The Big 8 Urban Superintendents Council

Faciliated by THSP, the Big 8 Urban Superintendents Council is a group of Texas school district leaders that meet quarterly to discuss similiar challenges facing their districts. These school districts serve more than 640,000 students and include Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Ysleta.   The student populations of these districts are largely minority and economically disadvantaged (the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch ranges from 61 percent in Austin to as high as 88 percent in San Antonio).

Recently, THSP was awarded $2.9 million grant to work with eight of the largest urban school districts in Texas and a high-performing charter management organization (IDEA Public Schools) to advance the effective and timely use of data at the district, school, and classroom levels. 

“The goal of this grant is to examine the current data and information systems of these school districts and determine what information teachers need to impact student learning at the classroom level,’’ said Dr. Ana Tilton, Chief Program Officer of the Texas High School Project.  “We are excited to pilot this work with the Big 8 school districts, which will serve as learning labs to inform urban school systems across the state and the nation.”

Like many of their counterparts, the Big 8 superintendents have found that they are often data rich and information poor.

“Time and time again we saw the importance of having the right data, at the right time, and in the hands of the right people in order to improve our core business of teaching and learning,” said San Antonio ISD Superintendent Roberto Duron. “It is not enough to simply collect the data. We have to analyze various sources of data in order to arrive at a picture of what is working and how we can replicate that success.  The Big 8 grant will allow our districts to address a critical need for better and more relevant data and capitalize on the combined knowledge and skills of our districts.”

Big 8 Workspace for Grantees