Three years in, the largest school district in Texas is preparing to launch the next evolution of the controversial reform model, with a new name: Future 2 schools. Miles has described it as his "next stage in changing the American public education system."
The campuses will maintain the NES academic curriculum while adding seminars and activities focused on preparing students for an "AI-enabled world" by teaching skills like critical thinking and collaboration, according to the district.
HISD first planned a pilot with two campuses for next school year. But now nine schools will become Future 2 and serve students in pre-K through eighth grade. The district plans to convert up to 100 NES campuses — or nearly all — to the model by July 2031. Miles told Houston Public Media that the district would also consider incorporating the model at some non-NES campuses that "want to do this."
Daniel Ernst, the interim chief artificial intelligence strategist at Texas Woman's University, said it "sounds great on paper" to prepare students for a world with artificial intelligence, and it makes sense to teach students topics like moral reasoning. However, he's concerned how fast the district plans to scale the latest version of its reform model.
"I'm in favor of being a little bit more patient," Ernst said. "They were initially piloting it in two schools, and now it's expanded to nine. My first reaction was, 'Why not see what it looks like in the two schools first before scaling it up right away?'"
The plan comes as HISD has embraced generative artificial intelligence under Miles, including a partnership with an AI company to produce thousands of reading passages and using ChatGPT to help teachers manage special education compliance.
Already some parents have decided Future 2's focus on technology goes too far and are pulling their children out of the district, but HISD says it is meant to support students' long-term future.
"The Future 2 model is not an AI school," Monica Zdrojewski, HISD's chief of staff, told the District Advisory Committee in May. "In fact, I would argue it's the opposite. It's actually looking at what are employers going to need in the future, and how are we designing a school system to help support our students in that ever-changing world."
HISD first announced in February that two schools — Clemente Martinez and Gregg elementary schools — would pilot the Future 2 model. In April, it expanded the program to seven more campuses: Bonham, Deady, Forest Brook, Hartman, Shadydale, Southmayd and Sugar Grove. All of the campuses except for C. Martinez are currently NES schools.
"On some levels, I'm like, 'Well, this all sounds reasonable,'" said Kori Stroub, the associate director of HISD research at the Houston Education Research Consortium, housed at Rice University. "Critical thinking, interactions with people, teamwork, and these things all are good things to learn. The devil's in the details: How you execute it, what are kids actually learning and how are families responding to it."
HISD did not respond to several requests for comment from the Chronicle, including a request to visit a Future 2 campus and speak to a principal.
THE NEW EDUCATION SYSTEM
Miles first launched the NES program in HISD at 85 schools during the 2023-24 school year to improve student outcomes at low-performing campuses like Wheatley and Kashmere high schools. The model has since expanded to about 130 schools and emphasizes a standardized curriculum, longer school days, timed lessons, higher pay for educators, additional support staff and tighter oversight of classroom instruction.
The district's NES schools, which receive more funding per student, have posted stronger academic growth and improved state accountability ratings than non-NES schools.
However, critics, including many HISD parents and community members, argue the model creates a rigid learning environment, fueling principal and teacher turnover and an excessive focus on test scores.
Despite the pushback, HISD is adding 11 new campuses to NES in the 2026-27 school year. In total, the district will have 131 campuses that are either NES or Future 2 next year, meaning more than half of the district's 260 campuses will be part of Miles' reform models.
FUTURE 2 CURRICULUM
While no Future 2 schools are currently up and running, Miles and other district leaders have described their curriculum and focus in board meetings and other media interviews.
NES curriculum will continue to anchor Future 2 schools: students will spend the first four hours of their school day following district-provided lessons on reading, math, science and an "Art of Thinking" course. Students who perform well on certain exams can access an accelerated, "AI-driven learning platform" for their reading and math courses, according to the district.
"Future 2 schools are NES schools but they're organized different," Miles said at a May budget workshop. "In the afternoon especially, they have more experiences and field trips."
