HOUSTON — Houston ISD teachers are coming forward, asking KHOU 11 to investigate changes to curriculum at some schools, specifically those designated as New Education System schools. The teachers, who say they are terrified of losing their jobs for speaking up, say they reached out because they're worried about what they’re being asked to do in the classroom. They also allege the district is forcing them to discriminate against children with disabilities.
Their concerns cover a lot of ground, but many of them center around something called the Demonstration of Learning or DOL. After every lesson, students must complete the DOL, answering five questions related to the lesson.
"If they don't pass, they stay behind with their teacher and do some more guided work," explained Sim Kern, a former teacher and parent of two HISD students, who has become a voice for both groups on social media platforms, including TikTok. "If they pass that quiz, they're sent to a learning center where they sit for 45 minutes alone doing these test prep packets."
The DOL has to be completed within a set time, teachers tell KHOU 11. The uniform time prevents them from providing some accommodations for students who need them.
"For special education and 504 students, the parents and the teachers sat down and signed a contract saying, ‘We are going to provide these accommodations.’ That's the IEP. It is illegal not to give them the extra time or the oral directions or whatever it is that those students need to be successful," Kern said. "According to the Office of Civil Rights, according to the law of the land, that's discrimination because this is what these kids need to be able to access the curriculum."
KHOU 11 has verified that, in at least one school, teachers were instructed to provide accommodations only for students who passed the DOL and were sent to the school’s team center to work on a packet on their own.
"We are getting various complaints on lack of services being provided to these kids. And any time you start talking about that, you start talking about violating federal law and and the IDEA law, when you step into that realm," said Corina Ortiz, chief of staff at the Houston Federation of Teachers. "Now you're talking about compensatory time is going to be due to these kids because that's what has been prescribed in their learning plan."
Ortiz and HFT aren’t the only ones hearing from concerned teachers and parents.
"We have gotten some complaints that we're looking into to provide appropriate services or referrals," said Colleen Potts, supervising attorney at Disability Rights Texas.
The nonprofit, which protects and advocates for Texans with disabilities, went as far as setting up an email (reporthisdsped@drtx.org) that allows HISD parents to reach out if their child isn’t receiving the accommodations outlined in an IEP or 504 plan. Parents can also call 800-252-9108.
"Retaliation against the parent for accessing what is their right to do so under the law for their student with a disability, whether that's filing an OCR complaint, filing a complaint, or contacting us for advocacy services," Potts said. "That kind of retaliation is against the law."
Students receiving legally mandated accommodations is one issue teachers have with the DOL. Another is the content. KHOU 11 confirmed the essay portion of at least one DOL was generated by ChatGPT.
"Just the lack of care," said Kern. "It’s very clear whoever plugged that prompt into ChatGPT didn’t even read what came out or they would have caught the weird heading over the body paragraph. They would have caught that the conclusion sentences don’t relate to anything going on in the paragraph."
Students who pass the DOL are sent to team centers – what used to be libraries in NES and NES-aligned schools – to work on packets on their own. Some of those packets contained sexually graphic excerpts like this one from Maya Angelou’s memoir.
"I want kids to read Maya Angelou and Frederick Douglass. You know, I'm very against book bans, but to be reading it in an English class where it's being used as an independent packet for test prep?" Kern said. "These are traumatic readings. And the teacher, you know, when they're just handing this out as a test prep packet, kids might be getting triggered by the trauma of reading about this really violent stuff, reading racial slurs."
Teachers showed KHOU 11 with a copy of the district-provided lesson, which included at least four instances of the n-word.
"It's just being used for test prep, you know? Can you read this passage and answer basic summary level questions about it? And that seems so inappropriate," said Kern.
"As teachers, we live by a code of ethics. And this is a moral issue now, because what you're asking by doing things like this, you're asking teachers to harm kids, something that goes totally against our code of ethics," Ortiz added.
KHOU 11 reached out to HISD about these concerns from teachers and parents. We were told Superintendent Mike Miles would not be available for an interview by our deadline. Neither would anyone else familiar with the new curriculum.
The district provided a statement from Miles, which you can read below. Responses to KHOU 11's specific questions about lessons and students being denied accommodations were not answered by our deadline.
Statement from HISD Superintendent Mike Miles:
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.
UPDATE:
Several teachers shared that, after the initial story aired Thursday, administrators suggested accommodations would now be allowed during the DOL. KHOU 11 asked HISD for clarification and received the following statement:
"Teachers absolutely must provide the legal accommodations for our students with IEPs and 504 plans. This has been the expectation since the first day of school.
This is a place where teachers are not only encouraged but required to adapt the curriculum to the needs of individual students.
We have multiple teams in place to ensure all teachers have the guidance and support they need to provide accommodations."
Following up, KHOU 11 asked whether HISD's stance is that teachers are encouraged to adapt the new district-provided curriculum. A spokesperson responded: "We believe all teachers can and should make the lessons work for their individual classrooms."