Education

Understanding Shifting Demographics in Early Education

This event will focus on the changing demographic composition of the Greater Houston region and what these trends mean for the schools, districts and organizations providing support to an evolving student population.

Houston draws talent, but how can it grow more of its own?

Greater Houston’s ever-expanding economic opportunities continue to draw thousands of out-of-towners into the area — with big investments by Apple, Nvidia and Tesla still in the pipeline.

Parental Perspectives and Experiences From HISD's Parent University

This study looks at how parent participants feel about HISD's Parent University program and if it has motivated parental engagement and advocacy in the district.

Kinder Institute Luncheon 2025

The 2025 Kinder Institute Luncheon will celebrate the institute's 15th anniversary. Findings from the 44th Kinder Houston Area Survey will also be shared.

Kinder Houston Area Survey: 2025 Results

This year’s Kinder Houston Area Survey reflects on the region’s continued growth, highlighting residents’ perspectives on what makes the area attractive as well as the challenges that stand to undermine its prosperity.

How research is helping HISD’s Sunrise Centers deliver community-driven resources to unlock student success

For many of the nearly 177,000 students in Houston ISD, access to food, clothing, shelter, health care, school supplies and other resources poses a barrier to success in the classroom. The district is counting on its Sunrise Centers to help meet those needs — and a research partnership to ensure they deliver meaningful impact on student outcomes.

Aldine ISD: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills and Campus Discipline Outcomes

The Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s Houston Education Research Consortium partnered with Aldine ISD, an urban school district serving predominantly economically disadvantaged and minority students, to better understand how self-reported teacher and student SEL skills were associated with campus disciplinary practices.

Sunrise Centers: Strengths, Challenges, and Recommendations to Enhance Family and Student Well-Being

This four-part series examines the first-year implementation of the Houston Independent School District’s (HISD) Sunrise Centers.

89th Texas Legislative Session: Priorities and Policy Views

This survey snapshot examines the top priorities for the 89th Texas Legislature among residents across the Greater Houston area, including Fort Bend, Harris and Montgomery counties.

Characteristics and Profiles of Pre-K Classrooms and Teachers in the Houston Region

This brief examines the characteristics of public pre-K teachers and classrooms in Houston-area school districts to better understand how well the programs align with research-based indicators that have been shown to produce positive student outcomes.

Student Enrollment and Mobility During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Kinder Institute for Urban Research examined patterns of student mobility, specifically students changing schools or school districts, in Houston-area school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Workforce Demand Dashboard

This dashboard connects localized workforce data to career and technical education (CTE) pathways in the Houston region to help improving the alignment between education, training, and workforce need.

How Houston's only public recovery high school is creating new paths for student success

Of all youth in Harris County, high schoolers had the highest rate of substance-involved health care facility visits and deaths from 2018-22, according to a new report.

Bilingualism is a strength Texas is failing to nurture for hundreds of thousands of students

Nearly one-fourth of all students in Texas public schools are emergent bilingual, meaning their home language is something other than English. Spanish is the most common home language among emergent bilingual students in the state, but over 60 languages are represented.

Making the case for increasing funding for Texas schools that need it most

Seventy percent of Houstonians believe schools need “significantly more” money to provide a quality education to students, a sentiment that has grown stronger since the Kinder Houston Area Survey began asking this question in the early 1990s.