Rice expert available to discuss decentralization of HISD

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

EXPERT ALERT

David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327

Amy McCaig
amym@rice.edu
713-348-6777

Rice expert available to discuss decentralization of HISD

HOUSTON – (Feb. 28, 2018) – The decentralization of Houston Independent School District (HISD) in the 1990s was well-implemented, but components of the plan should be revisited to get more equitable distribution of funding and improvement of student achievement, according to a new research brief from Rice University’s Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC). When HISD shifted its model of budgeting and governance to a decentralized system, principals and their staff were given more control over addressing their students’ needs and campus operations.

Jodi Saxton Moon, a postdoctoral research fellow for HERC, is available to discuss the brief, which is the first in a four-part series examining the implementation and impact of the HISD decision to decentralize in the 1990s. The first brief describes how decentralization was enacted in HISD.

Over time, many key components of a strong decentralization model were implemented, but some were not.

“Decentralization remains a viable approach to the equitable distribution and management of resources in school districts,” Moon said. “When we consider HISD’s implementation, we see that there are elements to the overall structure that could be added or modified that might enhance the district’s ability to meet the needs of all students.”

Remaining briefs will investigate how well these goals have been met over time in spite of the implementation issues addressed in the first report. Part two will describe input from HISD principals and their sense of self-efficacy and capacity under the current decentralized model; part three will examine the impact of decentralization on student outcomes; and part four will examine the impact of decentralization on funding equity.

The brief is available online at http://bit.ly/2F1y08F.

To schedule an interview with Moon, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

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This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu.

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Related materials:

Houston Education Research Consortium: http://kinder.rice.edu/herc/

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