Published on Sunday, June 8, 2018 at 5 a.m.
In her first few weeks as principal of Worthing High School, a cornerstone of Houston’s Sunnyside community, Khalilah Campbell-Rhone began to fully comprehend the challenge she faced turning around one of Houston ISD’s longest-failing schools.
As she roamed the halls in April 2017, Campbell-Rhone spotted students wandering around without supervision. She found kids disrespecting staff members, unafraid of punishment. In the classroom, students struggled with elementary-level math and reading concepts.
“They’re five or six grade levels behind,” Campbell-Rhone said. “It’s amazing because you’ve been at school, so where was the gap? What happened?”
It is a question Sunnyside residents have been asking for years, as Worthing has fallen from a respected HISD institution to one of the state’s lowest-performing schools.
Over the past four years, Worthing has failed to meet a single state academic accountability target — the only campus in Texas to do so. Last year, Worthing showed the third-worst academic growth out of nearly 1,600 Texas high schools on the state’s math and reading tests. Barely one-quarter of Worthing’s Class of 2016 graduates enrolled in a two- or four-year college, the lowest rate among HISD’s neighborhood schools.
Now, a reckoning has arrived. If Worthing or any of three other HISD schools do not meet state academic standards in August, they will trigger major sanctions: the Texas Education Agency will replace HISD’s locally elected school board or campuses will be shut down. To meet standard, Worthing would need to show dramatic academic growth, reversing years of decay.
The precipitous decline of Worthing, home to about 850 students, illustrates how a toxic combination of ineffective leadership and teachers, inequitable education policies and intergenerational poverty can ravage an urban neighborhood school, leaving children uneducated and unprepared to enter the workforce. It also explains why HISD finds itself on the brink of a state takeover, a potential move with seismic ramifications for the district’s future.
“It’s rock-bottom,” said the Rev. Mark Ball, who graduated from Worthing in 2002, worked there from 2008 to 2013, and now leads Ship of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Sunnyside. “We had rich history. We had potential. And somewhere down the line, we lost everything we had.”
Nearly all Worthing students deal with the effects of deep, intractable poverty that create longer odds for success in school. Worthing is surrounded by census tracts where the median household income is about $20,000, among the lowest in Texas. Sunnyside often has been labeled the most dangerous neighborhood in Houston. Few large urban public school systems have succeeded with students from such disadvantaged backgrounds.
Still, HISD leaders have been unable or unwilling in recent years to rectify long-simmering issues at the campus: constant administrative turnover, a dearth of high-quality teachers, safety concerns and few unique educational opportunities. In response, families have fled Worthing in droves to seek better opportunities for their children, causing its enrollment to plummet from 1,800 to 850 in the past two decades.
“In sixth grade, my mind was made up to not go to Worthing,” said Dynasty Stephenson, 17, a southside resident who woke up at 5 a.m. this year to catch a bus to Lamar High School, in one of Houston’s most affluent neighborhoods. “I was already looking forward to my future, trying to see what college I wanted to go to. And that’s when Worthing was the worst.”
Not about moneyThe blend of people, policies and poverty that failed Worthing also contributed to declines at HISD’s 10 longest-failing schools — all of which serve predominantly black and Hispanic children in some of Houston’s most impoverished neighborhoods. Four of those schools, including Worthing, must meet state academic standard when accountability ratings are released in August to avoid triggering the takeover or closure sanctions. The other six must meet standard this year or in August 2019, after receiving one-time accountability waivers due to Hurricane Harvey.
These schools often have failed despite major financial investments in their campuses, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of district budget documents from 2012 to 2017.
The district’s three longest-failing high schools — Kashmere, Wheatley and Worthing — are among the best-funded campuses in the district, largely due to infusions of millions of federal dollars. During the five-year stretch analyzed by the Chronicle, Kashmere received about $11,500 per student each year, Wheatley saw about $9,700 per student and Worthing got about $8,100 per student. By comparison, three of the district’s best-performing high schools — Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard and Lamar — each received about $5,000 to $5,500 per student annually.
“For us, it’s not about money,” said Campbell-Rhone, who completed her first full year as Worthing’s principal in June. “It’s just about having good people and enough time for those good people to help our kids be successful.”
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With the state threatening to take control of HISD’s school board, administrators and school board members took significant steps this year at Worthing. They installed Campbell-Rhone, who produced solid results in six years as principal of nearby Thomas Middle School, and replaced about 60 percent of Worthing’s teachers. They also dedicated nearly $1 million in additional funding for staff incentives, instructional coaches and student support services.
Immediate returns show some progress. Worthing’s passage rate on the state’s standardized algebra exam doubled this year, a stunning increase from 34 percent to 68 percent, according to preliminary results. However, early reading scores were disappointingly stagnant, making it too early to know whether Worthing finally will make the grade come August.
