teacher

teaching assistant

mathematics teacher

english as a second language teacher

custodian

Houston Independent School District

My work day involves coaching and providing instruction for my team.  I have a team of 12 full time staff and at times an additional 8 contractors I am responsible for leading.  With coaching comes research and problem solving which is then shared with the team.  Most of that sharing is then put into a KCS (Knowledge Centered Support) which is then made available to other IT teams and departments.

I also provide BMC FootPrints support as a co-System Administrator.  In this role we can create workspaces, add agents, create escalations and do other task that allow issues, problems, and requests to be tracked.  FootPrints also helps with reporting to give management an idea of how their groups are doing through reports and Service Level Agreement's (SLA's). 
 
After starting with an entry level position and working up to holding management positions with other companies, I've learned patience here.  I always felt I knew what patience was, but after working here now I really do know patience. Which is not a bad thing, it was actually a blessing.  I have been able to take time to learn how business works, how to manage different personalities, and see the true value in the people I am responsible for leading.  Patience has made me become a better leader. So I can easily say I have learned patience and improved leadership skills while working here.

I do not feel management is bad, but I do feel they can take excellent employees for granted. We as an IT team are always up for rewards and that shows how strong a team we have.  But I feel sometimes management forgets a team is made up of valuable employees with different skill-sets.  Management should be there to only provide direction when needed, like a coach does in sports.  Great staff will always make management look great when they are encouraged to put forth effort.  When you are taken for granted, you do not put forth your best effort.

The culture is better since I first got here.  The culture was extremely negative but has greatly improved, in my opinion.  What used to be an environment resistant to change has become one that is more accepting.  I feel the overall culture is in good standing since we all have the common goal of improving the lives of children through education.

I do not really feel this is a hard position and I’m looking for more of a challenge at this point in my life.  We have so many other important things we have to worry about in life. When I put my job into perspective, it is actually an escape for me.

The most enjoyable parts of my job are knowing I directly help and affect the lives of children in the Houston area.  In our environment the real customers are the students who we are providing support for.  With Houston ISD going totally digital, I know I am at the forefront of a change for the better.  Also, working with my team is the another enjoyable part of my job.  I feel I am an effective leader, but my team makes me look great and I appreciate them for it.

As a teacher-technologist, I have learned that all students are different and require differentiated types of tasks to achieve success. My typical day as a T-Tech include grades Prek-5th using the computer to learn a variety of tech applications and using those applications to learn reading, science, math, and writing skills. I had back to back classes, with little time to organize. So. I had to plan ahead. Many days I stayed after school until the night hours to plan and organize computer with instruction, manipulatives with charts. Technology integration is the best way to engaged students in learning in this 21st century.

Through the years, I have learned a variety of management skills as peer tutoring and small group cooperative learning These are truly ways to manage behavior as students learn. Warm fuzzies as treats and stickers sometimes help students focus and finish their work. Without a doubt, learning contracts are quite effective because they are real life, communicative and develop self esteemand self directive learning.

To help students pass standardize tests, I have also worked on Saturdays as a second language reading tutor. I was so happy to apply my knowledge and skills learned through my Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and Reading.

The most enjoyable part of my job was teaching the students and watching them learn new skills and using old skills to enhance new skills to develop creativity,

As a retired teacher, just retired Ocober 31st 2012, I loved working with my co-oworkers. We shared ideas about teaching and students learning as we met in meetings and at our workshops and at social events after school. Reading- Pajama Night and Math, Science and Technology Night was truly fun and interesting for teachers and students, Yes, I truly miss students and fellow teachers and teaching and seeing students learn. I am a giver and I love people.

The following review below is in reference to my experience with this company for the last five years...

This place is extremely  toxic, stressful and very imbalanced. The organization and structure is at best all over the place at any given time. I have exuded nothing but top performance (I rank each year in the top 5% when it comes to excellence and performance) but have felt as if I've been treated like I don't matter regardless of how well I've done for years. 

I've received highly effective employee award letters; however, the culture never seems to match up to professional standards, fairness and expectations. Every day is unpredictable and the favoritism is just starting to be too much. I have never felt that anyone I've ever worked with whomever has been afforded the ability to move forward has ever truly earned it (or that it is a real reflection of their qualification or credentials), it's seemingly about who you know and who can help you get the job [modern day nepotism].

