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Laredo ISD rolls out curriculum and planning changes to boost rigor, cross‑campus support
Summary
District leaders described a package of reforms—enhanced walkthroughs, common planning, expanded PLCs, recess for elementary, and principal/principal-mentoring—to raise depth and rigor across campuses and close gaps between elementary and secondary.
Laredo ISD administrators outlined a multi-pronged plan to strengthen curriculum, planning and instructional supports at the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting Aug. 5, emphasizing deeper TEKS-aligned instruction and systems to spread best practices across campuses.
Mertala Ramirez, executive director for elementary education, presented the elementary plan of action. Ramirez said the district will emphasize four “big rocks”: enhanced walkthroughs focused on teacher support, district-aligned common planning so grade-level teachers meet simultaneously, a return or expansion of recess in K–5 with classroom alternatives for extreme temperatures, and mentorship/coaching that pairs high-performing principals with those needing support. Ramirez described walkthroughs as “for teacher support,” not for evaluation, and said the district has produced a mentoring guidebook to pair principals for ongoing coaching.
On secondary strategy, Cassandra Mendoza (secondary education) said the district will shift emphasis away from test-prep alone and toward curriculum that emphasizes depth and rigor — the “why” behind skills — and will use internal high-performing teachers as trainers rather than relying solely on external consultants. Mendoza described a plan of four-week CARES checkpoints to give teachers protected planning time to review curriculum materials and provide feedback, and an implementation plan that asks administrators and deans to reinforce pedagogy and classroom practice.
Both elementary and secondary leaders said they will expand common planning that lets teachers share best practices districtwide via scheduled sessions (including video conferencing) and by using deans and CIA (Curriculum & Instruction Assessment) staff to surface campus-level strengths. Trustee and former teachers in the meeting urged that common planning be led by teachers who are demonstrably effective and that data be used to identify those leaders.
Trustees asked for specifics: how many specialists had been hired, how deans would be included, and whether deans and master teachers would be the distribution point for data and curriculum materials. Administrators said deans will be central to selection and coaching and that district files and shared drives already provide campus-level data to deans and principals; staff agreed to send campus-level files electronically once TEA preliminary files are official.
Ending: District leaders said the initiative aims to move students toward “meets” and “masters” levels and to narrow the elementary‑to‑middle‑school performance drop. They pledged follow-up briefings and campus presentations on concrete plans and resource needs.
