Lessons Learned, District Improvement Plan

Week Three Assignment, Part 2 – Part C of the Comprehensive Final Report

Describing Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned

Review the above analysis, and write at least one page thoroughly describing recommendations and lessons learned from experiences with the improvement initiatives or action research plans.

Because Jasper ISD has been under the scrutiny of an external Campus Improvement Team monitor, I have been fortunate/unfortunate to have experienced a tremendous amount of planning, organizing and implementation throughout the past 12 months.  Many of the lessons that I have learned have stemmed from this process which has had an enormous affect on our district and community.  We have also witnessed how an effective plan can take a number of negatives and produce some very positive feelings about how our educational future could be much brighter than it appears to be at this time.

Of course the issue at JHS was not the only one that JISD has faced over the time frame of my internship but it was the most public.  Others that we faced were as mentioned in my earlier assignment such as the transition classes and the curriculum should affect the vertical alignment.  One of the aspects that fell right in to place during this internship was that the District Improvement Plan served as a basis for improvement for our district as a whole.  Because the DIP existed we were able to ask questions based on what had been determined to be an important aspect in the district wide plan.  Not always did the DIP serve as a beneficial resource, it often times provided us with a plan that was inefficient.  This observation led us many times to review the procedures taken to organize the plan and adjust accordingly. 

Because we have had several changes in the Superintendent office over the past few years, we have not had the consistency that a district needs to maintain a proper guideline for a long term DIP.  This was never more evident than with the unacceptable rating and confusion over our vertical alignment.  If I have learned anything over the course of this internship, it is that strong central leadership is essential to a school district that wishes to continue to improve its educational value.  On so many occasions, we were left with each of us who were responsible for departments or programs working in different directions without even realizing.  We were not given a direction and in essence we many time at an impasse because of the lack of decision making. 

One example was that of the indecision to continue with Kilgo and also purchase CSCOPE as our main curriculum source.  I attended training sessions in Austin in anticipation of the continued use of Kilgo.  This training ultimately was in vain due to the fact that we have now focused more on CSCOPE while using Kilgo as a supplement.  Although my job does not include that aspect in my normal duties I was asked by our Curriculum Director and external CIT monitor to join in on those activities in an effort to have more people involved in the process.  Even though it was not part of my job description, it actually fell right in to the portion of my internship which enabled me to experience a number of activities associated with the curriculum side of things.  What I learned is that regardless of how sound that your District Improvement Plan is you must have someone in charge that will insure that everyone will implement the overall plan.  I also learned that we must all buy in to the use of any particular program regardless of our own personal feelings and that ultimately the Superintendent is responsible for it all.  Therefore the person holding that office must have the working knowledge necessary to follow through on the implementation of all programs working towards a common goal of district improvement.