What the Auditors Expected to Find in the Plano Independent School District

The auditors expected to find a comprehensive assessment program for all aspects of the curriculum, pre-K through twelfth grade, whcih:

• Was keyed to a valid, officially adopted, and comprehensive set of goals/objectives of the school district
• Was used extensively at the site level to engage in program review, analysis, evaluation, and improvement
• Was used by the policy-making groups in the system and the community to engage in specific policy review for validity and accuracy
• Became the foci and basis of formulating short- and long-range plans for continual improvement
• Was used to establish cost and select needed curriculum alternatives
• Was publicly reported on a regular basis in terms that were understood by the key stakeholders in the community

What the Auditors Found in the Plano Independent School District

The auditors found an inadequate assessment data base and insufficient staff for effective quality improvement within the system. No comprehensive plan for assessing the progress of students was in place, and assessment approaches do not represent best practice. Assessment data, limited in scope, is not used effectively to determine if programs, services, teaching, or school conditions are good or not. Test scores exceed state averages.

Plano Independent School District Board of Trustees policies require an assessment program to monitor student achievement and program effectiveness, but the auditors found lacking a comprehensive program that assesses all aspects of preK-12 curriculum.

The auditors found that the existingtesting data show student achievement well above state and national averages, but achievement results for lower socioeconomic pupils are lower.

Assessment data is not adequately available or effectively used in decision-making in the Plano Independent School District.