The letters and awards is all a front; it's not about what your credentials are, but rather, if they [the people who are able to delegate your career advancement] like you and if you are friends with someone at the district office. 

Every day is almost depressing. The students are not respectful in my experience, the parents are not supportive and have no accountability and thinks that it's okay to send their children to school without values, morals, or discipline in my experience, and the administrators are inexperienced or are hardly ever willing to do the right thing, and any of the above group will throw others under the bus at a moment's notice.

I've truly tried to start anew each year, but it truly only seems to get worse and worse. I hope that future professionals who choose to enter the education to do so with caution, as it could be rewarding, but in this day and time, it's 100% politics 0% truly for the growth, balance, and future of our children.

I taught in HISD from 2006 to 2023, all at the same school, so this comes from lived experience. The best part of the district was always the students and the teachers. The kids were cool, funny, and full of potential, and most of the teachers I worked with were first-class people who truly cared and gave everything they had.

Where things broke down, in my view, was district leadership and bureaucracy. There was constant micromanagement, very little autonomy in the classroom, and a revolving door of new initiatives that were rolled out without meaningful training or support. Teachers were held accountable for outcomes but often had little control over materials, systems, or instructional decisions. That disconnect made many of us feel less like professionals and more like box-checkers.

In special education, the imbalance felt especially heavy. Too much emphasis was placed on paperwork compliance and not enough on practical support for teaching students effectively. I understand documentation matters, but when paperwork becomes the priority over children, something is off. Many of us wanted more time to plan, teach, and serve students, not spend our days buried in administrative tasks and “other duties as assigned.”

I also saw long-term underinvestment in classrooms. For example, we received student computers around 2009, and by the time I left in 2023, those devices had still not been replaced. In a digital age, that says a lot. Teachers received minimal annual step increases, yet central-office spending and top-heavy leadership always seemed to grow. It often felt like resources were moving away from classrooms rather than toward them.

To be fair, this reflects my experience before the end of the 2022–2023 school year, prior to more recent state intervention changes. Things may be different now. I sincerely hope they are. The students deserve better, and so do the educators who work hard every day to serve them.

Perhaps you are surprised to read that MEN dominate this organization. Let me explain. Although the education field is predominantly female (76%), men overwhelmingly advance to the ranks of administration as Principals, Assistant Principals, Interventionists, and SSOs. As a matter of fact, 48% of leadership are men. Well-qualified female teachers are not valued or supported in their efforts at advancement. Their are no mentors, and unless you have "friends" in HR or in administration, a strong female candidate with several years experience and advanced degrees will rarely be considered for a promotion. A man, on the other hand, can spend 3 years in the classroom and be quickly groomed for leadership. I see it all of the time. It's disgusting and disturbing. 

Another key detail about the district that you need to know is that pay is low for most positions. Administration seems to reward and value those outside of the classroom. This goes back to the male domination piece. While teachers make up the majority of the employees, their salaries are not synonymous with the district's growth. An area superintendent position receives a salary of $150,000 yearly. This person doesn't go into the schools unless it's a press opportunity. A principal receives at minimum $90,000, and at least ours, never came to work before 9:00 A.M. and left at 2:00 P.M. every day. Real leadership right? While teachers are working 10 and 12 hours for peanuts, these leaders are ruining the district. That's why there's so much turnover in the district. Other districts pay better and have less at-risk students. You have to be a little desperate or either flexible to continue working in Houston ISD.

The school that I worked as was not too bad.  At any job you are going to have good days/bad days, good customers/bad customer.  Overall, the campus I worked for wasn't too bad.  Most parents were friendly, kind and easy to talk to. Coworkers were friendly and helpful although sometimes, administrators were not dependable in certain situations.

Every day work was done but there was an unfairness when it came to non-teachers, which is the category that I was.  Had to do jobs that were technically not part of our duties without being properly compensated and at times were stretched thin when it came to overall office duties. 

At the district level, there was unfairness as well when it came to being properly compensated.  Years on the job should matter and unfortunately people who have been working for numerous years, were not compensated fairly and would sometimes be making the same amount as someone entering. Even people who get audited at the school level, do not receive compensation for high marked audits that affect school's budget and reputation.

