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Windham School District highlights accountability ratings, workforce outcomes and campus-level gains
Summary
At a Windham School District board meeting, leaders reviewed district accountability measures, targets for contact hours and equivalency/diploma completions, partnerships with the Texas Workforce Investment Council and post-release employment outcomes; Hamilton campus data and career-technical programs were profiled.
Windham School District officials reported Thursday that the district earned an overall accountability rating of A for the 2024 school year and presented updated targets and outcome measures tied to student contact hours, high school equivalencies and post-release employment.
The report, delivered by Superintendent Christina Hartman and operational support supervisor Jamie Sanders, described an accountability framework used to monitor attendance, academic completions and career and technical education (CTE) outcomes across Windham’s campuses. "Windham School District collects a wide range of student related data including demographics, work history, job assignments, and disciplinary records," Sanders said, outlining data sources used to place and monitor students in programs.
Why it matters: Windham serves students in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system; its measures and employer connections are central to demonstrating program effectiveness and to aligning training with Texas workforce demand. Officials said the district uses a dashboard with eight weighted metrics that inform adjustments to program targets and classroom staffing.
Key details: For the 2024 school year the district reported an A accountability rating. Targets reported for 2024–25 included 10,667,369 student contact hours and 3,900 high school equivalencies or diplomas; proposed targets for 2025–26 were 9,791,204 contact hours and 3,000 equivalencies/diplomas to reflect smaller class sizes.
Hartman and Sanders said the district and its partners track post-entry outcomes, including whether graduates obtain jobs related to their training within 90 days of release. Sanders summarized a University of Texas at Dallas study of residents released in 2019–20 who participated in Windham programs: "participants who completed a Windham program were 10.4% less likely to recidivate than their matched peers," and participants who completed at least one CTE program had higher wage growth and placement in training-related jobs.
Board members pressed for further detail on employment outcomes and job retention. Vice Chair Faith Johnson asked whether data show where students with plumbing, HVAC or electrical certifications actually find work after release. Hartman said the district receives wage and employment files from the Texas Workforce Commission and agreed to provide a deeper, campus-level report. "We do get a file from TWC...and we're able to match their wages, their type of job back to did we train them in that field," Sanders said.
Campus spotlight: Hamilton. Principal Lindsey Vermidahl told the board the Hamilton campus serves more than 230 students and offers academics, life-skills classes and CTE programs in electrical, plumbing and HVAC. She reported 48 high school equivalency graduates (as of the most recent count), 189 industry-based certifications and 300 CHANGES life-skills completions for the year, and said the campus holds an A accountability rating and average monthly attendance of 98%.
Hamilton’s CTE detail: Electrical students can earn an NCCER electrical Level 1 certificate after 240 classroom hours (144 of which can count toward the 576 hours needed for a journeyman electrician in Texas); HVAC students can pursue EPA Section 608 refrigerant handling certification and Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation registration for technicians.
What’s next: Board members asked staff to return with more granular information on targets, classroom lengths and post-release job retention beyond the one-year measure the district already tracks. Hartman said the district will continue monthly operational reviews of CTE enrollments, program length and outcomes and will consider follow-up presentations on specific metrics to help the public and board better understand what the data mean.
Ending: Windham officials said they will share a follow-up employment-outcomes briefing and consider additional public-facing breakdowns of program length and certification impact to assist with board oversight and community partners' planning.
