OUR MISSION
Our mission is to ensure that educators engage students with disabilities with high-quality, intentional instruction to ensure growth and personal success.
OUR VISION
Our students with disabilities will be enabled individuals prepared for personal success.
OUR BELIEFS
- All students with disabilities are general education students first
- Individual needs, not labels, programs, or places drive decisions for students with disabilities
- A full continuum of services is assured for all students with disabilities
- Quality educators hold high expectations and have a growth mindset for all students with disabilities
- Students with disabilities are the shared responsibility of school leaders, staff, parents, students, and community
- All students with disabilities will be in positive learning environments guided by engaged and qualified teachers and staff
- Communication, collaboration, and cooperation are essential to the provision of quality services for students with disabilities
- The delivery of quality curriculum and instruction empowers students with disabilities to be meaningfully connected to educational experiences.
Northside ISD has over 13,500 students qualifying for special education and related services. Our staff of over 2,000 teachers, instructional assistants, speech pathologists, special education coordinators, licensed specialists in school psychology, and other related service specialists are dedicated to providing exceptional individualized services to students. According to both federal and state law, the goal of special education is to help students with disabilities become as independent as possible as they move through the grade levels. Furthermore, the law requires each student become employable, if possible, when they leave the educational setting. This may include opportunities to pursue post-high school education. Each program and service provided through special education is devoted to these goals.
The special education department is not able to reach these goals alone. We value the partnerships we have built with our parents/guardians in this effort. We encourage all visitors to navigate through our resources within this site. If any of our staff may be of service to you, please contact us. We hope you enjoy learning more about the people and services our Special Education Department provides in the Northside Independent School District.
TESTING & EVALUATION
Testing and Evaluation serves instructional leaders by facilitating testing. This is accomplished by collecting, analyzing and reporting test results and program data. These tasks support data-driven decisions and targeted planning of instruction. In so doing, we help Northside increase student success by focusing on accurate and timely data collection, evaluation, and dissemination.
The Department of Testing & Evaluation in Northside ISD is comprised of two (2) distinct components which are intricately related and purposely aimed at improving the academic performance of students in the District. In the simplest definition, the Testing component is primarily concerned with facilitating all group assessment activities while the Evaluation component focuses on data analysis of the test results and other data for program effectiveness.
The Northside ISD testing program, like others in the State of Texas, is primarily determined by the many and varied components of the State assessment program. While many districts throughout the State choose to use only the State-mandated tests such as STAAR, and EOC tests, NISD has long felt that local-option testing programs are vital to provide information that is crucial to further excellence in teaching.
The Testing & Evaluation Office provides a number of services to the campuses and the central administration of Northside ISD. We invite you to contact us with any questions you may have. You are also welcome to call 397-8726 to set up a time to visit our office located at 5651 Grissom Road to discuss the District and/or State testing program.
