I missed this originally, but now that I’ve seen it I must say, WTF?
Houston ISD’s state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles will convert four more schools into AI-focused “Future 2” schools, up from two previously announced kindergarten-to-eighth-grade schools.
But according to an internal email to campus leaders, Miles envisions the program expanding far beyond that, eventually reaching 100 HISD schools.
To start, Miles will expand the pilot of AI-focused programs to two additional elementary and two middle schools next school year, according to a March 24 email to school leaders.
That brings the total of AI-focused “Future 2” schools to six. The district’s board of managers approved the first two in February — for Gregg and Clemente Martinez elementary schools to be converted into K-8 Future 2 schools — alongside 12 school closures and consolidations.
School leaders at New Education System campuses — which follow Miles’ highly structured instruction model — can submit requests to be considered for the Future 2 pilot, according to the district document.
HISD did not respond to a request for comment about which four schools, if any, were chosen to join Future 2 and when the board of managers may vote on the expansion, if at all.
Miles wrote that he planned for 25 “Future 2” schools in the 2027-28 school year. Ultimately, he wants the district to convert up to 100 NES schools to “Future 2” schools by July 2031 — a year after his current contract with HISD ends in June 2030. The district has about 130 schools in the NES reform model.
“Beginning in that year (2027-28), the District will determine which schools will transition to the Future 2 model,” Miles wrote in the email. “While schools may express interest and those requests will be considered, participation in Future 2 will not be optional if selected; the District will make final decisions regarding the timing and selection of schools for conversion.”
Elected trustee Plácido Gómez warned against charging toward the creation of AI-focused schools. There was a big push to roll out iPads and laptops into classrooms when he started teaching in 2013.
“What these edtech programs tend to do is: they use the same model as social media addiction by having games and gimmicks and short bursts of dopamine… which really isn’t the same thing as learning,” Gómez said. He and other elected trustees have no decision-making power during the state takeover.
The big push toward that technology in the classroom was “a colossal waste of money,” Gómez said.
“I am extremely concerned that the field of education in general is extremely susceptible to fads, and we love the shiny new thing,” Gómez said. “So now shifting over to AI … it seems like it’s a shiny new toy that we’re jumping at. And is it true that AI is extremely important in the job market and will be more important in the very near future? Yes, absolutely it is. But that doesn’t mean that we have to be jumpy about making sure it’s in the classrooms. Reading is important. Knowing how to do that is important. Knowing how to do math is important.”
I almost don’t know where to start with this, because with Mike Miles it feels like we’re constantly having a barrage of bullshit hurled at us. My first question is how the hell is any of this within the scope of his mission to bring the performance of a certain number of schools on their accountability tests up to prescribed levels? If he wanted to install Bitcoin miners at the schools targeted for closure and create his own memecoin as a means to paying for his NES programs, would that be allowed as well? I mean, who would stop him – he’s the TEA’s golden child and the Board of Managers reports to him. Someone wake up Harold Dutton and ask him if this is what he had in mind with that takeover law he wrote.
Maybe if there was evidence that any of this improved academic and employment outcomes for students, this would make sense. But of course there isn’t any of that – this is all brand new and highly speculative. Plácido Gómez is right, we’re being sold a bill of goods by hucksters, and I’d say there’s a decent chance that somewhere along the line, Mike Miles or people he knows will be making a buck off if it, because he’s good at that. Maybe if there were actual oversight in place, I’d be less worried about that. But here we are.
On that topic, you should also read this article, in which research about the HISD takeover was presented by three researchers at a Rice University symposium. You can see the Zoom presentation, which includes an AI-generate transcript that is occasionally a bit hard to follow, here. The topics were on how Miles has modeled HISD on the military, how the future is “fixed” by HISD, and how it sucks to be a teacher in HISD now. That’s a gift article so go read it, but I want to highlight the second item, since it’s a bit hard to capture in a short description.
Pennsylvania State University’s Corey Brautigam found that under the takeover, teachers have lost their “discretionary spaces” — moments where a teacher can further students’ learning, care for their class or dive into a spontaneous chat that piques their curiosity.
In HISD, teachers used to have more control of their instruction time and classroom setup, like whether to close a door or turn off fluorescent lights.
To understand why teachers lost this autonomy, Brautigam examined what he described as an “algorithmic logic.”
Citing examples of Miles’ presentations of his vision for HISD, Brautigam observed how the superintendent used futuristic imagery, called the district’s plan “Destination 2035,” and depicted the future “radically different from the past or the present.”
Brautigam emphasized that Miles depicts the future as “fixed” and “imminent.”
“It’s already set,” Brautigam said. “2035 is determined, which positions the community, teachers, students as unable to act on the future. They are no longer dreamers, imaginers, visionaries. Instead, the best they can do is prepare for this future that is inevitably coming.”
Miles’ New Education System emphasizes efficiency, optimizes time on slides and creates pressure to keep lessons moving, Brautigam said.
“And it seems silly, but I think this is an important assertion, that the now-ness of now matters. That children, as children, matter. That the light in the classroom is important,” he said. “Not children as future adults. Not children as future workers. Not children as future producers of test scores.”
A lot to think about there. I hope more research is done on this in the future, which last I checked is still in development. Watch the presentation and read the rest.