Overall I would give the experience 3/5 because I did grow my organizational skills that I had to help with my work life.  I also learned a lot about inner workings of education that are not teacher related and how important non-teachers are to the school/district offices.  

My day started at 7:45, where we ate breakfast in the classroom. Learning started at 8:00 a.m. Reading and phonics were our morning block. Restroom breaks thrown in there as we took group restroom breaks. I was located in the furthest portable from the school. I would do a mini-lesson, facilitate student learning, and would work with students in small group based on their reading level. We then would go to specials, and then onto language arts. Small-group learning was also provided for this subject, as was every other subject. Lunch and recess followed. Then, we did our math rotations and wrapped up the school day with science and social studies. Then we would prepare for dismissal. I had bus duty. We wrote rigorous lesson plans weekly and used most of our time outside the school to complete duties as such. I learned something everyday. I absolutely loved my co-workers and my admin. The hardest part of the job would be documenting my troubled-children. This is just because I would have to take notes during the day and then transcribe them onto Review 360 (our documentation tool) after school. The best part of my job was when a student grasped what was being taught and enjoying it. I absolutely love being a teacher and do not have anything too hard that I couldn't deal with. I developed positive relationships with each student. I enjoy my job, and absolutely love fostering the minds of children. I want to be that teacher, where in 20 years, my students remember me as being someone inspirational.

Workplace culture was very uninviting. There were many disgruntle and cliquish employees that constantly watched you although they don’t know you or have never spoken to you before. It was weird. There was no flexibility for Wraparound specialist. You will often times be the last person on campus. No one else is required to work on campus until 5 daily. Only Wraparound. There is no work life balance to say you work at a school. You are constantly being micromanaged and told what you are doing wrong. There was more emphasis put on the data and all the mounds of paperwork and reports as opposed to focusing on the children and families. A typical day at work was attending the many many meetings you have to attend daily or weekly, inputting data, working on assignments and reports and possibly working with the children in between all the paperwork and meetings. With management, I guess it depends on the manager you are assigned. Please cross your fingers and hope you get a manager that actually cares about people. From day one I was told that I was behind others within my feeder pattern with my data. Although I was new to the job. I even watched as a coworker was bullied into resigning for speaking up. As long as you don’t voice your opinion and do exactly what you are told, you should be ok. The most enjoyable part of the job were the children and families.  

Houston ISD is a very demanding district that requires employees to manage multiple responsibilities at once, often with limited time and increasing expectations. A typical day in leadership involves handling instructional coaching, compliance tasks, student behavior, parent concerns, testing, meetings, and operational duties simultaneously.

The district does provide exposure to large-scale systems and fast-paced problem solving, but work-life balance can be difficult to maintain. Expectations frequently change, and communication and support can vary greatly depending on campus leadership. Many employees work well beyond contract hours to keep up with district initiatives and campus demands.

The hardest part of the job is the constant pressure, unrealistic workload expectations, and lack of consistency in support across campuses. Morale can be impacted by rapid changes and the feeling that employees are expected to continuously do more with fewer resources or less autonomy.

The most enjoyable part of the job is working with students, supporting teachers, and collaborating with dedicated coworkers who genuinely care about children and education.

The demographics of students, staffing, resources, size and condition of school and clinics varies significantly from school to school and directly impacts your position. The district is so big with cookie-cutter policies and redundant departments it is very difficult to reach the correct person for any problems or questions at the district level. My school was very welcoming, caring and helpful with anything that could be addressed on campus, but any employment related issue pay, benefits, on boarding, etc . that involved the "Hattie Mae" building - don't hold your breath on getting an answer.
Good district to start your school nursing career- you will gain experience in a large variety of medical diagnoses, procedures, emergency care and educating on healthcare issues to students and families. In addition, you will learn
school specific nursing skills and processes like ARD's , 504's and IHP's. You will also have an assigned RN Case Manager from Health and Medical Department with years of experience in school nursing to help guide and teach you throughout your time with HISD.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 10 salaries reported	$76,308 per year
Teaching assistant 2 salaries reported	$30,350 per year
Mathematics teacher 5 salaries reported	$73,266 per year
English as a second language teacher 3 salaries reported	$73,417 per year
Custodian 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour

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