The primary goal is for each campus to earn at least a "C" rating in the 2025-26 accountability year, allowing them to exit state-designated school improvement status and avoid interventions including possible closure or reconstitution by the Texas Education Agency, if the campuses receive five consecutive failing scores, per the TEA website.
"This is not something that we would do, but it could be something that is done to us,” said Jaretha Jordan, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning, at the Oct. 6 agenda review meeting. “We know just checking the boxes will not move the needle.”
The background
Jordan said the district’s turnaround plan is based on two accountability measures, including:
- The state’s rating system after receiving an F or third D without showing improvement
- Federal standards which target campuses labeled as Comprehensive Support and Improvement after ranking among the nation’s bottom 5% of Title I campuses—with more than 40% low-income students—after two consecutive years
While delays in the state’s rating system have helped the district avoid state-mandated improvement plans, several campuses have been under federal oversight, including Marshall High, McAuliffe Middle and Aldridge Elementary, which officials said in February would begin new improvement plans for the 2025–26 school year.
TEA data released in August showed that Willowridge High had returned to the federal improvement list after briefly exiting during the 2023-24 school year.
The plan
Jordan said the centerpiece of the district’s plan, dubbed “Mission Possible,” places an instructional team at each of the three schools, working weekly with campus leaders and teachers.
"We are not waiting until [the end of the] semester,” Jordan said. “We are analyzing all of their data, and we are making course corrections each and every week.”
The team’s responsibilities include:
- Providing model lessons and co-teaching in classrooms that need instructional support
- Reviewing student performance data weekly to help adjust teaching strategies
- Leading professional development sessions for teachers
- Supporting principals in strengthening their instructional leadership
- Organizing small-group instruction for students who need extra help
"We could build the most phenomenal curriculum and instruction, but without building capacity for the teachers that are in the seat, it would be all for nothing,” Jordan said. "We're not just saying, 'Here’s what to do—go do it.' We’re there with them every week."
How we got here
Trustee Angie Hanan raised concern about the elementary schools that feed into these middle schools, pointing to the academic preparedness of students arriving from elementary campuses.
McAuliffe Middle belongs to the Willowridge High feeder partner, which Community Impact reported that all campuses have been flagged through federal or state levels as in need of comprehensive improvement, due to standardized test scores that stagger behind district averages, though none have ever been faced with state intervention.
Meanwhile, Lake Olympia Middle is in the same feeder pattern as Heritage Rose Elementary and Hightower High, both receiving a D for the third year in a row since the 2022-23 school year.
Jordan said the district has implemented a “sandwich method” of intervention, working both with early elementary students and intensifying interventions for fourth and fifth graders before they transition into middle school.
Superintendent Marc Smith said that success of elementary-level intervention is evidenced in no elementary campuses being rated F for the 2024-25 school year.
Moving forward
Board President Kristin Tassin acknowledged the challenge of the $26 million budget cut but urged district leaders to prioritize and request the necessary resources to support struggling campuses despite financial constraints.
"Tell us what you need so we can prioritize those things ... because I think we all want to be sure that we are continuing to provide all the resources,” she said.
Jordan said updates on the implementation and student achievement are scheduled for the Oct. 27 board meeting. The submission to the TEA is expected for Nov. 14, per district documents.
