‘One thing’

In August, when The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released the Accountability A-F Ratings for the 2025-26 school year and Weatherford ISD improved to a B from a C, the effort to improve that to an A had already begun.

Theresa Pollok, executive director of Curriculum & Instruction, and Dr. Kelsey Smith, director of Instructional Support, shared with the WISD Board of Trustees during Monday’s meeting what some of those actions are and how it is already making a difference.

Pollock first spent some time explaining what exactly the rating is and how it is comprised of several categories including student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps. She said it measures how much students are learning in each grade and whether they are ready for the next grade. It also shows how well a school or district prepares its students for success after high school in college, the workforce or the military.

“We definitely had some celebrations,” she said, adding there is “work to do.”

WISD scored 80 out of 100 overall for the year. Elementary and middle schools are handled a bit differently than high schools when it comes to criteria, Pollock said, but the overall score is weighted depending on enrollment at the campus and is not an average.

Smith then went through the “one thing” initiative the district is implementing to address the areas where WISD fell short. This approach requires each campus to evaluate itself and get to the core of what needs working on.

“We look at multiple data points throughout the year and then create a problem statement to get to the ‘one thing’ and align all our work to it,” she explained. “We want to be proactive and not reactive.”

Using an example, Pollok cited one school whose teachers admitted they weren’t exactly sure what standards students were being held to in order to deliver the best instruction to them. The solution? Take the time to educate the teachers and then have them meet with their peers and get critiqued.

“It requires teachers to be vulnerable,” WISD Superintendent Dr. Sean Scott said.

Pollok said the program is paying dividends already and while there was some concern the time being utilized to make these changes could be an added stressor, the effect has been the opposite.

Scott said this is still being vetted before it is rolled out district-wide but it is “imperative” to the success of students and teachers.

Also at the meeting, the board:

• Heard a campus report from Austin Elementary Principal Kendall Berry. She highlighted the school has 510 students enrolled that includes deaf-education, dyslexia, speech and special-education classes. She added there is also a third-grade American Sign Language class.
• Held a public hearing regarding the Proposed Tax Rate of 0.9342 cents per $100 valuation. The rate includes $0.7552 cents for Maintenance and Operations and $0.1790 cents for Interest & Sinking (debt services). No-one spoke at the hearing, and the rate was later approved.
• Approved the purchase of several new school buses (both diesel and electric) as well as the sale of 18 diesel school buses.