During its Feb. 15 meeting, the Leander ISD Board of Trustees agenda included: 

Meeting Agenda
Meeting Recording

Spotlight on Learning: Giddens Elementary

During the Spotlight on Learning, Giddens Elementary students showcased their passion for STEM, after-school clubs and learning tools like vertical boards. All together, these contribute to helping them solve problems, own their learning and focus on having a growth mindset.

Paws up, Jaguars!

Board Recognitions

Special thanks to the Vista Ridge High School announcements duo of Sheyla Martinez and Astoria Ernst for helping celebrate stand-out individuals and accomplishments around #1LISD.

The Board recognized the following:

  • Leader in Me Symposium Tour Sites – Reed & Westside Elementary Schools
  • SAT Perfect Score – Shaurya Sharma, Rouse High School
  • Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) – All-State Band & Choir Musicians
  • UIL State Spirit Medalist – Vandegrift High School
  • Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA) High School Teacher of the Year – Amber Funderburgh, Vista Ridge High School
  • Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA) Region 13 TESPAN of the Year – Alicia Harris, Knowles Elementary School
  • National School Counselors Week, Feb. 5-9
  • Leander ISD Volunteer Appreciation Week, Feb. 12-16

Board Approves Elementary School Attendance Rezoning for 2024–25

Calculating Functional Capacity

🎬 9.A.2. Consider Approval of Elementary School #30 Attendance Zoning Recommendation

The Board approved Scenario 4 in the 2024–25 Elementary School Attendance Rezoning. This rezoning represents a step in the Long-Range Plan. This rezoning comes as Elementary School #30 is scheduled to open in August 2024 to address the growth in the northern part of the district.

Approved Elementary School Zoning

The process began Oct. 5, 2023, when the Board reviewed the charter that was developed utilizing the criteria laid out by the Long-Range Planning Committee (LRPC). The district released the latest scenario incorporating a uniform approach to calculating a campus’ functional capacity, the direct result of community and Board feedback.

After an additional round of community feedback and two more community forums, the scenario was shared with the LRPC to evaluate to what degree the scenario met the parameters established in the charter.

This spring, the district will continue to evaluate the possibility of creating an early childhood hub for PreK 3 and PreK 4 at Elementary School #30 as a way to add additional students to the newly built campus while also providing more enrollment relief to elementary schools in the northern portion of the district.

LISD administration will confirm final decisions about student transfer exceptions in the coming weeks.

These newly approved elementary school attendance zones will all go into effect in the coming 2024–2025 school year.

Previous Updates

Mid-year Update on Reading & Math Initiatives

Math Initiative: What are people saying?

🎬 9.A.1. Goal 1: Empowered Student Learning Mid-Year Update

At Thursday’s meeting, the district provided an update on the leading measures for the Strategic Plan’s Goal 1: Empowered Student Learning. In this mid-year look at progress, Trustees examined data on literacy, mathematics and college, career and military readiness.

Since the end of the 2022–23 school year and in transitioning to the current year, the Teaching & Learning team has collaborated with our schools around reading and math initiatives that included redesigned curriculum and methods of intervention.

LISD uses universal screener data points – such as NWEA MAP Growth for math and Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP) for reading – at different checkpoints throughout the year.

While a worthwhile exercise to continue to keep a pulse on developing trendlines in the latest mid-year data compared to beginning-of-year benchmarks, district and campus leaders are proceeding with caution before attributing direct causes – for both areas of positive and negative shifts.

“As much as we want to see immediate improvement in the data and know why, we understand that change takes time,” said Board President Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia, Ph.D. “What we can see is our teachers, campus leaders and district support teams putting in the work. We know patience is required to let these new reading and math systems fully take root.”

One data point that stood out showed a marked improvement in the number of students flagged as “at risk” by the ISIP screener for reading. Comparing the same group of students from when they were kindergartners in May of 2023 to January 2024 now in first grade – equivalent to 17 weeks of implementation of the new initiative – LISD saw a 19-percent decrease in those categorized as at-risk.

Previous Updates

Annual State Performance Report of 2022–23 Data

Progress: Accelerated Learning

🎬 5.A. 2022-2023 Texas Academic Performance Report and Public Hearing

The Board reviewed the annual Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) [presentation | full report] and held a public hearing as required by the Texas Education Code. 

The 2022–23 report includes:

  • LISD student profile
  • LISD staff summary
  • STAAR performance data

Certain items traditionally included in this annual report, such as accountability ratings, were absent as a result of ongoing litigation between school districts and TEA centered around the state’s A-F Accountability system. 

“It’s important for our families to understand that even with accountability ratings on hold for the time being, Leander ISD has continued the work around looking at assessment data to track progress and look for areas of growth, as is the norm in our district of continuous improvement,” Trustee Trish Bode said.

Looking at one metric charting progress, LISD examined students who did not meet the passing standard the year prior but this year reached the level of passing or above. In both ELA/Reading and Math, the district saw nearly 50 percent with this level of improvement, about 10 percentage points higher than both the state and the region.

Previous Updates