The Equity Project

Investigating Equity in Art Course Taking Across Houston ISD High Schools

This brief investigates the extent to which national trends in inequitable arts learning opportunity, at least in terms of secondary school course offerings and enrollment, occur in the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

Campus Variation in Grade Retention and Course Failure Rates After Attending Summer School in Houston ISD

This brief examines the summer school program in Houston ISD and identifies schools and/or students that may need additional resources during summer school.

Examining Equitable Access to Health Resources, Support Staff and Technology Across HISD

This series of briefs examines whether HISD students across campuses have equitable access to health resources, support staff and technology.

Equity in the Classroom: Teacher Qualifications and Student Outcomes in HISD (Briefs 1-3)

This series of briefs focuses on teacher qualifications and student outcomes in the Houston Independent School District.

Staying in the Neighborhood: Examining Distance to Zoned Schools and Access to Transportation

This brief examines how students' living distance from their zoned school and access to district-provided school transportation impact enrollment decisions.

Social and Emotional Skills of Students in the Houston Independent School District (Briefs 2-5)

This series of briefs looks at how social and emotional skills are related to academic outcomes, absenteeism, and exclusionary discipline; the context of SSES skills; and the commonalities and differences between students’ self-ratings and teachers’ ratings of students’ SE skills.

Equity in CTE Program Availability and Access

This study examined the availability and access to Career and Technical Education programs in HISD.

HISD Student Needs Survey: Fall 2021

HISD's 2021 student needs survey measured student needs across five categories: health, mental health, basic needs, home learning environment, and enrichment activities.

Pre-K Choice and School Readiness in HISD (Part 4)

This brief serves as the fourth, and final, study in a series examining pre-K access for students in HISD.

School Suspension and Juvenile Justice Contact in the Houston Independent School District

This two-part study seeks to understand the relationship between school suspensions and juvenile justice contact in the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

Social and Emotional Skills of Students in the Houston Independent School District (Brief 1)

Two briefs analyze the social and emotional skills of a representative group of 10 and 15-year-old students in HISD.

Pre-K Preferences: How and Why HISD Parents Choose Pre-K Programs (Part 3)

The aims of this study are to identify characteristics that drive pre-k enrollment, understand where parents receive their information about HISD pre-k options, and understand parental beliefs about which program characteristics are most important.

Strategies for Increasing Access to HISD Pre-K Programs (Part 2)

This is the second in a series of briefs examining student access to Houston ISD pre-kindergarten programs. The study finds that among 2018-19 kindergarteners in HISD who did not attend HISD pre-k, about two-thirds of students likely qualified for enrollment.

Availability of and Equity in Access to HISD Pre-K Programs (Part 1)

This study attempts to identify the spatial distribution of HISD pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs across the district and better understand how program location may be associated with access and equity issues.