Frequently Asked Questions

Strategic district initiatives such as ACE or OTI have a managed structure in that they provide schools with expectations on how they should operate.  Even so, programs like ACE and OTI have integrated their expectations within the district's Theory of Action and have specific managed instruction and autonomy components.  

No, a principal may select any number of autonomies that are granted based on their LAS rating.  There is no requirement that you have to select specific earned autonomies.

No, there are no exceptions where you can request an autonomy for which your school did not qualify.  Note, this will differ slightly for special program schools in ACE, OTI, etc.

Autonomies available for selection will be determined each year based on the most recent Local Accountability System rating.  If a campus' LAS rating goes down from the previous year, the available autonomies for selection will be based on the new, lower rating.

Campuses receiving a lower LAS rating than the previous year will still be able to implement lag autonomies (selected in one year and implemented the next) that were selected at the time of the previous, higher LAS rating.

See the chart below that explains how access of autonomies are affected if you are a  new or transfer principals.

Be sure to include your CILT and campus leaders in your decision-making process in selecting autonomies. 

Although the selection window for autonomies is in early fall, some autonomies have a delay on when they are activated based on the nature of the autonomy?  For instance, if you select to roll-over your budget, that autonomy wouldn’t be available until the appropriate budget period ends/begins, etc.

Each year, the autonomy selection window opens with a "clean slate" and you may choose new autonomies based on your most current LAS rating.  If your rating changes in the new year, you only have access to the autonomies related to that rating.

When a campus does not meet the minimum sample size for parent surveys to be included in their LAS rating, then the entire section of parent surveys is removed from the calculation.  In that case, instead of using 100 as the total points, 95 (subtract 5 points for survey) will be the new total; hence 95 will be used at the total denominator when calculating the overall LAS. 

No, once the selection window closes, the general rule is that you can no longer activate autonomies for which you did not select.  That's why it's imperative that you carefully consider with your campus leadership team which autonomies you feel your campus would like to have access to for the school year.

The School Effectiveness Index (SEI) is an essential component of the Local Accountability System (LAS).  The School Effectiveness Index will make up 30% of the Local Accountability System rating.

The LAS ratings contain primarily data from the most recently completed school year, with the exception of SEI.  The SEI scores typically come out in the fall past the deadline when final ratings should be shared with the state. Therefore, for SEI the data will always be from the previous year.  see the table below for the data used in the ratings.

LAS (to be released fall 2019)

* SEI rating will have a year data lag

Yes, a school may choose an autonomy but still decide not to fully activate that autonomy during the school year.

• If you have any questions, comments, or concerns related to the district's Theory of Action, please send an email to theoryofaction@dallasisd.org.