Gilbert Unified details districtwide continuous improvement process, moves to fewer formal impact checks

Assistant Superintendent Marcy Taylor and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jason Martin told the Gilbert Unified District (4239) governing board on Tuesday that a districtwide continuous improvement process begun in stages four years ago has brought common goals, shared action steps and regular progress checks to all 39 schools.

Taylor and Martin, joined by principal coach Tia Hanson and Campo Verde High School Principal Tyler Dumas, described a system that pairs site-level continuous improvement plans (SIPs) with district-level goals and quarterly "impact checks" during which school teams present progress and evidence to district leaders.

The work addresses what Martin called a change in approach. "We were lucky. We weren't intentional. We weren't leading necessarily. We just had good kids, good families, and we had good test scores," Martin said, describing why the district created a single, consistent SIP structure. He said common systems let coaches work alongside principals with shared expectations.

Taylor said the SIP summit, launched about five years ago, brings school teams together for one full day to dig into data, identify strengths and needs, set prioritized goals and plan adult actions tied to evidence and monitoring. "We asked as we developed this process if we could apply the same measures only campus wide," Taylor said, referring to the state-required comprehensive needs assessment and integrated action plan process. She said Arizona has allowed the district to adapt that model for campus-level work and for some Title schools to use the district process.

Hanson described impact checks as quarterly meetings where school teams present progress on goals and artifacts of implementation. "We had to find a way to inspect what we expect," Hanson said, adding the checks are intended to be supportive rather than punitive. Over time the meetings expanded beyond principals to include teachers, instructional coaches, counselors, special-education staff and curriculum coordinators.

Principal Tyler Dumas of Campo Verde said the process helped staff identify root causes and turn goals into concrete actions. "The most powerful part of it is that our district leadership was looking at walking alongside us more than finding a way to judge or do a gotcha with us," Dumas said.

District leaders described measurable changes they view as early evidence of impact. Officials said preliminary assessment and accountability projections show gains at several schools compared with 2022 totals and that some junior highs and high schools improved projected letter-grade points and ACT-related measures. The presentation noted work on early reading through complex literacy, math as a scientific process and a new district goal on culture intended to tie the other goals together.

What’s next: officials said the district will reduce the formal impact-check cadence from four times a year to three (beginning, middle and end of year) because the practice is embedded in school culture. They also plan more cross-visits among elementary, junior-high and feeder schools so leaders can observe feeder-pattern curriculum and supports.

District staff credited a combination of instructional coaching, data and research support and outside consulting during early implementation. The presentation named a consultant used for PLC (professional learning community) work and cited the district data team for building dashboards and trend tools principals use to track subgroup performance.

The board offered praise after the presentation; no formal board action was taken on the continuous improvement briefing.