This project relates to the following ED Priorities:

  • Turning around the lowest-performing schools
  • Identifying, recruiting, developing, and retaining highly effective teachers and leaders

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District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) Leadership Academy


In the District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) Leadership Academy, TXCC will support the Texas Education Agency in revising and implementing the second year of an advanced professional development series for DCSIs who either: (a) are clustered in the state's priority improvement areas (as determined by the TEA Core Team) or (b) have demonstrated proficiency on core DCSI skill sets and show the potential for serving in a more dynamic and influential leadership capacity at the regional or state level. In Year 3, 35 DCSIs from districts across the state participated in the first cohort. The Academy consists of three two-day intensive training events along with off-site practice and collaboration for the selected cohort of DSCIs. The training is grounded in emergent practices in policy analysis, organizational change management, interpersonal communications, and specific needs identified in the field. In Year 4, recruitment for cohort 2 will focus on priority improvement areas identified by the TEA Core Team.

Previous Work Updates

2016

July

No new update.

June

The DCSI project team is prototyping a virtual book study with a small cohort of DCSIs from the first and second cohorts of the leadership academy. The project team will convene in July to reflect on the process and make revisions as necessary for the coming year.

April

The DCSI project team hosted the final module of the 2015-2016 DCSI Leadership Academy in April. Participants engaged in a two-day session focused on facilitating crucial conversations and expanding one’s sphere of influence during complex change processes. As an extension of this module, a subcohort of 17 DCSIs will engage in a virtual book study where they will read The Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change and share how they have applied the strategies in their local contexts.

March

The TXCC, Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Texas Center for District and School Support (TCDSS) hosted the first module of the 2015-16 District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) Leadership Academy in March. Fourty-eight DCSIs from around the state participated in a change management simulation facilitated by Lou Centini, who serves on the faculty of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. articipants were tasked with applying the change management framework to a pressing change initiative in their districts and will return in April to report on their progress and develop mid-course corrections.

February

The DCSI project team finalized the curriculum, facilitation, and logistics for the first module of the 2015-2016 DCSI Leadership Academy, which will be held on March 1-2, 2016, at the Austin office of American Institutes for Research (AIR).

January

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) project team finalized the registration, content, and facilitation for the second annual DCSI Leadership Academy to be held in March in Austin, Texas.

2015

December

The DCSI project team finalized the 2016 application process and selected 48 new and returning DCSIs to participate in the second year of the DCSI leadership academy. The team secured contractual agreements with Lou Centini, former full professor at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, to facilitate an extensive change management simulation for Module One, which is consistent with the framework being used with the DTLI program.

November

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) Leadership Academy project team deployed applications for the 2016 DCSI Leadership Academy to all DCSIs in Texas. Approximately 40 new DCSIs were accepted for Cohort 2, and 15 DCSIs from Cohort 1 have opted to continue with the next phase of their training. The project team will be finalizing curriculum and logistics in December.

October

The DCSI project team designed the content and sequencing for year two of the DCSI Leadership Academy. The project team will facilitate two modules that will include participants from the first and second cohort of DCSI leaders. Applications have been disseminated and are due before the end of November.

September

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) project team convened in September to define the structure and content for the second cohort of the DCSI Leadership Academy. Additionally, the team designed an ongoing support series for the first cohort of academy graduates. Applications for Year Two will be disseminated in early October.

August

TEA leadership requested that the District Coordinator of School Improvement Leadership Institute (DCSI) project team develop plans for continued support for Cohort 1 to be provided concurrently with trainings and support for Cohort 2. The team agreed that the change management simulation from the District Turnaround Leadership Initiative bootcamp would serve a useful extension of the year-one content and will meet in early September to finalize communications and timelines.

