What works in Houston
All catalogues · United States of America profile
Quality scores are 0–100 rubric scores; “strong evidence” reflects study design; adoptions count documented replications elsewhere. Know more
Evidence snapshot for Houston
Houston has implemented several major initiatives with mixed or promising results. Houston's bus network redesign in 2015 replaced a hub-and-spoke system with a frequent grid, expanding weekend service and reaching 95% of residents within a quarter mile of frequent service, but weekday ridership fell 8.4% in the first year while Sunday ridership rose 19.7%. The University of Houston has led research demonstrating that GPT-4-assisted grading of short-answer questions matched human grading accuracy across 3,080 responses without statistically significant differences, and deployed an AI assistant (Shasta) that handled over 32,000 conversations with an 82% resolution rate and reduced Financial Aid call volume by 28% year-over-year.
Drawn from: Houston's Bus Network Redesign (2015) — Grid Network, Weekend Gains and Early Weekday Losses · Grading at Scale — A Randomized Trial of AI vs. Human Graders Across Four Political-Science Programs · AI-Assisted Grading and Personalized Feedback in Large Political Science Classes — A Multi-University Randomized Trial from Houston · Shasta — University of Houston's AI Virtual Assistant for Financial Aid, Admissions and Registrar Services
Generated from this place's cited practices only. Always check the linked sources.
Strengths & weaknesses vs peers
Strengths
Transferability / demonstrated replication +40 pts 100 here · 60 average
Teacher capability & pedagogy +29 pts 67 here · 37 average
Inclusiveness / equity +24 pts 67 here · 43 average
Scalability & sustainability +21 pts 83 here · 62 average
Transparency, ethics & data protection +9 pts 56 here · 47 average
Weaknesses
Sustainability / continuity -12 pts 67 here · 78 average
Evidence of impact / measured results -24 pts 33 here · 57 average
Equity & inclusion -28 pts 22 here · 50 average
Score profile vs peers
Coloured bar: Houston. Grey bar: peer average across the corpus. Both on a common 0–100 scale.
Points compare this place's average on each dimension with the average across all evaluated places, on a common 0–100 scale. Know more
Top good practices here
Houston's Bus Network Redesign (2015) — Grid Network, Weekend Gains and Early Weekday Losses · 71
Grading at Scale — A Randomized Trial of AI vs. Human Graders Across Four Political-Science Programs · 67
Each number is the practice's overall 0–100 quality score against its catalogue's rubric. Know more
Recommended to adopt or replicate
Transferable practices from elsewhere that address this place's gaps.
Ciudad Mujer — El Salvador's Integrated Women's Services Programme · fit 100/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 3 other places
SASA! Community Mobilisation Programme against Intimate Partner Violence — Uganda · fit 100/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 4 other places
Karya — Fair-Wage AI Data-Work Platform Bringing Digital Income to Rural India · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
safe+natal — Comadrona-Designed Smartphone Checklist for Maternal Risk Screening in Rural Guatemala · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Digital Green — Video-Mediated Agricultural Extension · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Kartu Prakerja – National Digital Skills and Financial Inclusion Programme · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Rwanda's Land Tenure Regularization Programme — Titling Land in Women's Names · fit 90/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 6 other places
Fit estimates how well a practice matches this place, 0 (poor) to 100 (excellent); the list is ordered to favour practices that address this place's gaps. Know more