The Educational Improvement Council (EIC) met on September 23, 2013. The EIC is the district site-based decision making committee consisting of representatives from across Denton ISD. Chris Shade welcomed members and discussed restructuring the district improvement plan based on EIC recommendations. The plan was previously 492 pages without specific district goals. Shade explained the ideal planning flow and that the new district improvement plan (DIP) will include goals and legal requirements. Members reviewed other districts' improvement plans and provided feedback. The future EIC work will emphasize one keyword from the district mission statement, which was voted as "engaged(engagement)." Principals will identify engagement practices in campus improvement plans and address engagement at

1. EIC Minutes
September 23, 2013
PDC 4:00 PM
Members: Joe Ader, Heather Amick, Shelley Anthony, Michele Barber, Sharon Betty, Kimberly Bock, Rebecca
Chandler, Sabrina Crosland, Rajashri Damle, Jacob Eckber, Barry Fox, Marce Gomez’, Stephanie Halberstadt,
Pam Henderson, Teresa Hudson, Beth Hughes, Sarah Jones, Tammy Klir, Heather Klos, Penny Lockhart, Tommie
Lyons, Lori Mabry, Mike Mattingly, Brandon McCleskey, Ernie McGee, Kim Mills, John Milmo, Aleisha Moore,
Eldrige Moore, Katherine Myers, Evelyn Nunez-Crespo, Cherie Perry, Rebecca Persons, Joan Phillips, Alana
Presley, Angela Ricks, Eydie Schneider, Chris Shade, Stephen Shade, Jane Smith, Molly Swindle, Travis Turek,
Yazmin Vazquez, Tracy Wahbeh, Suan Watson, Robin Webb, Jonita Widmer, Patty Wilt, Spencer Wolf, Jennifer
Wyman, (Names in bold were in attendance.)
1. Welcome to the Educational Improvement Council:
• Chris Shade welcomed everyone to EIC. He expressed appreciation for all the hard work EIC members
contributed to the development of the new Denton ISD Mission Statement and logo.
2. EIC Training Presentation:
• Shade explained EIC is acronym for Educational Improvement Council, which is the Denton ISD district
site-based decision making committee consisting of representatives from across the district including a
teacher from every campus as well as districtwide representatives for central office administrators,
counselors, librarians, and principals in addition to parents, community, and business members. The
purpose of the EIC is to advise the Board in establishing and reviewing the District’s educational goals,
objectives, and major districtwide classroom instructional programs.
• See the handout from the training.
3. Review of Area Districts’ Improvement Plans:
• As a group activity, Shade asked EIC members to split in groups to discuss other area districts’
improvement plans and groups were asked to give feedback on what they noted and liked and
disliked about the plans. Feedback included:
o Southlake Carroll ISD: missing values; not reader friendly, did not have comprehensive needs
assessment.
o Keller ISD: table of contents too long; too many acronyms; sounds “corporate” (school board
and/or administrators would be more likely to read); lagging indicator sounded negative (Note:
It was discussed that “lagging indicator” is a business term that measures something that has
already happened; in education, STAAR results would be an example of a lagging indicator.)
o Carrolton-Farmers Branch ISD: it appears that belief statements were not reflected goals; the
plan stated who was responsible
o Irving ISD: liked the organization of the table of contents and needs assessment; goals were
clear; evidence demonstrating success visible; liked the periodic checks of progress; data driven
o Grand Prairie ISD: plan seemed to serve as a compliance document and include what they are
already doing
o Birdville ISD: the 2012-13 plan could not be found on the district website; the only plan found
was the 2011-12 plan; plan hard to read; plan appears compliance-driven
4. What OUR District Improvement Plan Will Look Like:
• Shade told members the district would completely overhaul its district improvement plan and
reconstruct it based upon the recommendations of the EIC.

2. • When Shade took over as the chairman of the EIC, the plan was 492 pages and compiled goals from
every department without specific district goals. Shade noted the district had board goals, but not
district goals. Shade explained the ideal flow of planning is as follows:
Mission: Denton ISD: Empowering lifelong learners to be engaged citizens who positively impact their
local and global community.
↓
Vision
↓
Values
↓
Goals:
Board Goals: Denton ISD Board Goals
↓
District Goals: To be developed
↓
Campus Goals: Submitted in Document Tracking online template
↓
Teacher Goals
↓
Student Goals
o Shade stated that the DIP will include goals as well as the requirements of DIPs as cited in law.
5. Focus of the Future Work of the EIC in District Improvement Planning
• Shade explained the future work of the EIC will emphasize either all keywords/phrases or 1
keyword/phrase from the mission statement in 2013-14.
o The keyword(s)/phrase(s) will be voted upon by the members of the EIC (via Poll Everywhere
survey) and the district administrators including principals and assistant principals (via
Schoolwires survey)
o Shade identified the following keywords/phrases and phrases from the Denton ISD mission
statement to be considered:
 empowering (empower)
 lifelong learners (lifelong learning)
 engaged (engagement)
 citizens;
 positively impact (positive impact)
 local and global community
Shade explained the plan was to choose 1 of the keywords/phrases from the mission statement
and let it drive the discussions, work, and plans, etc. of the EIC in future meetings.
o Shade said to consider a keyword that could provide measurable evidence of the keyword on
our campuses and in our district departments.
 As an example, if the keyword/phrase selected was “local and global community,” at
the October EIC Meeting, the topic, “curriculum and staff development,” won’t simply
focus on what we’ve “done” or “will do” (i.e. “What staff development do we offer in
Denton ISD?”), it will be shared and discussed through the lens of how curriculum and
staff development prepare students for the “local and global community” at both the
district and campus levels.
o The EIC cast its votes using cell phone feedback through Poll Everywhere.
 In additional to all keywords/phrases, the vote identified 3 keywords/phrases at a rate
much higher than the other words. Leading vote getters were as follows:
• empowering (empower)
• lifelong learners (lifelong learning)
• engaged (engagement)

3.  District administrators were subsequently asked to vote from the top 3 identified by the
EIC via a Schoolwires survey.
• Administrators selected “engaged (engagement).”
• Based upon the feedback provided from both parties, the district will focus upon
“engaged (engagement)” as its keyword in 2013-14.
o Principals will work to identify engagement practices in its Campus
Improvement Plans and will address engagement in the CIP presentation
to the school board on Tuesday, October 8, 2013.
6. The next EIC meeting will be Monday, October 21, 2013