Terry Grier, HISD’s superintendent from 2009 to 2016, said in an interview that “I wish I had done more” to bolster Worthing as the district’s leader. He said he should have pushed harder to close Worthing and merge it with Sterling High School, located about four miles away.
“If you’re looking for blame, you certainly can blame me and others,” Grier said. “It’s not the kids. It’s not the parents. It’s got to be the adults in the building and what they’re willing to do.”
The Worthing wayWorthing High School opened in 1958 after the school’s namesake, Evan E. Worthing, bequeathed his estate for construction of a campus that would serve black students on Houston’s south side. After four years in a temporary facility, the new school officially debuted in 1962.
Although Sunnyside remained relatively impoverished, a tight-knit community and dedicated Worthing employees — including the school’s first principal, Allen E. Norton, who held his position for 20 years — ensured students received a quality education. The school produced several notable alumni: National Football League Hall-of-Famer Mike Singletary, Phi Slama Jama enforcer Larry Micheaux and U.S. Air Force pioneer Mary Johnson-Saunders, among others.
Starting in the 1980s, Sunnyside started changing. Drugs, violence and an era of mass incarceration began to afflict the neighborhood.
“Most of the kids at Worthing have somebody in the household that’s trapped in the criminal justice system — their father, their mother, their brother,” said Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who graduated from Worthing in 1972. “We were latchkey kids, but there were always people looking out for us.”
Throughout the 1990s, Worthing’s enrollment remained steady at about 2,000 and it routinely met state academic standards, buoyed by strong campus leadership.
Then, in the 2000s, enrollment and student performance began to drop. The 2016-17 school year marked an academic low point: only 28 percent of students passed the state standardized English I end-of-course exam, second-worst in Texas, and 35 percent passed the algebra end-of-course exam, last in the state.
Six principals, 10 yearsThe reasons for Worthing’s decline are numerous, complex and debatable.
Virtually all stakeholders, however, agree on one major culprit: a lack of stable leadership.
Campbell-Rhone, who took over in April 2017, is Worthing’s sixth principal in the past decade. Each of her four predecessors lasted only two years. Tamara Sterling left for a job in the Northeast. Gregory “Tod” Nix resigned when his name surfaced in connection with a test-cheating scandal. John Modest, who was hand-picked by Grier, became gravely ill and stepped down. Duane Clark was dumped as test scores tanked.
Special education teacher and head football coach Brandon Ellis, who has worked at Worthing since 2004, said administrative inconsistency caused an enormous void. The turnover dispirited high-quality staff members, many of whom have transferred to other HISD campuses, Ellis said. Studies frequently show school culture, often set by principals, ranks among the top reasons why teachers feel dissatisfied.
“I know teachers that have left here and they’re like, ‘That’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,’” Ellis said.
Throughout Worthing’s decline, district leaders have continued to put experienced, credentialed and diverse teachers in the classroom, according to district staffing records.
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However, Worthing’s teachers routinely were rated among the worst in HISD under the district’s appraisal system, which evaluates teachers based on anecdotal observations and measurable student progress. From 2011 to 2016, about 37 percent of Worthing teachers were rated “ineffective” or “needs improvement,” more than twice the district rate of 16 percent. Critics of the appraisal system, including the Houston Federation of Teachers, argue it unfairly discriminates against teachers working at historically low-performing schools.
At the same time, students have acted out in startling numbers. Over the past five years, Worthing reported the most fights relative to size — 17.2 per 100 students — of any neighborhood high school in HISD. Sterling High School ranked second at 11.5 fights per 100 students. HISD’s highest-performing campuses reported fewer than 2 fights per 100 students.
A few high-profile cases of violence at Worthing also have fed into the school’s reputation. Most notably, a gang-related shooting left an 18-year-old former student dead and five others injured during a football game on the school’s intramural field in 2011. Since then, Worthing’s enrollment has declined by 25 percent.
Other side of choiceHeading into his freshman year, Darius Hines had a decision: go to his neighborhood high school, Sterling, or travel a few extra miles and follow in his grandfather’s footsteps by attending Worthing. As he contemplated his choices, friends and community members fed Hines horror stories about Worthing — some true, some exaggerated.
“I heard that you would get jacked for your money, I heard there was a lot of gangs and violence going on at Worthing, people would smoke weed all the time, people would have sex in the bathrooms,” Hines, now 16, said.
He still chose Worthing, dedicated to carrying on his family’s local legacy. Hines is rare among HISD students. Each year, about 1,600 of the 2,400 children zoned to attend Worthing opt to leave the area. Roughly 1,200 chose other HISD schools, while 400 attended charters in 2016-17.
