During a public hearing Tuesday, Denton ISD presented its targeted improvement and turnaround plans for six underperforming elementary schools. The school board approved the plans, putting the affected campuses on track for improved student outcomes.
The Texas Education Agency reported that Alexander, Borman, Cross Oaks, Martinez, Ginnings, Paloma Creek, Providence and Stephens elementary schools failed to meet overall accountability standards for the 2024-25 school year.
Alexander, Cross Oaks, Martinez and Paloma Creek elementary schools are on targeted improvement plans. Ginnings at Evers Park Elementary School and Providence Elementary are on turnaround plans.
elementary schools through the 2026-27 school year as the district rebuilds Ginnings Elementary on its existing site. Ginnings at Evers Park was selected for the turnaround plan because a plurality of students were rezoned to Evers Park.
Stephens and Borman elementary schools aren鈥檛 on targeted improvement or turnaround plans because they earned higher ratings in some of the TEA accountability metrics, which measure student achievement, school progress and closing academic gaps in student populations. If either campus drops a letter grade in any of the three domains, they could be placed on plans in the future.
The Denton school board approved the plans, which have to be submitted to TEA this month.
Who鈥檚 leading
The improvement and turnaround plans are led by two key administrators: Luci Schulz, the Denton ISD area superintendent for the Ryan and Braswell High School attendance zones, and Robin Brownell, Denton ISD area superintendent of the Denton and Braswell High School attendance zones. The pair shares leadership of the Braswell High attendance zone due to budget deficit restructuring. Denton ISD started working on plans before TEA鈥檚 ratings were released a few months ago, officials said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really important to note that our school improvement story, it didn鈥檛 start with TEA,鈥� Schulz said. 鈥淎s an organization, we鈥檙e not happy with some results at the end of last year. And out of a sense of urgency, we brought together some practices and beliefs that we felt that we needed to make sure it鈥檚 very clear and concise, and put in our leaders鈥� hands.鈥�
After a campus receives its first unacceptable rating from TEA, it has to submit and execute a one-year targeted improvement plan to the agency. When schools receive consecutive unacceptable ratings, they submit and execute a multi-year turnaround plan to the agency. Schools on turnaround plans initially have a goal of earning an overall rating of a C on TEA鈥檚 A-F accountability ratings. Rivera Elementary School is in its second year of its school improvement plan and earned an overall score of B in the most recent ratings.
Campuses that underperform for two consecutive years trigger a school improvement plan from TEA.
Denton ISD recently released its annual campus improvement plans, which include campus playbooks. Schulz said the process is a foundation for the targeted improvement and turnaround plans, especially in breaking the plans down into sections: vision, culture and strategic goal.
鈥淵ou will notice this just bolts perfectly into the work that we already started when the targeted improvement plans and turnaround plans came into play,鈥� Schulz said.
Shared challenges for campuses put on plans
The schools are all facing similar challenges. On all of the affected campuses, a majority of students are economically disadvantaged. Alexander, Borman, Cross Oaks, Martinez, Paloma Creek and Providence are Tier 1 schools, which means they get federal funding to support campuses with a high number of economically disadvantaged students.
Some of the campuses have more emerging English language learners, which can cause students to lag as they gain fluency. On the Alexander campus, 41% of the students are bilingual and emerging English learners. At Borman, 48% of the students are bilingual and emerging English learners. About 40% of Ginnings students are bilingual.
What campuses will focus on
Whether the campus is on a targeted improvement plan or a turnaround plan, it will put time and resources into some key areas. First and foremost, campuses will strengthen leadership and planning. They鈥檒l also be strategic with staffing, and expect to identify faculty for the Teacher Incentive Allotment, .
Denton ISD expects to make its first allotment payments to teachers in 2026-27. When more resources flow to campuses, and more teachers feel rewarded for their work on underperforming campuses, outcomes should improve, officials have said.
Campuses will also have to intentionally promote a positive campus culture, which should engage students, teachers and parents, Brownell said.
Finally, campuses on the plans will have to use high-quality instructional materials.
Brownell said the district has also looked at comparable campuses with higher academic outcomes and has leaned on both data and experience there.
鈥淲ith some of those look-alike campuses, we not only identify those similar characteristics but also have the opportunity to reach out and kind of have some conversation, collaboration and [planning on] what that looks like for school improvement,鈥� Brownell said.
鈥淲ithin our district, we have kind of tiered what that looks like for student outcomes. Our teams are able to talk to their colleagues about different strategies and systems that they鈥檙e implementing to see those outcomes. And with that comes setting those ambitious goals for our students. We want to make sure they鈥檙e ambitious but achievable.鈥�
Denton ISD Superintendent Susannah O鈥橞ara said the TEA requirements were already embedded in districtwide campus planning.
鈥淭EA gave us very specific parts to address, tasks to address, if you will, in the [plan] workbook,鈥� O鈥橞ara said. 鈥淏ut what our team was able to do was to go in and see that each of the things they were requiring, we had already embedded in our performance playbook long before that expectation came to life.鈥�
Brownell said the plans will amplify the district鈥檚 鈥減eople-centered鈥� identity.
鈥淭he most important person in that classroom is that classroom teacher,鈥� Brownell said. 鈥淭he most important person in that building is our campus leader.鈥�
Brownell said she and Schulz 鈥� and other administrators 鈥� will be on the campuses as they work their plans.
鈥淢aking sure that we provide that support, that鈥檚 one of the reasons Ms. Schulz and I are on those campuses, so that we鈥檙e able to provide what鈥檚 needed and making sure that we鈥檙e kept equipped so that students have what they need,鈥� Brownell said.