Stephen McCanless, Superintendent, Cleveland ISD

Could you perhaps start by giving us a brief introduction to Cleveland ISD as it stands today?

Cleveland ISD is located about 35 miles northeast of Houston. We have always been a rural district. However, in 2019, the Texas Education Agency labeled Cleveland ISD the fastest-growing district in the entire State of Texas, and our fast growth continues. 

We currently have 12,300 students and are projected to have 50,000. This is what Texas calls hypergrowth. This year alone, I have enrolled 2,000 new students since August, and this growth is not projected to slow down at all. As such, we work very hard to attract new teachers to fill our classrooms and meet the needs of all the students.

What would you say are the keys to the success of Cleveland ISD?

We embrace what embodied Cleveland ISD when it was a small district. When I first came, we barely had 3,000 students. As superintendent of the district, I came as high school principal and then moved up to coordinator, director and executive director and became superintendent in November of 2021. I knew it was important to keep alive and embrace what made Cleveland what it was years ago because in a lot of communities or organizations, as they grow bigger, you have a tendency to lose your identity. I did not want to do that. As such, we embraced our logo. Our moniker is the Cleveland ISD Way.

We focused on the things that made Cleveland great in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Many of our staff graduated from Cleveland. We’re brought alive by celebrating our alumni, who work for us, highlighting them at football games and district events and letting them talk about the memorable events and times they had growing up in Cleveland. That sparked a fire in the community to get everybody excited about the Cleveland Indians once again because we are the Indians. We had more people come out to our Friday night football games, our basketball games and our volleyball games. It just really reignited the pride about being in Cleveland.

We continue to do this even with our fast growth, trying to keep the morale of the staff up and letting them know that human capital, our staff, is the most important thing we have next to the students because we wouldn’t be here without the students. We’re moving forward in a very successful way.

You obviously have a network of elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Would you tell us a little bit more about your network and the current developments to absorb this expansion that you are undertaking?

When I first came here in 2013, we had five campuses. We are currently at 12 campuses. I have six elementary schools. They serve grades pre-K through 5. I have two middle schools for grades sixth through eighth. Then, I have one comprehensive high school for 9 through 12. However, I pulled ninth grade out two years ago. I have a thousand ninth graders, so I put them in a repurposed elementary campus, and it is now the ninth-grade center with a thousand students. Then, our tenth through twelfth-grade campus holds 2,600 students.

We also have an accelerated high school. It’s an alternative high school that serves Grades 9 through 12 for students who are working at a different pace to graduate. They do a lot of their work on modules. Then, we have one Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, a DAEP campus where we serve grades fourth through twelfth. Students who have discipline issues go over there to do their assignments. It ties in with our student code of conduct. If they committed an infraction or broke a district rule for certain things, they were sent to the discipline school.

Are there any specific initiatives that you have undertaken that you would like to highlight? Is there anything that you feel especially proud of?

I do. We’ve actually presented at the State of Texas Superintendent Conference, and I have presented at conferences in Orlando, Florida, as well. The teacher shortage is not only in Texas; it’s across the nation, and we lack substitute teachers out here as is because we are far removed from Houston. I knew that the new school year would come in August of 2022, with the teacher shortage and lack of subs. With our student growth, we were going to have unfilled classrooms. I knew we were, and no superintendent wanted that.

I got with our human resources department, and I told them that substitute teachers don’t work every day. That’s the whole nature of being a substitute. They usually want extra money so that they might work Monday or Tuesday. Take Wednesday and Thursday off, and work Friday. They might work one day a week, and that’s just how substitutes are. They’re not meant to be long-term. 

I got with human resources and said I need to look at a different option. I need to look at people who have a degree or higher because to be a teacher, you must have a bachelor’s degree and be certified. But they’re not out there. There’s a teacher shortage, and we don’t have subs. So, let’s look at people with associate degrees.

