El Paso ISD trustees hold governance training, prioritize domain‑one academic achievement

Good evening. The El Paso ISD Board of Trustees met April 20 for a required governance and team‑building session focused on setting priorities and interim progress measures for student outcomes.

Facilitator Ben opened the workshop by framing it as two linked tasks: clarifying the board’s role and working through concrete outcome priorities the district should measure. He told trustees, “I promise we will make tonight really meaningful,” and led a series of small‑group exercises that drew on community listening data, district tests and enrollment trends.

The meeting centered on how the board should use its time and influence to steer the district toward measurable outcomes rather than day‑to‑day operational details. Superintendent Dr. Lusk outlined proposed goals and goal progress measures (GPMs), including third‑grade literacy and math (STAR assessments), and a set of College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR) metrics—TSI/college‑ready measures, industry‑based credential (IBC) attainment, college credit earning (dual credit/AP) and graduation rate. “These are just proposed,” Dr. Lusk said, noting the numerical targets would be refined after today’s direction.

Trustees then worked in pairs and presented the five student outcomes they would prioritize. When individual rankings were aggregated using a points ballot, domain‑one academic achievement emerged as the top priority. Other areas that ranked highly included social/physical/mental health, traditional reading and writing, early numeracy and CCMR success. Ben reminded trustees that state law already requires early literacy and CCMR goals, and that the superintendent’s job will be to translate tonight’s priorities into measurable goals and interim progress measures for board review.

Trustees voiced several recurring themes during the discussion. Multiple trustees stressed the importance of monitoring interim indicators—course completion, attendance, student touchpoints and course sequence progress—that signal whether students are on track before end‑of‑year outcomes are available. Several trustees also urged the board to preserve focus on traditional writing skills amid rising use of AI tools. One trustee said the district should support students’ “critical thinking and problem‑solving” and consider bilingual language skills and whole‑child measures such as stress resilience and extracurricular engagement.

The superintendent said his team would take the board’s ranked priorities and return with proposed goals, GPMs and suggested guardrails. He reiterated that some goals (early literacy, CCMR, state domain measures) are legally required, and that the board’s role is to set priorities and monitor progress while leaving day‑to‑day management to staff. The session moved on to a follow‑up workshop activity; trustees were told the priorities would be refined again over the coming weeks before formal adoption.

The board did not take any formal votes during this session; the meeting functioned as a facilitated planning workshop to inform the superintendent’s next steps.