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Oct 7th, 2010
HISD Shares Community Plan to Transform the District
For Immediate Release:
District to give accountability updates on Strategic Direction twice a year

October 7, 2010 – Last night, at a special community meeting, HISD Board President Greg Meyers and Chief Middle Schools Officer Dallas Dance updated parents and members of the Houston community on HISD’s Strategic Direction or community plan to transform the district.

Those in attendance viewed a video and power point presentation on the district’s efforts which included the reason behind the development of the plan, the processes and efforts that went into its development, the core initiatives contained, and how HISD will measure its success in implementing the plan.

“We promised to include the voices of parents, students, staff and community members in the development of the district’s Strategic Direction and everyone at HISD took that promise very seriously,” said Greg Meyers. “Now that the plan is complete, by no means is our work done. We will continue to seek input as the plan is implemented and we will provide the entire HISD community with periodic updates on its progress.”

A key element of the Strategic Plan includes measuring its success. The district will give accountability updates twice a year and will also align all of its assessment processes, including ASPIRE, the board monitoring system and the superintendent’s performance appraisal with the priorities identified in the Strategic Direction.

“I have a lot of confidence in what I saw presented Wednesday evening,” said Jimmy Peevy, an HISD parent who attended the community meeting. “HISD is evolving and I think the board and the district are going in a new direction and have a new sense of urgency. I applaud HISD’s efforts and I hope parents like myself and other members of the community will get involved to support their efforts.”

HISD began the strategic planning process in February with a series of community and organizational surveys, public meetings, and one-on-one discussions with staff, students, parents and members of the Houston community to discover what the district was doing well and where it needed to improve. HISD staff also analyzed student data and researched best practices from around the country and within HISD.

The end result of the district’s six-month, intense effort is a community plan to transform HISD that contains five core initiatives, or strategies, that are designed to dramatically improve student achievement and are driven by the Board of Education’s beliefs and visions and core values. The five core initiatives of HISD’s Strategic Direction are an effective teacher in every classroom, an effective principal in every school, rigorous instructional standards and supports,
data-driven accountability, and a culture of trust through action.

“These core initiatives will allow us to transform HISD and will ensure that our students are graduating from HISD with the tools necessary to be successful in college and a career,” said Chief Middle Schools Officer Dallas Dance. “It will also position HISD to become the best
district in the United States.” For more information about HISD’s Strategic Direction visit www.houstonisd.org/strategicdirection.
About the Company:
The Houston Independent School District is the largest school district in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States with 298 schools and more than 200,000 students. The 301-square-mile district is one of the largest employers in the Houston metropolitan area with nearly 30,000 employees.
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