Zdrojewski said students will then take an hour-long seminar. She said the curriculum — written by the district — will focus on deepening critical thinking and problem-solving skills, building literacy in AI and strengthening students' ability to learn, although the specifics of the seminars' instruction remains unclear.
Students will then spend two hours on experiences, which could include playing chess, rock climbing, visiting a museum or college campus, writing a pen pal or volunteering.
After school, students can join "Action Labs" for sports, music or art-related extracurricular opportunities. Students who already participate in certain activities outside of school, like a club soccer team, would get credit for the "Action Labs."
Angelica Cerda said she's excited that her child's campus, Forest Brook Middle School, will become a Future 2 school. She believes her daughter, a sixth grader, will get to experience activities that she didn't have before, like learning a musical instrument.
"They'll have a way to express themselves," Cerda said in Spanish. "It's something new for them."
Future 2 campuses will have extended hours from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the school day starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. HISD expects to spend an additional $4.5 million to implement the model at nine campuses, including $675,000 for workshops, $1.35 million on extracurriculars and about $2.5 million on staffing.
All the new Future 2 campuses will enroll students in kindergarten through eighth grade. However, students in pre-K through second grade will follow the existing NES model. The Future 2 model, with seminars and activity labs, will begin in third grade and continue through eighth grade.
Karla Navarro, who has a fourth-grader at C. Martinez Elementary School, said she's concerned about the district's abrupt move to combine "big kids with smaller kids" at a K-8 campus. She plans to move her son to a school serving only students in sixth through eighth grade after the 2026-27 school year.
"He's (been) here since kindergarten, and I know he's familiar with his friends, but they're gonna bring older kids here," Navarro said. "I don't know how I feel about eighth grade kids being together with fifth graders."
CONCERNS OVER GENERATIVE AI USE
Although the model has not been implemented yet, several HISD families and community members have expressed concern over how Future 2 is expected to incorporate AI into their children's curriculum.
In addition to the AI-driven learning platform for certain students and seminars focused partially on AI, all Future 2 teachers will receive training to incorporate AI tools in the classroom. Both teachers and administrators will need to be comfortable supporting students as they navigate AI-powered platforms, according to HISD.
However, during a Houston Matters interview, Miles pushed back on the characterization of Future 2 as "AI schools." The district has said that AI will not replace teachers or independently deliver instruction at these campuses.
"For the upper grades, (there will be) a course for AI tools," Miles said in a live Q&A on HISD's YouTube. "So we're not anti-AI. We're not overwhelmed by AI. There won't be a lot of screen time, but there will be some screen time, and we're not going to apologize for that. Kids need a little bit of that if they're going to be successful in the future."
Ernst, the strategist at Texas Woman's University, said the district's plan for AI use sounds responsible, but the question will be whether it is executed as written. He said HISD needs to be careful about introducing AI too early or too broadly, so that it doesn't become a crutch, particularly for younger students.
"If it is executed the way it is (described), I think there's a lot of benefits, but the big concern, I think, is, Can we create a foundational layer of education before we introduce AI so that students can use AI more effectively?" Ernst said.
Sim Kern, the parent of an HISD third grader and outspoken critic of the district, said they couldn't believe the district decided to convert their child's D-rated school into a Future 2 campus next year with "no parent input." Kern said AI is a "dangerous, unproven technology" that HISD is going to "force upon our kids."
"A lot of the information these chatbots are putting out there is wrong, and it's just such a new technology," Kern said. "Basing an entire school model around using AI seems like human experimentation. It just seems completely unethical and disastrous."
Because HISD plans to bring the Future 2 model to their campus, Kern will pull their daughter out of the district and enroll her in a private school next school year. They said it wasn't an easy financial choice and feel furious they have to leave HISD, but three years into the takeover, this new model was the final straw.
"It's really sad to me, because I want to support public schools. I know that I don't want to be one of the families who's leaving, ... but at some point, things get so bad for your kid that you can't put them through that," Kern said.
Staff writer Nusaiba Mizan contributed to this story.
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