Plan will be 'aggressive,' board chair Madison says

By: Peter Kendall
Cleburne Times-Review

July 24, 2009

Cleburne ISD’s 2009-10 District Improvement Plan, adopted at the last trustee meeting, addresses such line-item issues as TAKS scores, student dropouts, teacher performance, parent and community stakeholder involvement, environment conducive to learning, technology, safe and energy efficient facilities and financial integrity.

Board president Stu Madison calls the package “aggressive, but I like that. We’d talked for a year or two about the need to set goals we can reach for, something more than average.”

Goal No. 1 states, “Cleburne ISD will meet AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] and achieve a recognized rating by 2010.”

The goal’s objectives are “to ensure at least 75 percent of all students and student groups meet the standard on all subject area TAKS tests; ensure at least 75 percent of all students and student groups scored ‘developed’ on the TPRI and Tejas Lee; to identify and utilize other assessments that will provide timely data for intervention on students who are at-risk, performing on grade level and performing above grade level.”

Final TAKS results are expected about Aug. 1.

Last year, CISD’s only recognized campuses were Gerard, Adams and Coleman elementaries.

TAKS achievement goes hand in hand with other goals such as completion rates, teacher excellence, technology and positive learning environments.

Completion rates impact overall high school ratings. The minimum completion rate allowed is 75 percent.

This year’s completing percentage is based on the class of 2008.

School districts submitted that data to TEA in the fall of 2008. As of Thursday afternoon, Cleburne ISD had not responded to an open records request from the Times-Review for its 2008 completion percentage.

Granbury High School is believed headed for an unacceptable rating because of its 72.2 percentage.

“The board has been studying the dropout rate the last two years,” Madison said. “We need to get as much information as possible. We are aware that it could very quickly become a problem.”

CISD will continue to consider training aids for teachers.

“I think we need to be aggressive in looking for training to improve teachers we already have,” Madison said. “SCOPE [a recently adopted curriculum] is one of those things. We need to be open to new ideas, and we need to make those new ideas available to our educators. We have a great number of motivated teachers who want to see everything that’s new and innovative.”

Goal No. 4 states, “Parent and community stakeholders will be full partners with educators in the education of students.”

Among the goals objectives is “To expand the scope of communication and dissemination of information to parents and community; to increase opportunities for parental and community involvement; parents will be full partners with educators in the education of their children; and educators will prepare students to be thoughtful, active citizens who have an appreciation for the basic values of our state and national heritage and who can understand and productively function in a free enterprise society.”

Madison said he interprets parent and community stakeholders to be “parents and grandparents. There may be others who see it differently.”

Communication among educators and stakeholders is vital, Madison said.

“Teachers to parents and parents to teachers. Skyward [software that facilitates exchange of information] is a big part of that. This will be our first full year of Skyward. Parents are able to sit down at the computer and find out how their children have done for the week. The parents can e-mail questions to the teacher. Skyward vastly improves what we were doing.”

Goal No. 6 states, “Technology will be integrated into the teaching and learning process in the classroom.”

This goal’s objectives include “to integrate technology into the curriculum of all instructors in an effort to meet the needs of the students; and to instill staff confidence in technical skills and increase integration of technology to provide assistance to instructors.”

Goal No. 7 states, “Safe and energy efficient facilities will be provided that support the educational needs of all students.”

Objectives for this goal include “to provide the necessary facilities to meet future enrollment growth; to acquire and install modern technology to provide for the safety of students and staff; to provide regularly scheduled preventative maintenance and upkeep to maintain and improve current facilities; and to provide regularly scheduled replacement of furniture and fixtures to maintain and improve current facilities.”

Goal No. 8 states, “An appropriate overall financial condition of the district will be maintained through effective planning and efficient management of the budget.”

In this goal the objectives include “to maintain a superior equivalent rating on the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas; to collaborate with the district site-based team and campus staff to set resource allocation priorities; to contract with TASB to perform an independent salary study; and to contract with TASB to conduct a staffing review.”

Budget hearings will be held in the immediate future, Madison said.

He said David Johnson, chief financial officer, “is very confident we’ll get this done soon.

“I don’t anticipate any surprises in the budget. We’ll be looking at the security system for the campuses. Other than that, I don’t think we have any special projects planned.”