Community-Based Accountability System (CBAS)

Through the Frisco ISD community-based accountability system (CBAS) process, campus communities are empowered to define school accountability in a manner that more accurately reflects the needs and priorities of its students. The system recognizes and reports on educational outcomes above and beyond standardized testing and provides information to schools and communities that communicates overall effectiveness and can drive meaningful, lasting change. 

The CBAS establishes and maintains a meaningful contract, or agreed set of expectations, between a community and its schools rooted in the focus areas of the Future-Ready Framework. 

At present, student results on the state-generated STAAR test provide the basis for campus and district accountability ratings, which provide the local community with a very narrow perspective of student success. In contrast, Community-Based Accountability is based upon the premise that schools exist to serve students, their parents and their communities, and that accountability should first align to that purpose. Community-Based Accountability Systems (CBAS) are a direct response to the fact that test-based accountability systems fail to offer much information or insight to the actual changes or improvements that need to occur within a school. 

Students are the reason schools exist and each school is a unique community that will approach each focus area of the Future-Ready Framework in its own way, with its own set of goals, while providing meaningful measures of accountability to campus stakeholders.

This effort is intended to be a positive process benefiting students and is not an anti-testing effort. It recognizes that the best way to have a better accountability system is to build that system and put it forth as an example of how things should be done.

It’s time to change the conversation of how a student or campus is defined as successful. Our students deserve no less. Follow #CantTestThat on social media to see Frisco ISD educators embed learning opportunities for students that cannot be tested on a state assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Whether formal or informal, accountability is one of the most powerful orienting forces within an organization. It molds and orients an organization on how it can be effective. 

Frisco ISD is creating a system that will reflect the needs of future-ready students, while driving meaningful change with a clear focus on the Future-Ready Framework. As we plan and respond to the ever-changing needs of students in today’s society, we seek an accountability structure that more accurately reflects community values and student needs.

Developing a community-based accountability system involves parents, community leaders and educators working together to develop a more complete and holistic way to share information with our community about our schools. The District’s Long-Range Planning Committee, District Improvement Team, Faculty Council and district leaders have been part of the development of a community-based accountability system for Frisco ISD. 

A community-based accountability system:

  • Is driven by the unique needs of the students and the values and expectations from the community it serves, as compared to the one-size-fits-all approach that is currently used.

  • Includes parents, community members and educators working in partnership to identify meaningful indicators of progress and/or successes unique to the Frisco ISD community.

  • Supports efforts to innovate and customize learning experiences based on the needs and interests of our students and community.

  • Recognizes that schools are accountable for the capacities, requirements, principles and infrastructure necessary to create and sustain a successful learning organization.

  • Is an engine of meaningful change for schools, not another report card.

The CBAS process is a year-round, strategic effort rooted in key goals reported each year that will guide how the campus will respond to the needs of the community and students. 

This community-based accountability system prioritizes the whole child and will provide meaningful information above and beyond what can be shared from standardized tests. It will be unique to the needs of the campus community. 

The backbone of the CBAS is aligned with the Future-Ready Framework, including these key focus areas:

  • Whole Child Model

  • Differentiated Instruction & Assessment

  • Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum

  • Learner-Centered Environment

  • Strategic Collaborative Leadership

Starting in August 2022, the campus will publish the campus community-based report of each school year in conjunction with the Texas Education Agency’s release of the A-F Accountability Ratings.

While the annual CBAS will be reported in August, the CBAS process is a year-round, strategic effort rooted in key goals that are designed to create an alignment between the campus/district vision and accountability.

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