Richardson ISD will focus on academic growth, staff retention and strengthening instruction in its 2026-27 District Improvement Plan.
District officials presented proposed objectives to the school board on Sept. 17. The plan is set for official board approval on Oct. 15.
The overview
Every school district is required by the state to annually develop, review and revise a data-driven District Improvement Plan, said Jennie Bates, assistant superintendent for school leadership and superintendent support.
Bates highlighted five priorities for the 2026-27 DIP:
Growth: Ensuring 100% of students and staff meet growth goal expectations
Talent: Recruit and retain qualified, diverse staff
Instruction: High quality instruction for all
Engagement: Strengthening communication and connections with community
Stewardship: Ensure transparent stewardship of district resources
“We’re basically putting the culture of the district into a document,” school board President Chris Poteet said.
Bates said this year’s DIP is aligned with RISD’s Strategic Plan 2023-2028, and is also based on results of the past year’s DIP, 2026 academic performance, teacher survey results, student performance goals, District Planning Committee feedback and other measures.
The details
Bates said the District Improvement Plan, and RISD’s district-wide “North Star Goal,” targets individual growth for each student and staff member rather than a flat academic benchmark.
“It’s not always about a number, it’s about the growth in all of our students and that’s what we strive for,” Bates said.
To reach 100% of students and staff meeting their individual growth goal, the district plans to implement multi-tiered systems of support to identify and address both academic and behavioral needs of students.
On the behavioral side, this includes strengthening the district’s counseling program, trauma-informed care and character education programming.
“We need to ensure that our students, when they come to us, they’re ready to learn,” Bates said.
The DIP also includes objectives to increase training and support for students who receive special education, multilingual and gifted-and-talented services, said Kristin Leeper, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.
Leeper said district officials are also working to refine and enhance core instruction and improve accountability systems for evaluating instruction. RISD will continue to work toward all graduating students meeting the statewide standards for College, Career and Military Readiness.
While all initiatives will be applied districtwide, Leeper said RISD will prioritize supports and resources for “school improvement” campuses identified by the Texas Education Agency.
Zooming in
District officials also laid out objectives to improve recruitment and retention of teachers and staff. Chris Goodson, assistant superintendent of human resources, said RISD aims to maintain or decrease the current turnover rate and expand the pool of “highly qualified” applicants for open positions.
He said the district will provide greater professional learning opportunities and implement roundtables with teachers to address retention.
“We want to hear from them early and often, so that we are getting information back and not having to wait for an exit survey to wonder why they left,” Goodson said.
RISD also plans to develop and implement a performance management system for all employee groups, which Goodson said will be designed to provide support for staff members to improve and meet their own outcome and growth goals. Supervisors will receive training on how to document performance and provide actionable feedback.
“This is really an emphasis on providing consistent and calibrated leadership expectations for how supervisors work with their employees,” Goodson said. “It’s about supporting people, it’s about ongoing communication.”
Also of note
RISD also aims to increase business and industry partnerships and improve parent contactability through the new mass communications tool ParentSquare, said Melissa Heller, assistant superintendent of strategy and engagement.
District officials hope to ensure parents have the knowledge and resources necessary to support their students’ individual growth goals at home.
“We have already begun the work of developing a comprehensive communications and marketing plan to make sure that we’re not only sharing information at the district level, but from the campus down to the classroom level,” Heller said.
The DIP also includes operational objectives, including goals to reduce department expenses and continue to provide safe campus environments and technology infrastructure, said Mike Jasso, assistant superintendent of district operations.
What’s next
District officials will work to align the strategies from the DIP with individual campus improvement plans, and all will be presented for board approval on Oct. 15.
