Salary
HISD understands the critical importance of ensuring every child in every classroom has an effective teacher. That’s why our teachers’ starting salary is $61,500 — one of the highest in the region. In addition, the district offers various stipends and bonuses for teachers who teach in critical-needs areas or hard-to-staff schools.

 

Support
In order to have an effective teacher in every classroom, HISD invests heavily in the professional development of our educators. You may arrive on campus as a good teacher, but our goal is to make you a great teacher.

HISD knows that student achievement increases when teachers take part in purposeful development that aligns with our core values, which in turn helps all of Team HISD produce students who are Global Graduates. That’s why all HISD teachers have nine professional development days throughout the year, as well as an additional five early dismissal days that can be used for development.

And our trainings aren’t your average cookie-cutter programs. Teachers collaborate with school and/or district leaders — including appraisers, teacher leaders, mentor teachers, and instructional coaches — to create and refine professional development offerings, ensuring they can grow into all-star educators who can work with every type of student.

 

Opportunity
HISD knows that some teachers have their sights set on making an impact outside the classroom. That’s why we’ve developed the Career Pathways program, which breaks from the traditional teacher leadership model by offering meaningful opportunities for our highest-performing teachers to take on additional responsibilities, develop new skillsets, and extend their influence — all while remaining in the classroom. This model is important because many of our best teachers want to lead, but not necessarily in an administrator role.

 

HISD is a national leader among school districts when it comes to innovative programs and technology. Some of our signature initiatives include:

HISD EMERGE: Connects high-performing students from underserved backgrounds to top-tier institutions that will offer them the least financial burden and the greatest support. The program provides students and families with knowledge and access to opportunities to empower them to make the most informed decisions and reach their full potential.

HISD Wraparound Services: Comprehensive initiative to connect schools to non-academic supports. When provided in tandem with strong academics and high-quality teaching, schools can truly meet the needs of the whole child.

Opportunity Culture: An initiative that helps support and extend the reach of excellent teachers, principals, and their teams to more students, for more pay.  This initiative also provides yearlong paid residences to clinical teaching candidates, making on-the-job learning possible before teaching and leading.

 

HISD RISE: A commitment to students and families that every child will have access to great schools and programs close to where they live – in every community HISD serves.  HISD RISE focuses on improving low performing campuses quickly and permanently by providing high quality instructional talent, materials, researched based strategies, extended learning time, and robust community reinvestment and engagement. 

Dual Language: HISD is expanding its Dual Language programs, which allow students to spend a portion of their day learning in English and the rest of the day immersing themselves in culture and languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish.