removal of librarians and the absence of full-length books from reading classes, which Superintendent Mike Miles has said feature shorter reading passages rather than longform literature. Miles argued the curriculum represents "the best way" to teach reading and that students can read full books outside of school.

"I was in a classroom today, and the kids had full novels," Morath asserted. "So I don’t know that it’s universally true that readings are short passages. When you think about curricular design, you want to have a diversity of types of reading material that kids are exposed to."

A Houston ISD spokesperson did not immediately clarify whether students were reading passages from those novels or if the entire texts were actually part of the NES classes. Miles later said that NES does include books, assigned as homework in ninth and tenth grade.

Houston Public Media submitted a records request to see the titles of those books. The district’s response called into question Miles’ claim.

“Houston ISD students in grades 9 and 10 are not assigned book s to read in their entirety as part of the district curriculum,” the PIR office wrote in a statement. “ Homework is at the discretion of campuses and no recommendations for book reads have been made by Curriculum Design for homework .”

26 campuses, including Westbury and Sharpstown high schools, will be forced to join the reform program next year . An additional 24 schools have the option to apply to become NES by Wednesday, and the district is expected to accept up to 14 of those applications on Friday.

Prior to his appointment as education commissioner by Governor Greg Abbott, Morath served as an elected school board trustee in Dallas ISD during the same time Mike Miles was superintendent there. In Dallas, a similar but more narrow reform program implemented by Miles — " Accelerating Campus Excellence " — remains in place today.

In order for Houstonians to regain democratic control of their public school system , Houston ISD must prevent schools from constantly falling short of state standards, improve compliance in a long-troubled special education department and, at the school board level, adopt a governance approach approved by the TEA.

"My role is to name the Board of Managers and to evaluate their work," Morath explained. "Under the statute, we look at it formally after two years to see whether or not the goals — the exit criteria — have been met, how much progress has been made. Our goal is to revert to elected trustee control as quickly as possible, but we want to make sure that the reasons that necessitated the intervention in the first place have been fundamentally addressed."

Editor’s note: This story has been updated twice with information about books in NES schools. First, with an additional statement from Superintendent Miles, and second, with additional information from a public records request.

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Hisd superintendent says he will pay ‘teacher experts’ to review curriculum after inappropriate lesson appears online, the lesson plan was deemed for 8th-grade students attending nes-aligned schools.

Ninfa Saavedra , Digital Content Specialist

Rilwan Balogun , Reporter

HOUSTON – The Houston Independent School District is responding to an inappropriate lesson plan circulating on social media that was supposed to be taught to middle school students at the district’s New Education System-aligned campuses.

The image of the lesson plan sent to KPRC 2′s tip line instructed students to read a paragraph from a book published by author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. The particular paragraph in question describes an encounter between a man and a woman in a hotel room. The lesson then asks students to summarize what happened.

“I didn’t want him to think of me as a d*** teaser. A cheat. But my body wouldn’t obey. He bent and took both hands and pulled me upright,” the paragraph read, in part.

KPRC 2 immediately reached out to Houston ISD for a response. Newly-appointed superintendent Mike Miles sent us a written statement saying that the lessons given to students moving forward will be “age-appropriate” and meet his “high standards.”

Miles told KPRC 2 that this lesson was never presented to 8th-grade students and ensured the issue had been corrected on all campuses.

A spokesperson told KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun the district has hired 25 of the 32 teachers needed to review lesson plans. These are teachers who will teach half-time and “work on curriculum” the other half.

The spokesperson added that later this month, the district will launch “opportunities for teachers in each division to partner with district leaders and provide feedback to make our curriculum stronger.”

“The Academics team continues to review the development of these lesson plans but at this time we believe the inappropriate passages were due to isolated human error. The curriculum team will continue to meet throughout the week to align on expectations and quality control for lesson plans moving forward,” the spokesperson said.

Read Miles’ full statement on the incident below:

“Let me begin by assuring parents and families that the curriculum and lessons given to our students tomorrow will be age-appropriate and meet the high standards that I set when I was appointed in June. The issue with the 8th grade curriculum was discovered, corrected, and all campuses have been directed to ensure the right lessons are shared with children tomorrow. While this issue was identified and corrected before it impacted students or instruction, this does not meet the standards I set for the HISD team, and it does not meet the commitment we made to our educators and students. I have directed the Chief Academic Officer to review all the systems and processes related to curriculum creation to ensure that inappropriate content never gets to classrooms. In addition, I have already begun taking steps to strengthen our curriculum development and review processes. We are paying a team of HISD teacher-experts from each grade level and content area to review curriculum half time. They will make our lessons better and I’m grateful they will be joining the team. Next, we will be reaching out to engage our teachers district-wide and in our divisions to get feedback on the curricular resources we provide. This will help us strengthen lessons, catch errors more quickly so teachers don’t have to, and give teachers the support we promised them.”

