We commit to making HISD a great place for talented people to work and grow by transforming the ways we recruit, develop, support, and retain staff.

Great teachers, principals, and support staff make a difference for students every day, fostering schools and classrooms that allow our young people to thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the global workforce and demanded more of everyone. To emerge from this experience stronger than ever, we must reimagine the ways we attract, cultivate, and retain the best talent to serve our students.

Recruitment and Hiring: In HISD, across the state, and beyond, critical staffing shortages are a challenge. This reality also poses an opportunity to upgrade existing recruitment efforts to attract new candidates and streamline hiring so that HISD draws in the very best talent to serve our students. We will share a compelling story of HISD with prospective employees and expand the types and locations of recruitment activities to meet student needs and match candidate trends. We will move hiring timelines earlier and make processes faster and friendlier. Central staff with expertise in talent management will provide proactive and strategic support to principals and other hiring managers.

Compensation and Culture: Our vision is that HISD becomes a destination for world-class talent because of our competitive salary and benefits and a motivating culture. To recruit and retain world-class talent, we must ensure that every single HISD employee receives a compensation package that helps us compete with other districts. We will also provide incentives for teachers and other staff who choose to work in our highest-need content areas and schools. Meanwhile, we will foster community among our employees, connecting their individual interests with our mission, opportunities to serve students, and our core values.

Growing Talent: To meet the growing need for teachers and leaders, we will explore new ways to prepare our people to fill critical roles and expand the impact of effective teachers and leaders. We will implement a new instructional framework and teacher evaluation system that will assess and provide consistent feedback on teacher strengths and opportunities for growth. Through Grow Your Own programs, we will help provide current and future staff with the skills, knowledge, and certification to lead as teachers and in other roles. We will adopt innovative staffing models that provide opportunities for educators to develop their skills and expand their impact to more students.