Agenda Item
a. Student Assignment Update (Updated 4.17.2024)
Summary: Presented by: Ms. Sarita Smith, Executive Director of Student Assignment, Division of Equity & Student Empowerment
DeKalb County School
District
Student Assignment
Project (SAP)
Board Retreat
April 18, 2024
Presented by: Sarita M. Smith
Board of Education and Superintendent
Mr. Diijon DaCosta Sr. Mrs. Deirdre P. Pierce Dr. Devon Q. Horton
Board Chair Vice Chair Superintendent
District 6 District 3
Mrs. Anna Hill Mrs. Whitney McGinniss Ms. Allyson Gevertz Mrs. Vickie B. Turner Dr. Joyce Morley
District 1 District 2 District 4 District 5 District 7
Agenda and Outcomes
• Share the purpose of the Student Assignment
Project (SAP)
• Explore the components of SAP
• Detail the process from committee phase to
recommendation
• Understand the Implementation process
• Clarify what does or does not constitute a
SAP process
• Provide feedback on next steps
• Answer any questions about SAP
What is
Student
Assignment?
What is Student Assignment?
Student Assignment is a process that aligns the values of
the community and district to assign students to schools
and programs, review boundary lines, and determine school
opening or closing.
SAP Fidelity
Facilitating an engaging, data-driven, and inclusive process can take
several years to implement fully with fidelity.
A district should consider a full or partial SAP process if:
1) Boundaries changes are needed
2) If student enrollment fluctuates drastically
3) Challenges with assigned vs attended schools
4) A need to develop or reduce programs
5) Opening or closing schools
6) 5th year after the last student assignment process or boundary changes
• There are several main components of SAP, and depending on the scale of the project, some or all
of these may be necessary. Any change to attendance boundaries and programming significantly
impacts students and families and should be reviewed based on the impact of these decisions to the
entire district.
DCSD has
determined the
need for a Student
Assignment Project…
What’s next?
Components of SAP
Determine the vision of the Superintendent and/or Board which
Assess and understand the current district situation, student will guide the SAP process. That guidance is used to create the
assignment process, boundaries, schools, and policies related to said
guiding BIG question that grounds the work and recommendations
areas. for the SAP committee.
Develop a committee of community stakeholders is very crucial to
Collect data is a vital part of the student assignment process. The the influence and impact of the SAP recommendations. The
facilitator's primary responsibility is connecting with all entities, committee will become the voice of their neighbors, faith-based
departments, and people that can provide contextual and historical communities, and families in the district. Providing in-depth data
data. analytics to everyone in a district would be challenging, so this
committee will represent their respective groups and neighborhoods.
Making recommendations after several meetings, The facilitator will transition the recommendations by meeting with
gathering multiple data points, and considering the qualitative and department leads to review the data and develop transition plans.
quantitative data. These recommendations, along with the data, Leveraging expertise in departments to carry out the voted-on
should be shared with both the Superintendent and the Board. recommendations is critical and should be done so intentionally.
4
The
Current
Situation
Data Needed to Determine Our Current Situation
ü Policy: All policies related to student assignments (i.e. AD, JBC, JBCC, JR-E(1))
ü Board Decisions: Board meeting minutes, votes, and discussions about student
assignments, open/closing schools, school expansion, and program
development and changes
ü Community Input: Review of community surveys, superintendent and district
communications, news articles, focus groups, and community partners' feedback
ü Facilities: Current conditions, capital improvements, number of buildings,
operational costs per year: capacity and utilization rates, history of
opening/closing schools, and facility condition analyses
ü Finances: Current fiscal reality of the district (structural and operational),
financial projections, and short/long-term needs
ü Registration and Student Assignments: Current registration processes, current
and past boundary lines, program placement, school choice process, enrollment
data and projections, and current/future demographic studies
The Desired
Vision
(Superintendent
/Board)
Why is SAP Needed and What are the Desired
Outcomes?
When developing priorities, we need to know what we prioritize
and which strategy we use to establish the priorities.
Example Priority:
Create a student assignment plan that
supports access to high quality
educational programs for all students. Does the priority:
• Meet a strategic need?
Example Consideration: • Reflect fiscal feasibility?
• Maximizing locations of programs • Positively impact the needs of our
• Minimizing barriers for program entry primary consumers?
• Maximizing program locations for
students that lack accessibility
Data
Collection
Data-Informed Process
Interdepartmental collaboration is essential to the collection of data needed in
order for the SAP Committee to make informed recommendations.
Suggested data:
• Ten years of previous enrollment actuals • Historical data to provide context
• Ten years of enrollment projections • Community survey (conduct if not
• Demography study (including birth rate available)
data, new development, census data, • Facility studies
non-attending student data) • Building capacities
• Program enrollment numbers by school • Strategic plan
• Program approval and implementation
Student
Assignment
Project
(SAP) Committee
The SAP Advisory Committee
There is an internal and community based committee.
Internal Team:
• Consists of representatives from DCSD: schools, programs, special education, gifted,
horizon leaders, athletics, CTAE, student services, communications, and
transportation.
• Should meet to review data and strategize prior to reporting out.
Community Based (SAP Committee):
• Call to action – Advisory Committee application
• Meets at least monthly
• Uses district data and a decision-making protocol in each meeting
• Invites content experts to share at meetings
All meetings should be open, recorded, and/or notes provided to the community.
SAP
Recommendations
Implementation of
Recommendations
Implementation Phase
• Division and team leader transition meetings
• Relevant data sharing
• Collaborative timelines for implementation
It is best practice that any changes to families,
schools, or programs are shared within 6 months of
the start date.
Discoveries Wonderings
• Is there an enrollment management system in
• Amazing data available online place for DCSD?
• Recent CMP • Is it possible for registrars to report to the
• Projections through 2030 Student Assignment Department?
• Registration has solid SOP and processes • What metrics have been used to determine the
• Available demographic studies with birth rate opening/closing of schools?
housing development data • What are the communal and political impacts
• SAP is integrated into the strategic plan of changes to school clusters?
• How does school choice impact attendance
school enrollment? How are these
seats determined?
• How are allotments determined for each
school?
QUESTIONS