The plan, which began in 2014 and was originally supposed to conclude by the end of the 2018-19 school year but will actually finish by the end of this school year, includes seven strategies with action plans to meet those strategies. A new five-year strategic plan with five similar strategies will go into effect at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, district officials said.
The targets include:
- Increasing the use of standards based grading for kindergarten through fifth grade
- Increasing the number of students demonstrating growth in reading, math and college and career readiness
- Implementing more safety recommendations, including audits of facilities and increasing residents’ perceptions that CCISD is safe
- Increasing the effect of core values on students’ actions to create engaged, well-rounded students
- Improving resources for parents so they know what their students are learning and doing in school
- Improving the transportation department, which is currently understaffed
- Increasing the retention rate of teachers
Progress on each of the targets will be presented around January to ensure they will be completed by the end of the school year before the new strategic plan goes into effect, said Steven Ebell, the deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
“This is a great move in these targets to transition us to the next strategic plan,” he said.
Board President Laura DuPont said the targets will help the district keep an eye on areas not assessed by state testing, such as the special education department the district is in the process of improving.
“I’m not sure STAAR [State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness] is giving a good measure of growth or performance or anything in that area,” she said.
Trustee Scott Bowen asked if the targets all have baseline data to be able to easily compare progress year over year. Ebell assured the board the district has trend data for such purposes.
“I’m very happy about the fact that every target has a measured identified and basically an idea of what success looks like,” Bowen said.
