Denton ISD Our Impact In Your Community Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 32

Want to Know What We Value?
I

s the “high stakes” testing
environment in which
all public school operate
helping to empower
life-long learners to be
engaged citizens who
positively impact their local
and global community?
And, are individual scores
on standardized tests really
what a community wants to
know about education?

The Denton Independent
School District is in the
process of answering those
questions through a process
called What We Value.

“Our district is part of a
small, state-wide consortium
that discusses these
questions,” said Jamie
Wilson, superintendent of
schools. “At the meetings
we share ideas, and what
we arrived at is that every
community in this state
is unique and each has
different priorities for their
young people.”

As a result, Denton ISD
asked the community to
share their opinion on four
different areas of focus
Teaching & Learning,
Opportunities for Students,
Culture & Climate and
Growth & Management.

Through a third party
administrator, K-12 Insight,
the district distributed more
30

than 30,000 invitations for
members of our community
to help in the process.
The community responded
by submitting more than
3,000 responses on what
they valued most in regards
to a students’education and
preparation for the future.

These results were kept
confidential, allowing for
honest feedback, and the
data was tabulated by the
outside entity to maintain
its integrity. The rate of
return was greater than 10
percent, demonstrating
that the community has a
keen sense of awareness
and involvement in a
student’s education.

“Our community wishes for
our students’ success to be
measured by more than
one score, on one day,”
Wilson said. “The perception
of our schools and our
district’s success should
be judged by more than
an accountability rating
based on the same. In fact,
business leaders and parents
have raised concern
that this emphasis on
standardized tests does not
ensure whether a Denton
ISD graduate is college or
career ready.”

The district has now
published that report,
What We Value, through

a multifaceted document
that seeks to give a clearer
view of achievement.
It targets the district’s
strengths and areas that
need improvement.

The thought and process
behind the report did not
happen overnight. In 2011,
the Denton ISD Board of
School Trustees set a goal
to advocate and practice
true accountability based
on measurement of
individual student progress
over time, regardless of
external mandates.

Currently, the Texas
Education Agency accredits
public schools in our state,
The Accreditation Status,
Standards and Sanctions
section of the Texas
Administrative Code outlines
how accreditation statuses
are determined and
assigned to schools.

For a copy of the report,
and to learn What We
Value, log on to the
Denton ISD web site at
www.dentonisd.org/
whatwevalue.