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More than halfway into the 2022—2023 school year, the Dripping Springs ISD Board ofTrustees has re-evaluated its priorities to gauge district progress.
The DSISD Board of Trustees provided an update at its regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 27. Its report looked at three previously established priorities: student growth and educational outcomes, communications and planning for growth. The report also looked at separate goals within each of those priorities.
Student growth and educational outcomes In November, teachers used a data protocol — referred to as a “middle of the year Measures of Academic Progress Analysis” — to analyze student growth and achievement in reading and math skills from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year. Metrics were utilized to answer four questions: what support or interventions are needed, what factors are impacting a lack of growth, what has been successful and how to challenge students further. Their goal was that 50% of students in the fourth and eighth grades would meet the national Northwest Evaluation Association MAP norm for growth.
According to the data, over half of all elementary, middle and bilingual students met or exceeded MAP norms in reading and math.
“Overall, all elementary fourth graders are growing and meeting the (NWEA MAP) projection at 54%; middle school is performing at 56.8%, for an overall total of 55%,” DSISD Assistant Superintendent Karen Kidd explained. “When broken down by math and reading, 51.1% of our elementary students are meeting the MAP goal in reading, and 55.8% are meeting the goal in math. For our middle schoolers, 52.1% are meeting the goal in reading and 62.8% are meeting the goal in math, which is really exciting.”
Special education students were the only group who fell short in meeting the norm for reading but exceeded in math.
Communications The district identified three goals within communications. Their first goal was to develop, execute and track a stakeholders’ campaign that included plans for strategic communications that targeted stakeholders without students in the district. The district’s new monthly series, titled DSISD Taxpayer Tuesday, was created in response to this goal. Each Taxpayer Tuesday meeting includes a campus tour, followed by a presentation on a specific school finance topic.
“That’s been highly successful,” said Jennifer Edwards, Executive Director of Communications.
Promotions for this goal included press releases, direct mail to nonparents, emails to parents and regular reminders on social media. According to Edwards, the district found an upward trend in all channels, with Facebook engagement making the most gains.
“I think that program is gaining momentum, we’re continuing to get good feedback, and get good questions and good engagement,” she added. “That program will continue through May.”
DSISD’s second communication goal was to evaluate and potentially redesign the district’s branding and logo. A brand audit was completed last fall. At this time, the branding and logo team is testing color variations for a recommendation in the near future, according to the district. A website redesign is also in progress.
DSISD’s third communication goal was to develop, execute and track a strategic communications plan for Superintendent Holly Morris-Kuentz’s office. It was designed to intentionally create content for the community outlets and to promote board activities in the community.
“We have moved from Skyward to Blackboard for her messages, so we are able to have graphics elements and more visuals . . . and I think our plan would be to hopefully move our campuses to that platform next year,” Edwards explained. “We have also curated a new video series that will be a ‘Superintendent Spotlight.’” Planning for growth In preparation for a possible bond election, the district held four bond workshops and called a special meeting to hold a bond referendum. As a result of this process, DSISD will present a bond for election in May, a move that it said is necessary to address current and future district growth.
The design committee for DSISD’s sixth elementary school has completed two campus tours. Additionally, the district planning team is working to identify an architect for the Sycamore Springs Middle School expansion design and have investigated the planning and costs associated with portable buildings for the 2023–2024 school year. Other planning issues include long-term planning for new campuses and long-term planning options for future bond election cycles.
For more information on DSISD and its Board of Trustees, visit dsisdtx. us.
