Bay City ISD has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants that will be used to deepen the educational experience across the district.
The first grant comes with $900,000 in funding from the Effective Schools Focus Grant, which will be spread across the district’s five schools over the next two years.
BCISD will be taking part in the Texas Instructional Leadership Initiative, which stresses research and observation-based improvement models.
BCISD Assistant Superintendent Lisa Moya said that in the first year, the program will address the effectiveness of district leaders.
“What we’re working on is strong school leadership and planning,” she said.
“We did a self-assessment, and that’s what we needed to work on.
“All of our principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, academic deans and district facilitators were trained this summer to provide constructive feedback and coaching.
It’s how we improve, how we help all teachers – not just struggling teachers, but even our best teachers.
“And our leadership gets coached too. It’s a growth mindset. We all have room to improve.”
The program is based on the widely renowned book “Get Better Faster,” by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.
District leaders are learning to break down larger goals into a 10-day coaching cycle, where achievable expectations are set and met to build continuous growth.
Before the second year of the program, BCISD will undergo an extensive survey of teachers and students to determine what area the district will focus on next.
The district has also received $400,000 in funds from the Texas COVID Learning Accountability Support (T-CLAS) Grant.
These funds, split over the next three years, will be used to pay teachers’ salaries during after-school tutoring sessions or Saturday academies to help make up learning losses caused by COVID-19.
Because of this grant, BCISD has been able to raise teachers’ after-duty pay to $40 an hour, which is a highly competitive rate.
“We really wanted to reward our teachers for putting in this extra time,” Moya said.
The grant also included $125,000 in funds to expand BCISD’s dual credit certifications.
Teachers must have a master’s degree and 18 hours of coursework in a subject in order to be able to teach a dual credit class, and the funds from this grant will allow BCISD to pay for interested teachers to receive their master’s degrees from the University of Houston-Victoria.
Moya said the district has already identified several teachers who are interested in the program.
“We are the largest dual credit high school in partnership with Wharton County Junior College,” she said.
“So, especially with us building our Early College High School program, we need more teachers.”
Approximately 130 students, over 10 percent of the BCHS student body, are taking at least one dual-credit class this semester.
Moya said she is especially pleased that the grants align with the BCISD Strategic Design Framework.