KPRC 2 took to the streets of Houston to ask viewers their thoughts on the lesson plan.

This comes after Miles’ implemented several new changes to the district’s curriculum since the TEA takeover. Under the superintendent’s new reform model, NES, which is implemented at 28 schools in the district, there is a standardized curriculum with prepared lesson plans, reading instructions rooted in phonics and a different learning structure set out to improve student’s learning ability.

MORE ON HISD

• Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles says he needs four to five years to turn the district around
• Houston ISD votes to create committee to move forward with plans to become ‘District of Innovation’
• ‘We don’t have a voice now’: Houston ISD parents concerned as Houston-area districts praise for ‘District of Innovation’
• ‘We didn’t do well’: Houston ISD superintendent breaks down STAAR test results
• Former HISD school board discusses upcoming changes within the district

Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

About the Authors

Ninfa saavedra, rilwan balogun.

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In accordance with IUSD Board Policy 6154 the University High School Staff has collaborated to create the following Homework Policy:

Homework at University High School whether assigned in the format of reading, skill development, vocabulary practice, or extension assignments, is designed to reinforce and review the concepts and content learned in the classroom, prepare or study for assessments, and introduce upcoming lessons. Students are expected to thoughtfully approach and complete homework with the same earnest diligence that they bring to their classwork each day.

Support at School

Homework assignments will be purposeful and differentiated to meet the needs of all students. Teachers will work with their curricular levels to determine the percentage to which homework will be factored into student grades. Through cross-curricular collaboration, departments will work to minimize overlap of major assignments in order to limit an excessive work load.

University High School provides a number of resources to assist students with homework, including:

• Office Hours -  Wednesdays and Thursdays within the school day
• Library & Media Center -  Weekdays before and after school, and snack and lunch breaks
• After School Peer Tutoring -  find information here
• Canvas - https://iusd.instructure.com
• IUSD Parent Portal Online - https://my.iusd.org

Support at Home

Parents and guardians are encouraged to consistently provide a supportive and distraction-free environment for students to work independently. Additionally, parents are encouraged to check homework for completion and quality.

Academic Breaks

With the recognition that students need some time without academic homework assignments, all curricular departments will recognize an "academic break" for all students during the following calendar holiday:

Thanksgiving Break 4 day weekend in February

Special Circumstances

Parents can find information regarding homework expectations and policies from individual teachers by attending Back-to-School Night and referencing Blackboard, Parent Portal, and/or Course Expectations/Syllabi. Concerns regarding specific homework policies should be brought to the attention of the teacher via email or telephone contact.

Before or immediately after an excused absence or suspension, it is the student’s responsibility to coordinate and make up any assignment or assessment with each teacher in an agreed upon timeframe. Students are accountable for the completion of long-term assignments on pre-assigned due dates regardless of absence.

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Employees shall meet for an informal conference to try to resolve the issue. Keep in mind, informal resolutions are not required to be in writing and your typical rebuttal and grievance timelines are in full effect while trying to solve them informally.

We suggest to first: Contact HFT   for assistance and guidance, document your informal complaint with your immediate supervisor, and request an informal conference to discuss. Never hesitate to call our office at 713-623-8891.

If you do not receive the resolution you had requested during informal discussions, then pursue the grievance procedure.

HISD Policy Online – Employee Complaints/Grievances (DGBA)

Hisd grievance & dispute forms.

Click the links above for local HISD legal policy on Grievances. 

Policy clearly states that neither the Board nor the District may retaliate against an employee for filing a complaint.

• Grievances and appeals must be filed with the appropriate administrator or the Human Resources Department. Please be sure to use the proper complaint form. No new documents may be presented after the level one conference.
• “Days” are defined as business/work days.
• Typically, all grievances must be filed within 15 business days. All appeals must be filed within 10 business days. However, check your board policy for timelines.

Grievance Levels:

LEVEL 1:  Filed within 30 days from when the incident took place using the form provided by the district. All documentation must be presented at this meeting.

LEVEL 2:  If the grievant is not satisfied with the response, an appeal must be filed within 7 days with the appropriate administrator, superintendent or designee.

LEVEL 3:  If the grievant is not satisfied with the response, an appeal must be filed within 7 days with the appropriate administrator, superintendent or designee.

'It's just so stressful': HISD teachers' pay will be based on evaluations with new system

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- When Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles took over last year, he said one of his biggest goals was to change how teachers and principals in the district are evaluated and paid.

