San Antonio Independent School District’s new High 5 instructional framework is intended to help the district avoid state intervention, according to Superintendent Adrian Bustillos. However, some teachers disagree with the plan.
“What we hear from teachers is that it’s too rigid, it’s too prescriptive, and that’s why we’ve asked the district to roll back the universality of the initiative,” said Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel.
The High 5 framework, according to SAISD, standardizes five areas:
- Classroom board configuration
- Checks for understanding
- Structured professional learning community sessions
- Campus data trackers
- Strategic walkthroughs with feedback
Classroom boards are expected to display a week’s worth of learning, including warm-ups, learning objectives, language objectives and exit assignments. Teachers are also encouraged to use activities such as turn-and-talks and whiteboard responses to check students’ understanding.
“I am having an alarming amount of conversations with veteran and early teachers alike who are seriously considering leaving the profession entirely if this charter school-like micromanagement found in SAISD’s High 5 becomes what our jobs as public school teachers are,” one SAISD teacher told the district school board.
KSAT requested an interview with someone from the district but was instead sent a statement, reading in part:
“…The initiative creates a common framework for instruction by ensuring clear learning objectives, frequent student engagement and feedback, data-driven decision-making, collaborative teacher planning, and strategic walkthroughs…”
SAISD spokesperson
David Garza, a Head Start teacher and a member of San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, also said this implementation is deterring teachers.
“I’m here speaking out against High 5,” Garza said during an SAISD school board meeting. “I heard from teachers, many of whom are in the Master Teacher program, who stated that they are willing to leave the district because of the rigidity and inflexibility of High 5.”
Lopez said some teachers were given directions on how to arrange desks, which she described as “elements that micromanage the incredible work they do day in and day out.”
One teacher speaking at the board meeting called the plan’s approach “pretty insulting to teachers with many years of experience.”
At the board meeting, Bustillos described this as a “reset year” for the district.
“Our goal, my goal here, is to help us lead,” Bustillos said. “That we do prevent a state intervention so it doesn’t happen. So, right now, this is what I feel is best.”
Bustillos said the district will collect data regularly and use students’ mid-year assessment results in January to help determine how to proceed with the program.
Lopez said teachers want district administrators to work directly with campuses that need support to determine what would help them most.
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