32 districts to be eligible for DOI status (TEA, 2018, Figure 1). Once the plan was written, approved by the Board of Trustees, and the proper steps had been taken to post the plan for public viewing, it was submitted to TEA for posting; TEA does not have the authority to change or modify the plan (HB 1842, 2015). The current study was an in-depth analysis of DOI in Texas to discover the potential impact on district programing and student learning through analysis of DOI plans and interviews with members of district leadership integral to writing and implementing the DOI plan. Because of the lack of current research surrounding the current topic, the current study lays the foundation for further research. The following research questions guided the current study: Research Question 1 (RQ1): What exemptions from state requirements are most frequently written into District of Innovation plans? Research Question 2 (RQ2): How do the rationales and explanations for exemptions vary from district to district, and what are the commonalities? Research Question 3 (RQ3): What are the reported obstacles districts have faced in the creation and implementation of the District of Innovation plan with internal and external stakeholders? Research Question 4 (RQ4): What are the anticipated benefits of the District of Innovation plan as reported by the district’s administration? The current study was a mixed-methods approach using an explanatory sequential design to discover the answers to the research questions completed in two phases. First, the researcher analyzed 149 DOI plans of districts located in two adjacent regions of North-central Texas. After analysis of all the plans, including the exemptions approved for each district and the explanations for the exemptions, the researcher determined the five most frequently used exemptions. The five most frequent exemptions were further analyzed in each plan to discover the reasoning or perceived benefit for the exemption and whether the district built new parameters to replace the part of the TEC exempted in the plan. Once the analysis of the DOI plans was complete, the researcher used selective purposive sampling to select five district leaders from different DOI districts in the original sample with whom to conduct one on one interviews. The interviews deepened the understanding of the construction of the DOI plan and its potential impact. The districts were chosen for this portion of the current study based on size, location, and exemptions approved in the DOI plan. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis were used to discover the answers to the research questions posed in the current study. The qualitative results gathered through interviews with district leaders add depth to the understanding gained through the descriptive statistics derived from DOI plans posted on district websites. Table 1 highlights the top five exemptions and their potential benefits found in the 149 sample DOI plans. The interviews with district leaders revealed the processes and barriers in constructing and approving the DOI plan. Each district gathered a committee consisting of teachers, campus leaders, parents, and community members and then gathered feedback from them throughout the DOI writing process. Each of the districts had a method for sharing the progress of writing the plan with campuses. Gathering feedback from stakeholders at multiple levels in the district was crucial. All the districts in the interview sample did this. Since the district committee created new guidelines to replace the laws that the plan exempted, district leaders believed it was important that all faculty and staff of the district be provided the opportunity to understand the development and impact of the DOI plan. One of the five interview participants mentioned using research in choosing exemptions in their interview answers. In the other four districts, the exemptions were chosen based on what surrounding districts already implemented and what the committee believed to be the needs of the district, not research of academic findings related to the exemption. Writing research-based practices into a DOI plan allows a district to implement innovations Stephanie Bonneau, EdD
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