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What is NES?

  • Purpose & Focus

    • Designed to concentrate extra resources, staff, and instructional time in the district's highest-need schools to boost achievement.

 

  • Academic & Structural Changes

    • Implements a standardized curriculum, tighter lesson pacing, timed classes, and new specialist courses like “Dyad” and “Art of Thinking.”

    • Spaces are provided for “Team Centers,” and lesson plans come pre-made by district curriculum teams.

 

  • Extended Support Systems

    • Teachers receive additional support: learning coaches, apprentices, and staff to offload non-instructional duties such as discipline, copying, and lesson prep.

 

  • Teacher Compensation

    • NES teachers earn significantly more: base salaries run from around $81k–86k plus stipends—commonly $10k—which often pushes the average salary near $85k.

 

  • Expanded School Day

    • Longer school hours and more structured periods are typical, reinforcing the program’s discipline and pacing priorities.

 

  • Near-Term Results

    • Data shows double-digit progress on math and reading tests in many NES schools, and Children at Risk ranked eight of the top ten most improved HISD campuses as NES schools.

 

  • NES is HISD’s bold reform effort—using more money, more structure, and more accountability—to rapidly lift outcomes in its most challenged schools.
    It offers higher teacher pay, stronger supports, and a standardized, data-driven curriculum.