The deployment of Fort Worth ISD central administration staff is now in full force, according to the district’s top leader.
Interim Superintendent Karen Molinar directed more than 140 specialists and content coordinators in every central office department to directly work with students. The effort is part of Molinar’s larger push to turn around the school district’s lagging student achievement.
Each administrator was assigned a small group of students to work with and track for the remainder of the 2024-25 school year. Administrators are expected to work with students three days a week, the interim superintendent said.
“We have excellent master teachers that are supporting us in the central administration who are now going out (to schools), not only supporting our teachers but pulling our students and intervening with them,” Molinar told trustees in November.
Molinar has emphasized to the school board that interventions, such as small group instruction, will be key as the district works to boost student achievement.
Still, she said, traditional classroom instruction remains important.
The district rolled out an internal test that is administered every nine weeks to help teachers determine what lessons may need to be retaught. The test is called a quarterly assessment and features nine to 12 questions.
Quarterly assessments are not intended to forecast future performance, Molinar said.
The assessment is used in reading, math, science and social studies. The initial quarterly assessment was administered to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade. However, the district will no longer test kindergarten through second-grade students in science and social studies, Molinar said.
“I do feel we need to go back to more teaching the foundations versus testing,” the interim superintendent said. “I need our teachers to have time to teach and not (have to) assess in those two content areas.”
Trustee Wallace Bridges appreciated Molinar’s recognition that students need more teaching than assessing in certain instances. Bridges wanted to know more about how the district would work with parents to ensure their students don’t fall through the cracks.
First, a teacher should sit down with the students’ parents and talk about what’s happening and how to improve, Molinar said. Additionally, the district as a whole should communicate better with the public and thoroughly explain to parents how to understand data available to them, such as quarterly assessments, she said. The data is on the district’s parent portal.
“I like the fact there’s a deeper push to move towards that because I think that’s a benefit for all of us,” Bridges said.
Here’s how third- to eighth-grade students performed on the first quarterly assessment of the 2024-25 school year:
Trustee Anne Darr complimented Molinar’s speed in reporting new student achievement data and tackling other district issues.
“The sense of urgency is real,” Darr said.
Jacob Sanchez is a senior education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
