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Consultants press managed-instruction approach: high‑quality curriculum, instructional leadership and interim data
Summary
SGS consultants told El Paso ISD trustees that improving campus outcomes requires three coordinated components — high-quality instructional materials, stronger instructional leadership, and interim assessment data tied to routine classroom observation and coaching — a package often called managed instruction.
El Paso — During an Aug. 27 board workshop, System of Great Schools consultants emphasized “managed instruction” as the central mechanism for improving struggling campuses: provide high-quality instructional materials, develop instructional leadership that can coach and evaluate classroom practice, and use interim assessment data to adjust instruction throughout the year.
Consultant Paul Pastorek summarized the approach: districts must ensure teachers have materials aligned to standards, principals and supervisors can recognize effective instruction, and the central office can respond quickly to interim data. “What is really going on in a managed instruction school is evaluations of the quality of instruction that are going on in each classroom and heavy support to faculty with lesson plans,” Pastorek said.
What trustees were told - Curriculum: High-quality instructional materials should be standards-aligned, content-rich and supported by teacher-facing materials. The district has adopted several vetted curricula and job-embedded professional development supports, the consultants noted. - Instructional leadership: Principals and instructional supervisors must establish common definitions of effective instruction, conduct routine classroom visits, and provide coaching tied to the adopted materials. - Interim assessments and performance management: Trustees were encouraged to use interim benchmarks (for example, beginning-of-year and midyear assessments) and classroom-walk data to detect cohort trends and intervene before accountability results are final.
Why this matters Consultants cautioned trustees that interim assessments (for example, MAP) provide valuable information for teachers but are not perfect predictors of state accountability results; stronger predictiveness comes when assessment data are combined with systematic classroom observation and coherent instructional materials. They urged trustees to ask administration which components are fully implemented and which still need investment.
Trustee concerns and board role Trustees asked whether managed instruction could be scaled across schools with different staffing or program models and what additional resources (professional development, coaching, staffing changes) would be required. Several trustees noted already-existing assets in El Paso ISD — curriculum adoptions, interim data collection and trend walks — and asked for firm evidence that these systems are delivering classroom-level change.
Ending Consultants recommended trustees request explicit, roll‑up reporting that shows how curriculum adoption, classroom observation data and interim assessment results align, and to press for performance management that tests whether chosen strategies are producing gains.
