After a year-long process, on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 the Denton ISD Board of Trustees adopted the following mission statement for the district based upon the work of the Denton ISD Educational Improvement Council:

 

Denton ISD: Empowering lifelong learners to be engaged citizens who positively impact their local and global community.Read about the adoption of the mission statement in the Denton Record Chronicle at http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20130324-district-unveils-new-mission.ece. 

 

See the video used to unveil the new Denton ISD logo.

 

 

 

See the video used to unveil the mission statement and the response of the audience and the Board of Trustees below. 

 

 

 

See the video used to launch "Project EIC" below." 

 

First, we’ve got to answer, “What is EIC?”

What is EIC?
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, 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. And that’s what we’ve done with “Project EIC”.

 

So, what is “Project EIC”?
Having spent the year considering goal setting, our recommendation is to first ask a few essential questions that we’d like answered by our students, our students’ parents, our business and community members, and our Denton ISD educators via social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.). Then, we recommend the district use the input to rewrite the district’s mission statement, vision statement(s), values, and goals, which we refer to as “WIGs”.

What are “WIGs”?
WIGs are “Wildly Important Goals”. The phrase came from the guru, Stephen Covey. WIGs are the vital few goals that must be achieved to fulfill the purpose or nothing else you achieve really matters much. Research shows that the likelihood of reaching your goals with excellence are significant when focusing on only 1-3 goals. When attempting 4-10 goals, research also shows that only 1-2 of the (4-10) goals are likely be reached with excellence. Writing 11-20 goals plummets attainability to 0. When Campus Leadership Teams (CLTs) write their WIGs, they follow a formula: (verb) (measure) from (X) to (Y) by (when), which is essentially a version of a SMART goal.

What’s a SMART goal?
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely goals.

Back to “Project EIC”. What questions do you want to ask our students, our students’ parents, our business and community members, and our Denton ISD educators?
• What is school for?
• What matters to you? (As in…what’s really important to you?)
• Why do you do what you do? (Why are you a student, parent of a student, a board member, a civic-minded community/business member, an educator, a teacher, a counselor, an administrator, etc.?)
• Why are you here? (I don’t mean Planet Earth…I mean here in Denton ISD.)
• What is success? (What does it look like?)

How will you get these questions out to the target audience?
Our intent is to focus on social media (such as Facebook Twitter, YouTube, etc.) , but rely on traditional media and other forms of communication as well. We want as many stakeholder involved in the process as possible.

 

When will “Project EIC” launch?
After pitching to the Denton ISD School Board and the Denton City Council in April 2012, the project was officially launched on September 30,2012 with an article in the Denton Record Chronicle, which can be found at http://www.dentonrc.com/opinion/columns-headlines/20120929-jamie-wilson-help-form-disds-future.ece and in The Cross Timbers Gazette at http://www.crosstimbersgazette.com/opinion/2739-our-schools-our-future.html.

 

Where can I find follow the process?
The official DISD EIC Facebook Page is located at www.facebook.com/disdeic.

 

You can follow the EIC at www.dentonisd.org/eic. The (.pdf) presentation (sans videos) given to the Denton ISD school board and Denton City Council can be found online at http://www.slideshare.net/chrisshade/project-eic-for-41712-denton-isd-board-meeting-part-1-12573240 and http://www.slideshare.net/chrisshade/project-eic-for-41712-denton-isd-board-meeting-part-2 and a handout of the notes and details from the presentation can be found online at http://www.slideshare.net/chrisshade/project-eic-handout-for-denton-isd-school-board-meeting-41712. Additional updates are being made by Chris Shade, EIC Chairman, on his social media sites at www.facebook.com/cshadedentonisd, www.twitter.com/cshadedentonisd, and www.youtube.com/cshadedentonstaff. Periodic announcements will be made on each of these sites.

Speaking of “unveiling”, there’s been mention of rebranding the Denton ISD logo. When will that happen?
That question is asked often after people found the “teaser trailer”, Rebranding the @dentonisd Logo, video on YouTube online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc1o9FrYD7Y&list=PL809200BE55F6AFEE&index=3&feature=plpp_video. Having reviewed Harvard University’s Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hauser/role-of-brand/), a research project that examines the role of nonprofit brands that introduces a conceptual framework designed to help nonprofits more strategically leverage their brands to advance mission and impact, we know it’s important to first determine our mission, vision, and values. Once established, the logo should reflect the mission, vision, and values of Denton ISD.