December 14, 2023

This Thursday, the HISD Board of Managers will host their regular monthly meeting. Here are the key agenda items to watch for:

• District of Innovation (DOI): The HISD Board of Managers will consider the final DOI plan drafted by the Innovation Plan Committee and approved by the District Advisory Council. Houston ISD is currently one of the only districts in Texas that is not taking advantage of DOI flexibility. 

District of Innovation status allows the school district to explore innovative ways to support student learning through exemptions from certain state laws. Some of the exemptions outlined in the plan would allow HISD to begin the school year earlier, pursue new types of course structures, and increase the number of days students can visit prospective colleges. Read the full Innovation plan on HISD’s website. 

• Student Outcome Progress Measures: The HISD Board of Managers will vote to approve goal and constraint progress measures developed by district administration. Last month, the Board set their board goals and constraints in policy, a critical governance step that allows the Board to signal the values and priorities of the community.

To support the monitoring of the Board’s goals, the administration is tasked with proposing progress measures that they will use to demonstrate to the Board the status of key student outcomes. We especially appreciate the focus on New Education System campuses in the goal progress measures for 3rd grade reading and math. Some of the progress measure targets and tables remain blank, awaiting data to be released. We look forward to seeing this data in upcoming meetings. To review the progress measures visit the agenda packet beginning on page 8.

• Student Outcome Monitoring: The Board of Managers will also vote to adopt the monitoring calendar for their goals and constraints. This calendar outlines which topics will be covered on a monthly basis for the next five years. This transparency allows the parents, families, and community members to anticipate when data will be available and support the Board in holding the district accountable for student learning. 

• Board Accountability: The Board of Managers is in the process of implementing the Lone Star Governance Framework, a structure based on research-backed characteristics of effective school boards. As part of this process, the Board will vote to adopt an implementation timeline, a public document that outlines the Board’s plan for finalizing the framework, with trackable deliverables. Implementation will be reviewed every six months by the Board, Superintendent, and Board coach to ensure they remain on track.

Notably, the timeline indicates the Board of Managers plans to scale the amount of time they focus on student outcomes from 10% in December 2023 to 50% in March 2024. We believe this student-focused mindset is critical and will be following along each month as the Board progresses.