Ector County ISD was visited by representatives from 11 districts this week to learn how the district made its state accountability jump in the last few years.
The district was rated a B under state accountability ratings after being a C the last time districts were rated before COVID.
The System of Great Schools is part of the Texas Education Agency. The TEA website says SGS helps Texas school district leaders ensure that more students have access to better schools every year by increasing the number of high-quality, best-fit options.
The team recruits prospective districts to join the network each spring. The idea is to increase the number of A and B rated schools and decrease the number of D and F schools.
Thursday’s session at the ECISD administration building was focused on community engagement and change management.
The visiting school officials toured Ector College Prep Middle School, Noel and Milam elementary schools. They saw a video of George H.W. Bush New Tech Odessa and OCTECHS.
NTO Principal Gerardo Ramirez was on hand Wednesday to answer questions.
Not every district belongs to SGS, but all the ones that visited ECISD Wednesday and Thursday were in it. Assistant Superintendent of Student and School Support Alicia Syverson said there were about 40 participants.
Duncan Klussman, executive advisor for Diversa, said his firm supports five districts in System of Great Schools.
“TEA is responsible for the whole project and then they hire outside groups to come in and support the districts. We’re contractors of TEA,” Klussman said.
This is the second year they have done learning labs.
“We want to do them in a district where people can showcase the work that they’re doing and we all learn from it,” Klussman said. “So really, that started yesterday. Yesterday morning, we did school tours. Then Ector County did a panel.”
They spend about the first third of the time focusing on the district they’re visiting. The rest of the time is focused on “the work of carrying out the overall strategy of the System of Great Schools,” Klussman said.
Klussman, a former superintendent of Spring Branch ISD, said he didn’t have specific data, but he knows data shows System of Great Schools has helped lift the performance of districts under state ratings.
He retired as Spring Branch chief in 2015 and he was there for 11 years. Klussman and a partner formed Diversa about three years ago.
He said he’d never spent time in ECISD before, but was impressed with what he saw.
“I think they have some very innovative programs that are very student focused and I think just (from) what I observed over the last two days clearly shows why they’ve had the results they’ve had in the last couple of years,” Klussman said.
He added that another thing that you see is a clear alignment of the work of the system.
“I think that’s really important (that) organizations have this clear alignment from the superintendent throughout the whole system. You see a constant focus and language of what they’re working on. And I again, I’m very big on creating stability and I think that creates stability. They’re offering choices of programs to students. I was able to see a fine arts school, and it was just great to see all the variety of what the kids are being exposed to. I think that’s just so important to do,” Klussman said.
ECISD Executive Director of Choice Programs Access and Support Chad Crowson said TEA contacted ECISD about coming to Odessa to conduct an SGS Learning Lab in large part because they saw in the accountability scores that they had made some pretty big gains.
“I think some of that can be attributed to the work that we’ve done with SGS and so there were districts from around the state that wanted to visit some of those schools,” Crowson said.
Crowson said it was a great learning event.
“It’s always great to have an opportunity to get together with like-minded folks and share lessons from the different experiences that we’ve had. We’re all driving toward the same goals and outcomes, but we come from very different places all across the state, different demographics in our communities. Different levels of community support, different district strategic plans, so when we can get together at events like this and learn together from the successes and failures that we’ve all made then it helps us to move the ball forward for all the students across Texas, not just necessarily the ones that are in our particular district. That’s what’s exciting to me about these events,” Crowson said.
Seguin ISD Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez said it’s not always easy for him to get away as a district chief, but he made himself available for this learning lab.
“I specifically wanted to to come in and see some of the work that Ector County is doing with the System of Great Schools, and especially because of the progress that they have seen in those campuses that have gone through some type of redesign. We are going through the same work in Seguin ISD. I had the opportunity to visit two campuses with a team. That was Noel Elementary and the Ector College Prep Middle School. There were certainly some really great takeaways and it was really easy to see how and why the campuses in Ector County have made significant gains academically. I think it really begins with a solid system of support that starts from the board level all the way down to the campus leadership level. You see all of the stakeholders moving in the same direction to ensure that learning is in place in the various communities that is going to meet the needs of the community here in Ector County,” Gutierrez said.
“The population is very similar to Seguin. This school district is seeing really positive results. But just recently Ector County was recognized by the Mexican Association of School Boards and awarded outstanding school board. It really made sense that that team focused on student achievement is really playing a pivotal role in that progress,” he said. “I think the important thing that we took from listening to the panel that spoke to us was how that community engagement piece was also so important; really listening to the community which consists of the parents and the staff in really trying to identify a learning experience that’s unique and innovative. I think that is what’s really making a key difference in the school district and that is something that we are looking to do in Seguin ISD,” Gutierrez said.
Seguin has about 7,500 students on 14 campuses. The district’s demographics also are similar to ECISD. They are not rated.
Gutierrez, who has been superintendent for five years, said they joined System of Great Schools last year and they have been able to triple their number of high performing schools from two to six.
“There are certainly a lot of challenges that we face similar to Ector County with mobility and high poverty. But then overcoming many of those challenges and seeing positive student outcomes, which is my primary reason for wanting to come to learn from Ector County,” Gutierrez said.