"I was heartbroken when I left. My classroom was heartbroken," Carly, a former teacher at HISD's Benbrook Elementary, said.

Carly resigned in December.

"By trying to participate under Miles' rules, I felt like I was doing more harm to the students," Carly said.

Like all 11,000 teachers in HISD, Carly was observed by school administrators much more closely than in the past year, which will likely increase.

HISD officials are working on a new system to tie teacher pay to their evaluations by 2025. There will be a curve, so the bottom percent of teachers will not be brought back.

"It's just so stressful. You could lose a job because a teacher comes in and the kids are having a bad day, and you can't even ask what's going on," a current HISD teacher said. "You just got to keep teaching and yet you're being evaluated on this. That's not right."

He asked Eyewitness News not to identify him because he feared being fired.

Hundreds of people protested the superintendent's new evaluation system for principals in March, building up to a dramatic board meeting that ended with Miles reversing his plan at 2 a.m.

The superintendent's first try at a new system for teachers was dropped after the district's teachers union filed a lawsuit.

"When you throw in having zero accountability with an elected board, our kids experience disruption hourly," Carly said.

For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook , X and Instagram .

RELATED: Leadership of HISD amid TEA takeover under fire by National Teacher's Union: 'Making it much worse'

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IPS overhauls its dress code policy: What students can and can't wear to school

Indianapolis Public Schools students will have more latitude in what they can wear to school starting next school year, after the IPS school board approved a far more lenient dress code policy late last week.

The dress code changes, along with some less major tweaks to policies on homework and gifted education, represent the results of the IPS board's months-long initiative to reevaluate jts policies to ensure more equity, fairness and cultural awareness.

Here is a look at the policies that have been changed.

Indianapolis Public Schools dress code

The most significant change entailed a complete overhaul of the district’s dress code policy, simplifying the policy from a 10-page detailed list to a three-page universal dress code policy .

The new policy states that students can dress and style their hair in whatever manner "expresses their individuality" without fear of being disciplined. Previously, IPS students were restricted to wearing only solid-colored shirts and pants and had to tuck in their shirts at all times.

The new policy gives parents the primary responsibility for their children’s clothing choices, saying that the district is “committed to racial equity in both mindset and action.”

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The new policy says students must wear:

• Tops (shirts with sleeves and that cover the midriff, blouses, sweaters, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc.);
• Bottoms (pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, etc. must be free of tears or holes and should reach their fingertips)
• Footwear (closed toed shoes only)

Students can wear head coverings for religious purposes but are not allowed to wear bonnets, durags, hats inside buildings, wave caps or other similar items.

Students won’t be allowed to wear any items that:

• Are pornographic, contain threats, or that promote illegal or violent conduct such as the unlawful use of weapons, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or drug paraphernalia.
• Demonstrate hate speech targeting certain groups based upon certain identities or display hate group affiliation.
• Intentionally show private parts. All clothing must ensure undergarments are covered.
• Cover a student’s face so they are not identifiable (except for religious or medical purposes).
• Demonstrate gang affiliation.

If a student breaks any of these dress code rules, the new policy states that they won’t be disciplined or removed from class unless they create a substantial disruption or pose a risk to the health and safety of others.

Students will not face out-of-school suspension if caught not following the dress code. However, students could face a series of consequences if caught violating the policy multiple times:

• The first offense will result in contacting a guardian or parent and the student being told to cover, change or remove the non-complying attire.
• The second offense will result in a second parent or guardian phone call and directive to change.
• The third offense will require the student and guardian to attend a “restorative conference.”

The new dress code will be in place next school year.

IPS homework policy

The change in the board policy on homework acknowledges that students come from diverse backgrounds with different access to resources and support and that teachers should take that into account when making homework assignments.

Additions to the policy state that homework should never be used as a punishment and should reinforce classroom learning, not replace it.

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The policy revisions eliminate specific language on what should be expected for homework when it comes to different grade levels.

IPS programs for gifted students

The new additions to the board policy for the gifted students programs say the board will ensure that the identification process for gifted students is “culturally responsive and unbiased.”

This means considering multiple information sources for admitting students into the gifted program including teacher recommendations, student portfolios, and parental input, in addition to standardized tests.

The policy also says the board will provide underrepresented populations with access to gifted programs.

New reporting requirements on the demographics of the students involved in the gifted program will be published on an annual basis. At least once every three years the district will conduct a review of the gifted program.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or  [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter:  @CarolineB_Indy .

Caroline’s reporting is made possible by Report for America and the  John S. and James L. Knight Foundation . 

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