Developing the Blueprint

"We feel we know what needs to be done. We must start doing it." That's how Austin Independent School District Superintendent Pat Forgione introduced his "Austin Blueprint to Leave No Child Behind" at an April 11 community meeting at the AISD board's Carruth Auditorium. The "Blueprint" is the district's latest attempt to address the achievement gap for "low-performing" schools (as defined by students' scores on the state-mandated TAAS test), and will combine district funds with federal monies to be received under the "No Child Left Behind" education act. The program will focus resources first on six underperforming schools, with the intent that they will eventually be used as a model for the whole district.

Blackshear and Oak Springs elementaries, and Dobie Middle School will be among the initial Blueprint schools; Forgione told the audience of teachers and community representatives that he will announce three others on April 22. He asked for community support, and emphasized that the Blueprint "is not about reallocating resources, but about focusing them." Drawing on experience gleaned from the district's consideration of proposals submitted by the educational corporation Edison Inc. and the Houston-based charter school KIPP Academy, Forgione said AISD would use the "best practices" of school districts wherever they could be found.

The Blueprint contains 10 "key components," including more time for core courses (reading, writing, and mathematics), additional district training and support for teachers, enhanced technology, community partnerships, and written "compacts" among principals, teachers, parents, and students. (One audience member, Regina Rogoff of Austin Interfaith, suggested an "administrative compact" be added to the plan, an idea Forgione welcomed.) Forgione has already designated a "master principal" -- current Hart Elementary Principal Claudia Toesak -- to supervise the Blueprint schools. As part of the plan, he pledged that all new teachers hired for those schools will have at least two years teaching experience. "That will be difficult to do," he said, "but we are committed to it." Current personnel at each Blueprint school will choose whether to stay or move to another AISD school, he said, and the administration is working hard to get the schools chosen and personnel assigned before the close of the spring term.

Other AISD administrators described in more detail particular aspects of the Blueprint, and Forgione said the district would develop partnerships with community organizations and businesses, UT, and the Just for the Kids research foundation to support different aspects of the plan. "We've got to draw the community in," he concluded.

Most of the audience seemed enthusiastic, and on Monday, April 15, the AISD board issued a laudatory evaluation of Forgione's work in the last year, including improving academic performance and building community support for the recently approved Health-and-Safety bond issue. But the enthusiasm is not unanimous. Writing on behalf of the Eastside Social Action Coalition, which has been harshly critical of AISD's performance in educating minority students, Rev. Sterling Lands sent a stern letter to Board President Kathy Rider in which he expressed frustration at the slow pace of improvement. "Three schools or six schools as a laboratory may look good on paper but significantly miss the mark and assigns the district to hollow expectations and false hope," Lands wrote. The Coalition reiterated its earlier requests to AISD on specific improvements for minority students, and asked for a response by April 29.