June

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) project team hosted the final module in the DCSI Leadership Academy series at AIR headquarters in mid-May. In June, TXCC staff coordinated with the TEA project lead to finalize and present the results from the evaluation of Module 3 and continue to refine the curriculum and program structure. TXCC staff are collaborating with TEA staff to integrate the project development and management processes the team applied in the DCSI project to the entire district capacity-building portfolio.

May

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) project team hosted the third and final module in the DCSI Leadership Academy series in mid-May. TXCC staff coordinated with the TEA project lead to finalize and present the results from the evaluation of module three and are currently refining the curriculum and program structure. TXCC and TEA staff are collaborating to integrate and apply the project development and management processes used in the DCSI project to the entire district capacity-building portfolio.

April

Based on the evaluation from Module 2 of the DCSI Leadership Academy, TEA and TXCC staff engaged in a human-centered design process to craft the third and final module in the DCSI leadership academy series. The project team finalized the curriculum, facilitation, and evaluation for the module and is wrapping up preparations for the last training of the year to be held on May 13–14 in Austin. The project team will meet in late May 2015 to begin planning the leadership academy for a second cohort of DCSIs.

March

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) project team has completed the evaluation from the second of three DCSI Leadership Academy Modules. Based on the feedback from Module 2 and additional participant data collected by the TEA and Texas Center for District and School Support team, the DCSI project team is currently engaged in a Human-Centered Design process in order to craft the structure and content of Module 3, which will focus on the participants’ problems of practice in 35 districts across the state.

February

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) Leadership Academy cohort convened at the SEDL headquarters for Module 2 and analyzed their context-specific problems of practice using VitalSmarts’ Influencer methodologies. The DCSI Project Team is completing its review of the Module 2 evaluation and is recruiting a small group of participants to help shape Module 3 content, which will be entirely focused on the DCSI’s fieldwork.

January

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) Leadership Academy project team finalized preparations for the second module in the series, which will be held on February 11–12, 2015, at SEDL headquarters. In addition, the project team finalized the project logic model and the evaluation report for Module 1.

2014

December

The DCSI Leadership Academy project team convened this month in order to reflect on the first module of the Academy (held in November 2014) and to finalize preparation for module two, which will be held at SEDL headquarters in February 2015. In addition to defining the upcoming module logistics, TXCC staff facilitated a session to support the project team in clearly articulating the DCSI Leadership Academy logic model. The DCSI team will convene again in early January 2015 in order to design performance tasks for module three that will reflect participants’ proficiency on key learning objectives.

November

In collaboration with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Texas Center for District and School Support (TCDSS), TXCC staff co-hosted the first of three, two-day professional development modules for 35 District Coordinators of School Improvement (DCSI) from around the State of Texas. In the session, DCSIs collaborated with their peers and the DCSI Leadership Academy project team to accurately diagnose policy constraints and human resource challenges in order to develop a targeted and effective solution. DCSIs are currently applying these concepts in their school districts and will return in February to debrief and plan the next phase of their support.

October

The District Coordinator of School Improvement (DCSI) project team has expanded to include key staff from the Texas Center for District and School Support (TCDSS) who have played a pivotal role in designing the DCSI leadership academy objectives and curriculum. TXCC and TEA staff developed a communications and selection process, and after distributing the application to every DCSI in the State, 37 were selected to participate in the inaugural cohort. The DCSI project team is currently preparing to launch the DCSI Leadership Academy on November 12–13, 2014.

September

In September, TXCC staff supported a planning and development process with key TEA personnel in order to develop an advanced leadership academy for a cohort of 40 District Coordinators for School Improvement (DCSI). The DCSI project team developed high-level project outcomes, defined a structure and general focus for each of academy module, and designed a process for an abbreviated needs assessment that will help to refine the project outcomes and curriculum. TXCC and TEA staff also finalized the scope and sequence for the 1st Annual DCSI Leadership Academy and launched a web-based application that has been distributed to every DCSI in the State of Texas. TXCC will provide back-end technical support for the application and referral process and will co-facilitate the selection process in early October.

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