We created a plan, which I had approved by our school district’s legal counsel, our attorney. She looked over it and said, “You most absolutely can do what you’re proposing.” I proposed it to the School Board, and they accepted. We hire people with an associate degree. They will be full-time with full benefits, insurance and everything else, like sick and local days. They will be in the classroom.

I did that because I wanted the community to know that we’re not just going to put anyone in the classroom. We want to put people in the classroom who have some education, an associate degree. Most of them are working towards a bachelor’s.

That summer of ‘22, our principals told us it was like Christmas in July. They were looking at hundreds of unfilled classrooms as we were getting ready to open in August. By creating this plan, a district adopts a plan to hire people who have associate or higher. 

Our teacher’s starting pay at the time was $61,000 a year. We were not going to pay the associate degree people $61,000. We were paying them $45,000 with full benefits. If you had a bachelor’s degree in anything, you were paid $50,000 with full benefits, and if you have a bachelor’s degree and you’re already in an ACP, a teacher program, you would make $59,000. 

As such, when you take the $61,000, and you’re only paying 45 to the associates, you’re saving $16,000. When you take the $61,000, and you only pay $50,000 to the bachelor’s, you’re saving $11,000, and then $61,000 to 59, we’re saving $2,000.

We started hiring what we call IATs, interim assignment teachers. That summer of ’22, we interviewed the principals and hired numerous people who were excited about being teachers. Still, they never could because, in Texas, you have to have a bachelor’s degree and teacher certification. With us being a DOI, a District of Innovation, not every district in Texas gets to do that, we’re able to be a little creative with our normal rules.

Now, we hired them. Let’s say we put them in an English 1 classroom. They cannot be the teacher of record. In order to be the teacher of record, you must be a certified teacher. So we put them in an English 1 classroom. Then, we invested in a technology called eGlass. eGlass is like a smart board, but it’s glass. We would put one in each classroom. We would put one in the IAT English 1 classroom, and we put one in the certified teacher English 1 classroom. What it did was allow live teaching that was going on in the certified English 1 teacher’s classroom to be projected over to the IAT English 1 classroom. The students sitting in that classroom with the IAT were seeing the instruction and the lesson of a certified English 1 teacher.

The eGlass board allows interaction. The certified teacher next door could ask students questions in the other classroom. We do this in math, science, social studies and electives. The certified teacher could be next door, asking students to solve questions. The students next door in the noncertified classroom go up. They write on the eGlass. It’s projected over each classroom so everybody learns from each other. The IAT is getting support from the certified teacher, and this proved to be so positive and successful for us.

Of course, when we first started the program, we had some IATs who said this really isn’t for me. That’s fine because they don’t have a contract like a certified teacher. We give them a memorandum of understanding. They’re employed on a day-by-day basis. They could quit at any time or we could release them at any time, whereas certified teachers have a contract. 

In the beginning, some said, “This isn’t for me. I’m going to go back to the business world.” That’s fine. I’m glad they were honest. However, we also had to exit some of them during the first few months because we discovered teaching just wasn’t for them.

That was the first year of us doing that, August of ’22. We did it the ‘22-‘23 school year, the ’23-‘24 school year, and we’re going to be starting our third year this August ’24-‘25. It has proven to be the most successful program we have ever embarked upon, and other districts in Texas have now asked us for our model. I told them you don’t just hire people with an associate to put them in the classroom. You have to have a strong support system from the curriculum department. You need to work with them and train them on curriculum, how to be effective teachers, show them about the TEKS, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, and let them go to all the staff meetings and all the training. They are treated just like a certified full-time teacher.

What did we do with the funds that were left over? Our budget was 61,000 for all certified teachers, but we are hiring associates for 45. In our second year, we decided to recapture those funds and reinvest them in them. We are paying for them to go to college and university to complete their bachelor’s and teacher certifications. We have partnerships with three universities and colleges. They gave us a discount for doing this program.

