HISD Brings in A&M Analyst to Look at CEP

​Dr. Roger Goddard, principal investigator and director of the Education Leadership Research Center at Texas A&M, will be assessing whether the two alternative school campuses run by Community Education Partners for the Houston ISD are a good or bad thing for the district.

Superintendent Terry Grier, speaking Saturday during a break in the school board's two-day retreat at the Post Oak Hilton, said CEP and the district have agreed upon using Goddard to evaluate the program. At the same time, Grier said, the district is "looking at other options" presumably if it decided to end its $19 million contract with the private firm headquartered in Nashville.

"Hopefully we'll have a draft of a recommendation" within a few weeks, Grier said.

Grier decided to take another look at CEP shortly after he arrived in Houston. In December, he negotiated an oral agreement with Randle Richardson of CEP to extend the contract signing until March 1 of this year. According to Grier, CEP costs the district as much as $24.5 million a year when transportation costs are factored in.

Goddard and his A&M team of researchers have previously studied public schools in Michigan.