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State education office details OSI expansion, 15 governor—93designated turnaround schools and new supports
Summary
Office of School Improvement leaders told the board they have increased staffing, described supports for 60 Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools and about 500 ATSI/TSI schools, and outlined how the department will coordinate additional staff and wraparound services for 15 governor-designated turnaround schools. Board members pressed
Department officials gave an extended update on the Office of School Improvement (OSI), outlining current staffing, program structure, and plans to support both federally identified Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools and 15 schools recently designated by the governor as turnaround schools.
Melissa Shields, who leads OSI—93s school improvement work, told the board the office has roughly 10 full-time staff and a network of about 14 retired educators serving as coaches and specialists; the office supports CSI schools with dedicated staff and an on-call model for ATSI/TSI schools. Shields described a multi-pronged approach: instructional audits, targeted coaching, data-driven root-cause analysis, and external partnerships for nonacademic needs such as mental health and attendance support.
Board members asked for detail about the 15 governor—93designated turnaround schools and how OSI will staff and fund intensified interventions. Department officials said the turnaround cohort will receive additional staff and coordination with state agencies (Department of Human Resources, early childhood, dental health and mental-health providers) and with community partners including nonprofit organizations. Officials said the governor—93designated schools will receive both state-directed staffing supports and funds that the Legislature set aside for the initiative; staff repeatedly emphasized that the turnaround package is intended to provide full-service wraparound supports and to pilot scalable practices for sustainable improvement.
Officials also described a set of interventions to address teacher shortages and early-grade supports. The department is promoting a pilot program for auxiliary (paraprofessional/auxiliary) instructors in early grades; the Legislature set aside a dedicated fund to pilot auxiliary teachers and some supplemental funding for the turnaround work. Officials said roughly $5 million was set aside for a pilot to hire auxiliary staff; they also said a larger pool—identified by leadership as separate legislative appropriations—would be routed to districts participating in the turnaround work.
Shields said the OSI uses transformation academies and a 90-day turnaround principal academy model, and that the office tracks supports against six ESSA indicators (growth, achievement, chronic absenteeism, graduation rate, CCR, subgroup performance). OSI officials said they will reidentify CSI/ATSI lists by March and that the number of schools on ATSI lists shifts annually. Board members repeatedly pressed department leaders to show evidence that the intensified supports result in sustained improvement and raised concerns about turnover among principals and teachers after state-supported interventions.
No board motion was made. Department leaders said they will return with more detailed staffing plans, sustainability metrics and a plan to document recipient feedback (a survey instrument) to evaluate direct supports and staff effectiveness.
Ending: The board heard the OSI update and asked staff for more detailed cost, staffing and outcome monitoring plans for the turnaround initiative and a plan to survey districts that receive direct interventions.