I am very proud to say that in our first year, we hired 300 people, 280 of whom were in tier 1. Tier 1 is all associate degrees. Tier 2 would have been the bachelor’s, and tier 3 would have been the bachelor’s in an ACP. Well, this year is completely different. We have 180 who are in tier 3. They will be graduating this year with their teacher certification, and they will all stay employed with us. So, over time as we did it, we helped people move up from tier 1 to tier 2 to tier 3, and we kind of created our own teacher alternative certification program.

Now, we went out of the limb to embark upon this. I’m going to tell you there were some districts around us that I heard they were saying, “Well, look at Cleveland ISD. They’re just hiring anybody off the street to put them in the classroom.” I knew that was going on. I knew there was some negativity, but I felt there was something that told me this was going to be successful. I felt good about it, and I knew we were taking a chance. The reason it was successful was because of everybody in our district, from curriculum to special programs to the deputy superintendent, the assistant sup and the teachers, embracing this program and helping these people be successful teachers.

For the ones we hired, we made a video—we have a video on YouTube of how successful the program was. They went home and told their spouses, or their nephews, or their nieces or their aunts and uncles. Some of them brought family members who are now becoming certified teachers. 

We’ve always wondered how you get people excited about going into the teaching field because that’s why there’s a shortage to begin with. Teaching, unlike in the fifties and sixties, unfortunately, no longer has that great revered look of being a great career. IATs helped rebuild that program themselves because they went home saying how great teaching is and how great working at Cleveland ISD is. They will help you go to school and help you be a successful teacher.

In our video, some people cry and say they want to be teachers forever. Thanks to Cleveland ISD because they never could afford it. Cleveland ISD invested in them. They’re finishing their certification, and they’re going to work for Cleveland ISD forever.

Other districts have asked us for our model, how we did it, the rules, what worked and what didn’t work. Since we’re going into our third year, we feel comfortable with what we’re doing because it’s like anything you do. Once you’ve got it down and your neck going, it just goes along very smoothly. 

I shared it at the conference in Orlando, Florida, and they, too, were very interested in how Cleveland ISD solved the teacher shortage puzzle. I’m glad to say every one of our classrooms is filled with someone with an associate degree or higher, and we’ve met some amazing people. Even when I was a campus principal, I used to walk the halls on days when teachers were absent. They were sick, or they were at workshops, and I would be like, who’s in that classroom? Well, that’s a substitute. We have some substitute teachers who are truly more amazing than regular certified teachers. I remember those days when I was a principal. 

There is untapped potential in our society of great teachers who don’t know they’re great teachers. They just have no idea. When we started this IAT program, we gave them an opportunity to come in and try out teaching. It really did ignite something in them, and now they’re becoming certified. I get excited about it because I’ve watched this transition from the very beginning, baby steps, to the successful program it is now. 

We’ll continue to do it and advertise. We’re advertising now, and more people with associates are applying. We’ll get them into these classrooms and interact with students. We’ll support them, be role models for them and get them to be certified teachers. I hope they stay with Cleveland ISD. So far, they have because they appreciate the investment we made in them to make this successful. That is my success story at Cleveland ISD, which I did as a superintendent. 

What would be the key message that you would like to send with this piece?

I’ll just be honest. People always ask what’s wrong with education. Why is it in this state? You have to be willing to think outside the box a lot of times. I have found that in the American education system, we get stuck in this square, and we want to keep doing things the way we’ve always done them. If you keep doing that, you’re going to get the same results.

I’ve never been like that as a leader. I will keep doing the things that are successful, but I like being innovative, creative, visionary and thinking outside the box. That’s what led me to this IAT program. If the American education system is going to survive, it needs to evolve with the current times. You have to tap into the potential of the numerous Americans here who could be great teachers for our kids. If you stay in that box and think you can only be a teacher if you have a bachelor’s, if you have a certification, if you do this, if you do that, then you’re going to keep getting what you’re getting.

