At Cherish Our Children, we are closely monitoring some innovative proposals for improving Houston schools. Our No More Victims program works with children of incarcerated parents in Houston and has proven to be an effective way to help them graduate and go on to productive lives.
We spoke at a recent city council education committee hearing that looked at a creative program in Los Angeles that brought together government and industry to run under-performing schools. In specific schools, the program was able to substantially decrease suspensions, increase graduation rates and double the percentage of students meeting math and English language skills.
Our No More Victims program has produced similar results in Houston schools for two decades. During the public comment period, COCI President Ken Wells talked about the impact of No More Victims:
As background, many Houston schools have struggled with low graduation rates and academic performance for years and hurricane Harvey set back efforts to improve them. Recently the Mayor’s office floated a plan to partner with business leaders and foundations to take on management of some of Houston’s most challenged schools.