The largest school district in Texas lost its elected leaders in the summer of 2023. In their place – a state-appointed board along with a leader unafraid of creating upheaval and massive changes.

It's unusual for school districts to lose local control, especially on a scale this large. Suddenly, the Houston Independent School District with its nearly 180,000 students and 11,000 teachers didn't know what would happen next. But the reforms came quickly.

What led to the takeover and what's the impact of this whole-scale, test-based reform? We go back decades to understand how a history of high-stakes testing got us here. That pressure to perform trickles down to campus leaders and teachers, to students and their parents. The stakes mount as the takeover plays out and no school is left untouched.

The Takeover is a seasonal podcast about power and public education. The first season captures 18 months of on-the-ground, neighborhood-level reporting, enterprising investigative work, and deep context about education policy and history from a range of expert researchers.

After listening to the episodes, you can reach us at takeover@houstonpublicmedia.org, fill out a survey about what you like and don’t like at this link, or leave a voicemail for us at (713) 743-6712.