I’m the same way with how I lead the district—extremely innovative and forward-thinking. I tell everybody, “We are the leader in Texas now. I know there are districts bigger than us that do great things, but you’re never going to get to that top spot when you keep announcing you’re always second best. We are the best.” I tell my staff that every day. As we continue with these great, successful programs, we are helping change the American education system when you really believe in something and you’re dedicated to it. I am dedicated to my students, my staff and my community, and I’ll do whatever it takes. The main message here is that you’re going to have to think out of the box if you want to save the American education system.

Is there anything that I haven’t asked you about that you would like to mention?

You can probably tell how passionate I am. I could just sit here and talk forever about Cleveland ISD and how much I love my job. All of that comes out in the great things we do, in the YouTube videos you can find on Google, in the great things our students do and how successful they are. We don’t need big Broadway neon lights flashing to tell us how great we are. We know the good things that are going on, and I appreciate having the opportunity to share our successes with Newsweek.

I’ve been in the New York Times and spoken at various conferences, and I have some more coming up. I don’t want or need anything from it; I just want people to know that the American education system can be saved. You’re just going to have to work hard to make it happen.

What is your vision for the district, let’s say, in the next five to 10 years?

We’ve already been told we’ll have 27,000 students by 2031, which is only seven or eight years away. We will go from 12,000 to 27,000. Like most superintendents, I do a five-year plan. I have presented a 10-year plan to my School Board because we have to be ready for the growth of our facilities. We have to plan on school bonds to take to our voters.

We have to plan where these campuses and facilities will be located, so we do scatter plots to see where everyone is moving into. Now, in my school district, we have what’s called Colony Ridge. It has been in the national news for the last two years; Fox News, CNN and Glenn Beck, with his Blaze Media, have been here. The Colony Ridge Subdivision has been discussed in Washington, DC, and Capitol Hill. It has been on our governor’s special agenda, and it is on the minds of many senators.

Colony Ridge is a local subdivision, and this one subdivision is why all of my growth is coming in. That’s where the 2,000 students who moved in this year are. About 95 percent of everyone who moves in is moving into this Colony Ridge subdivision. Knowing that 95 percent of all the students moving in are down south, I told the board that we need the plan for the majority of our facilities to be built down south.

It has caused a problem with the voters up here in the main part of town. Any community would want everything built up here. If you were building a new city hall, they would want it up here. We work with the community. We do community meetings to explain to them why we need to build them down there. We could build everything up here, but you’re going to be bussing thousands of students. Now, you have fuel costs and wear and tear on your buses. Once we explained to them why we need to do what we do, they started understanding.

When you have a fast-growing community, I don’t care where it is in the United States, people cannot wrap their heads around such fast growth when you’ve been a small, quiet, rural community. We’re dealing with that, too. I empathize with them and understand where they are, but I need them to understand. This growth is coming, it’s been coming, and it’s going to keep coming.

As such, my 10-year plan includes additional campuses. When we hit 50,000 students over the next 30 years, we’re going to need 19 more elementary schools, seven more junior high middle schools, and three more high schools to accommodate this expected 50,000 students. All of that comes at a cost of $1.2 billion, which we will need to get in bonds over the next five, 10, 15 and 20 years. As such, we work to build great relationships with our voters to get them to embrace the needs we have. 

My long-term plan is unlike most superintendents. No one is growing like this in Texas. I interact with the lieutenant governor, other senators and the people. I’m on the Steering Committee for the Fast Growth Schools Committee here in Texas. As such, I get to learn about and gain more insight into the things that affect communities.

I’m not going to lie. It’s an everyday struggle for us when students move in every day to find available space and keep teachers’ morale up. We’ve been doing well so far. I just don’t want it to ever get to the day when we can’t keep up. Our goal right now is to pass bonds to build the facilities.

We’re going to be good. We’ve been good. We’ve been making it work. I’m a very positive person. The glass is half full, and you have to like this job. I’m like that as a person. There’s so much good out there. When you focus on the good, you can process and deal with the negative. You focus on the good, and you move forward. That’s what we do here.