District Improvement Plan Comparisons

District Improvement Plans

All districts are required to have a district improvement plan that is developed, evaluated, and updated yearly. The district improvement plan includes needs assessment, measurable performance objectives, and improvement strategies for student performance, just to name a few. For this assignment, I compared the Austin I.S.D. district improvement plan with the Rockwall I.S.D. district improvement plan. While reviewing both plans, I noticed considerable differences in the format of each plan. I used the Rockwall I.S.D improvement plan for the 2010-2011 school year. The Rockwall I.S.D. is in the process of reformatting the district improvement plan for the current school year. The new plan will be more user friendly and provide more details than the past plan.  I found the Austin I.S.D. district improvement plan difficult to read. This plan lacked details and specifics on district improvement.

One similarity between the two plans is that both districts are providing very similar Compensatory programs. Some of the programs are; Communities in Schools, AVID, pregnancy related services, bilingual support, and parent education. These programs are funded by state and federal programs. Both districts want to improve graduation rates and provided data to measure the change.

There were differences in both district improvement plans. The Rockwall I.S.D. district improvement plan provided more specific detail than the Austin I.S.D. plan. The Rockwall plan was detailed in the sense that each department from central office, finance, curriculum and instruction, human resources, safety and security, and maintenance had clearly defined performance strategies, target groups, staff accountability, timelines, budget impact, funding services, and assessments listed. Every school had its campus improvement plan attached to the district improvement plan. The Austin I.S.D. plan included performance strategies, timelines, and resources, but the plan was not as detailed as the Rockwall I.S.D. plan. The Austin I.S.D. plan included funding mainly grants, but again it was difficult to read.

Overall, this was an insightful assignment to compare two district improvement plans. It was interesting to see how the Austin I.S.D. and the Rockwall I.S.D. plan and prepare for the future. Both districts are trying to address similar issues, but each district takes a different approach.