Waxahachie ISD presents midyear review of Priority 1.1: every student grows academically

Waxahachie ISD leaders and an external consultant presented a midyear academic review of Priority 1.1 — the district'wide objective that "every student grows academically every year" — during a workshop for the Board of Trustees. The presentation summarized progress on the district'level scorecard, classroom walkthrough protocols, professional learning community (PLC) schedules, assessment dashboards and the district'wide MTSS intervention system.

The update focused on three linked priorities: a performance-management cadence for the board and leadership team, classroom- and teacher-facing data tools that aggregate multiple assessments on a single student profile, and an expanded, district-coordinated MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) process to identify and intervene for students with learning gaps.

Dr. Gibson, a consultant with Moe Casey, told trustees the district is moving from early-stage continuous-improvement work into a formal performance-management posture he described as a "cadence of accountability." "The board needs to know what time it is, not how to make a watch," Gibson said, arguing that board reports should show top-line "dials" rather than every operational detail. He recommended a mix of monthly quick-check reports for external audiences and deeper roundtable reviews for trustees and administrators.

District staff demonstrated a new student assessment profile — a consolidated dashboard that combines STAR, MAP, DIBELS, iReady and unit-test results, attendance and discipline entries on a single page for teachers and students. Jason Blas and Dawn Cooper (district data staff) and Debbie Needham described the dashboard as a "one-stop shop" that shows color-coded performance levels (do not meet/approaches/meets/masters) and MAP'based projections for STAR performance. The team said the district is also collecting spring assessment data to measure yearlong progress ahead of the STAAR season.

Staff explained how the dashboard supports state-required accelerated-instruction tracking for students who fail STAAR: students assigned accelerated-instruction hours must log between about 15 and 30 hours of supplemental instruction depending on their diagnostic score, and the district'facing student scorecard provides a place for those minutes to be recorded. The presenters referred to the state accelerated-instruction requirement by its statute name discussed in the meeting (House Bill 4545) and said campuses track completion at the student level.

Teachers and trustees asked about adoption and use. Presenters said the district trained teachers in PLCs (more than 60 fall PLC sessions at the elementary phase), and that teachers and principals give ongoing feedback to refine dashboards and intervention menus. A staff member said the district piloted curated intervention menus last year on four campuses and had now rolled the materials to all 10 elementary campuses.

On instructional materials and teacher craft, campus leaders showed classroom examples from kindergarten through secondary: hands-on manipulatives, collaborative problem solving, digital formative checks, and theme-based unit transformations used with Amplify (reading) and Eureka (math) resources. Secondary math teachers are piloting Carnegie Learning in seventh grade while other secondary teams use previously adopted materials. The presenters said Carnegie will remain in use for seventh grade next year while the district considers broader secondary options.

Principals explained PLC structure and classroom walkthroughs. Karen Holt, principal of Marvin Biomedical Academy, said elementary teams meet Monday'Thursday for 45 minutes of PLC time outside conference periods and added that the campus has introduced monthly "data days" (two per month) to dig into unit-test results, regroup students for intervention, and create action plans. Rusty East, principal of Fulton Junior High, described a short, focused follow-up meeting structure after each common assessment: grade-level teachers meet, then meet with the principal for a 10'15-minute review that ends with a clear action and the question "How can I support you?" East said those short cycles keep coaching practical and avoid a punitive tone.

The district gave a detailed account of MTSS. Amy Cooper, coordinator of MTSS, and Jamie Winters, coordinator of specialized instruction, described a reworked MTSS framework launched in elementary schools and scheduled for secondary adoption next year. The district'level MTSS committee aligned universal screeners (MAP for reading and math) and diagnostic tools (DIBELS for early reading; iReady for math) to a two-prong identification process. The team also curated intervention materials and built a linked, teacher-friendly menu of scripted interventions that campus teams can pull into small groups.

Staff described the district'level case management platform they are using for MTSS: Panorama. Presenters said Panorama integrates with Skyward, MAP, STAR and DIBELS so teachers and campus leaders can create intervention plans, track goals, document accommodations and monitor progress longitudinally. Staff reported that last year about 800 students had intervention plans in Panorama; the current count through February is 1,204 students across K'12 with active intervention plans and monitored progress. They also noted a recent rise in special-education referrals (21 referrals Aug'Feb in a prior period vs. 76 referrals Aug'Feb in the current year), and said part of that increase reflects a statewide change in dyslexia identification and coding that has shifted some students into special-education pathways.

When trustees asked whether teachers and families use the dashboard, staff said they can capture teacher click rates for a Google-based hub and for Power BI dashboards; they cautioned that some teachers print reports and stop visiting the digital platform, which complicates click-rate interpretation. Staff also said the district will continue training and expand MTSS training to new teachers next fall.

No formal motions or votes were recorded during the workshop. Presenters closed with next steps: continue monthly quick checks and strategic roundtables, finish the intervention-menu rollout, extend the MTSS framework to secondary campuses (phase 2), offer fall MTSS training for new teachers, and continue improving dashboards and PLC supports. Amy Cooper and Jamie Winters were invited to present the district'level Panorama rollout at a Panorama conference, and district staff said they will keep sharing progress metrics at future roundtables.

The workshop combined operational updates with examples from classrooms; trustees and principals repeatedly emphasized a preference for concise, top-line board reports paired with deeper operational roundtables for digging into the underlying data.