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Community-Based Accountability
Learn about FBISD’s development of Community Based Accountability System (CBAS)
Fort Bend ISD is committed to providing an exceptional educational system where all students can reach their full potential, in accordance with the skills and attributes of the FBISD Profile of a Graduate.
Our Board strongly believes that the District is accountable to the community for fulfilling the Hopes and Dreams they have for their children and their futures. The A-F accountability system, which is driven by a singular accountability measure drawn from a child’s performance on state assessments, is a partial accounting and does not adequately represent the comprehensive work of the district regarding developing the whole child.
With this in mind, FBISD is proud to be one of more than 50 districts in the state that have joined together to build a better accountability framework – with our community– so that we can measure success in a way that is more meaningful and productive, and goes beyond mere snapshot data from high-stakes standardized tests.
About the CBAS development:
Fort Bend ISD has joined the Texas Public Accountability Consortium, or TPAC, with more than 50 other school districts across Texas to create a truer accountability framework to assess the District’s progress and measure its success.
District staff meet regularly with leaders from other Districts to identify and establish the components of a true accountability system that go beyond STAAR test scores to measure how districts prepare students for futures beyond what they can imagine.
Throughout the 2018-19 school year, a design team including Grayle James as Board Representative, along with FBISD administrators, teachers and campus leaders has worked to develop the District’s CBAS Framework including the development of key questions. Following this work, six campuses signed on to pilot the system during the 2019-20 school year, with an additional ten campuses beginning their learning about CBAS in anticipation of implementing the CBAS framework in 2020-21. The remaining campuses will engage in learning in 2020-21 so that by 2021-22 district-wide implementation will be in place.
About the CBAS Framework
Components of the CBAS include seven pillars, compared to the state’s accountability system, which is based on a single STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) assessment. These pillars were developed by TPAC, in partnership with school leaders throughout the state and country, and represent the standards of effective schools.
Seven Pillars
The seven pillars include:
- student learning and progress,
- student readiness,
- engaged and well-rounded students,
- community engagement and partnerships,
- professional learning and quality staff,
- fiscal and operational systems, and
- the safety and well-being of our students.
Accountability Engine
The accountability engine defines the process we undertake to assess our priorities in order to ensure our decisions are focused on reaching our intended outcomes. As such, the accountability engine includes establishing what we are trying to accomplish and defining evidence we will accept that we are accomplishing this important work.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How do students benefit from a Community-Based Accountability System?
Fort Bend ISD believes in developing well-rounded students, who own their learning and behavior. We are committed to developing a true accountability system that comprehensively holds us accountable to the Hopes and Dreams of the community as well as the priorities of the district, rather than a partial accounting that results in dictated and ineffective judgements. We owe it to our students to go beyond tests that measure past performance on narrowly defined criteria to focus on current and future success while providing opportunities for students to explore their talents, interests and passions.
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How is Fort Bend ISD involving the community as it develops this local accountability system?
In a series of roundtable events held this spring, FBISD engaged stakeholders in three feeder patterns to hear and ensure that we are aligning our accountability work with their expectations. In fall 2019, we will hold stakeholder forums in the remaining eight feeder patterns.
A few common themes have emerged among stakeholders:
They want students to experience engaging, relevant and interactive learning;
- They want students to develop non-academic life skills;
- They want to ensure students have post-high school success; and
- They have a vested interest in social/emotional learning and mental well-being.
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How will a community based accountability system measure whether a campus is meeting the goals of the District and its community?
FBISD’s CBAS framework defines key questions in each of the seven pillars, aligned with specific District goals, the Vision of the District and the hopes and dreams of the community. These questions define “to what we will hold ourselves accountable in Fort Bend ISD.” Examples of key questions include:
- To what degree do students take responsibility for and ownership of their learning and behavior? (Goal 2)
- To what degree do our teachers and faculty support, encourage, emulate, and move students towards the goal of LIFE-LONG LEARNER? (Profile of a Graduate/Vision)
- To what degree.do our schools support the physical and social-emotional needs of students? (Hopes and Dreams, Goal 4)
- To what degree do our teachers and faculty support, encourage, emulate, and move students towards the goal of CRITICAL THINKER? (Profile of a Graduate/Vision)
- To what degree do students and staff feel safe and secure at school? (Hopes and Dreams, Goal 4)
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How do we know if a campus is on track to meet its goals, and what happens if it isn’t?
A signaling process is a key component of the Community Based Accountability System. This process will be used to signal whether the District and/or schools are on track toward moving the organization and its results toward the anticipated outcomes, or whether alternate decisions should be considered to achieve anticipated outcomes.
This is different from a test-based accountability system, which relies on a single test.