For those who leave, school choice can become a boon. Nearly 200 students zoned for Worthing attend Lamar High School, a 3,400-student neighborhood campus in one of Houston’s wealthiest enclaves, which boasts far more academic and extracurricular opportunities. Another 200 students attend South Early College High School or Jones Futures Academy, two campuses near Sunnyside that are tailored for college-bound kids. Another 200 students travel to eight of HISD’s most elite district-wide magnet schools, some of which rank among the best in the nation.
Stakeholders in Worthing, however, argue the school loses many potentially high-achieving students to school choice, dragging down its raw test scores and making it more difficult to meet state academic standards.
“Choice has an ugly underbelly of, ‘What do you do with the kids that are left in the schools that choose not to go?’” Grier said.
Worthing still could meet state academic standards by showing significant student progress, even if raw scores remain low. Worthing, however, has not met the state’s progress targets for four consecutive years, leading to its “improvement required” ratings.
To understand why so many students leave Worthing, HISD officials in 2016 interviewed parents in who opted for school choice. Their top answers: safety concerns, school reputation and low variety of course offerings.
Nix, who served as Worthing’s principal from 2011 to 2013, said the lack of unique programs has stunted potential growth at Worthing. In the early 2000s, Worthing offered more than a dozen vocational programs, ranging from automotive technician to cosmetology to welding. By the mid-2010s, the school was down to four such programs: agriculture, health science, hospitality and information technology. Nix, Worthing’s principal from 2011 to 2013, said he “begged” HISD administrators for more vocational offerings during his tenure, to no avail
“This district has not done a good job of giving Worthing High School a marketable program that kids want and that would retain them in the community, and maybe even attract others to come in,” Nix said.
Grier responded that the school’s vocational programs weren’t leading to industry certifications, and students needed more intensive reading and math instruction.
Rebuilding trustAny discussion about Worthing inevitably turns to a more sensitive question: what role has the Sunnyside community played in the school’s decline?
Some local advocates have grown frustrated with parents and community members, believing they should take greater responsibility for their children and neighborhood school.
“There are a number of people who are working tremendously in their efforts to turn this thing around, but it’s not enough,” said John Robinson, director of education and youth development at the Houston Area Urban League, which connects Worthing students with mentors. “It’s got to be the entire community. It’s got to be the businesses in that community, the churches in that community, the families in that community.”
Other advocates and residents say they have grown distrustful of HISD and its leaders. As an example, they point out that it took nearly a decade to complete Worthing’s $30-million expansion, far longer than any other construction project started in the district’s 2007 bond program. In addition, former HISD trustee Larry Marshall, who represented Worthing’s district from 1998 to 2013, was found civilly liable of participating in a kickback scheme while in office.
Ball, the former Worthing employee and Sunnyside pastor, said both sides share blame and must work past their squabbles for Worthing to prosper.
“We’ve moved out of the era where parent involvement is so vital and something you see all the time,” Ball said. “You don’t find that anymore because the first excuse that parents say is, ‘(HISD is) going to do whatever they want to do. They’ve been lying all this time.’”
HISD leaders hope they have started mending wounds. Campbell-Rhone said she believes administrators have restored order on campus this year, evidenced by increased attendance and fewer suspensions. New teachers have settled in, discovering two useful tactics for incentivizing performance: tapping into students’ competitive nature and rewarding gains with food.
“I feel good about where we are now. We’re going to have growth, for sure,” said Michael Judge, a math teacher with nearly three decades of experience who joined Worthing this year. “These kids, that’s one thing they bring to the table: they’re competitive, they don’t like to lose.”
The additional $1 million investment helps, Campbell-Rhone said, but retaining high-quality staff members remains the priority.
“It’s not all roses,” Campbell-Rhone said. “We have our really hard days. But I haven’t been at a school that doesn’t.”
Hines, the soon-to-be-senior at Worthing, said changes were clear this year, with teachers and administrators showing less tolerance for misbehavior. Three years after choosing Worthing over Sterling, Hines said he has not regretted his decision.
“You can see a lot of things from the outside, the bad, but you never really see the good,” Hines said. “Worthing is not just all about fighting or gang violence or anything bad like that. Worthing is great.”
About this series
This story was reported and produced in conjunction with Houston Public Media News 88.7. Parts of interviews conducted by the radio station's reporters were included in this article. To hear HPM's report on Worthing High School, click here.
Jacob Carpenter has covered K-12 education for the Houston Chronicle since June 2017, with a primary focus on the Houston Independent School District. He previously worked as an investigative fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and held multiple positions with the Naples (Fla.) Daily News. He can be reached at jacob.carpenter@chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @chronjacob.
Photos by Marie D. De Jesús
Graphics by Charles Apple
Interactive by Rachael Gleason
Design by Jordan Rubio
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