Meeting the educational needs of rural students: A narrative inquiry of administrator perceptions and practices in rural LEAs designated as a District of Innovation

Order Description

District of Innovation is a new education reform in Texas. Some information can be found on Texas Education Agency Website

Begin with a historical context of School Reform ESEA, NCLB, Race to the Top, ECCS, etc. Then move to School reform in Texas
Theoretical Framework – Look at Adaptive Change Management (Heifetz
journal articles from as many sources as you can, focusing on the areas of flexibility in the innovation plan.
Flexibility: Districts will have the flexibility to implement practices similar to charter schools, including exemptions from mandates such as:
School start date
90% attendance rule
Class-size ratios
Site-based decision-making processes
Certain student discipline provisions
Use of planning and preparation periods
Teacher appraisal requirements

School start date and 90% attendance: Search Time on Task, Allotted Time, Engaged Time, etc
Class Size – self explanatory
Site-based – Local control
Discipline – this will be huge! Look at disproportionality, discipline issues, etc.
Planning and Prep – search job related professional development, building teacher capacity, professional learning communities, etc. This will be huge!!!
Teacher Appraisals – Historical context from PDAS to T-TESS. There is some stuff out there now on T-TESS, a few of them my own.
School Governance in Texas – this will be huge.
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