In February 2018, the GCISD Board of Trustees and administrators met to lay out the history of what has been accomplished through LEAD 2021, beginning in 2011, to take stock in what has been accomplished. The group then discussed the future of LEAD 2.0.

The group used some questions as a guide:

• Where have we been and where are we going?
• How can we refine the work we have already done?

In April 2018, GCISD's Discovery Committee convened. This group included over 100 individuals representing a wide variety of GCISD stakeholders, including students, parents, staff, community members, etc.

The group was tasked with thinking through many things, including:

• Reviewing the work accomplished in LEAD 2021
• Initiating the process that advances the district towards LEAD 2.0
• Assessing the capacity of the district
• Identifying patterns and trends that can be used in the establishment of district goals

In September and October 2018, the district conducted face-to-face focus groups at every campus with students, parents and staff. Evening and daytime sessions were held, leading to over 1,000 people getting involved in the LEAD 2.0 development process.

In these meetings, participants focused on:

• Sharing their hopes, concerns and dreams for GCISD

In October 2018, a Discovery Action Team was formed. This team included 30 members from the Discovery Committee. This group synthesized all of the data that had been collected in previous steps in the journey and formed the four goals of LEAD 2.0.

The goals were approved by the GCISD Board of Trustees in December 2018.

Beginning in February 2019, a group of GCISD staff was assembled to begin refining areas of action derived from the four approved LEAD 2.0 goals. The group was divided into two different roles: strategy leaders and goal advocates. 

Strategy leaders were staff who were closely tied to the work of the seven strategies originally outlined in LEAD 2021 (Personnel, Learning Plan, Curriculum, Communication, Finance, Technology, and Facilities) and who have been leading the work of LEAD 2021. These groups began assessing the tools, processes, and programs that already existed in the District.

Goal advocates were central staff and campus leaders who were both passionate about the goal topic and brought a unique perspective. Their charge was to review their respective goal through the lens of each strategy. 

Over the next few months, the strategy leaders and goal advocates worked together to develop action plans and continue to keep those plans focused on the four goals of LEAD 2.0.

The progress of these action plans was presented to the GCISD Board of Trustees at a workshop in June 2019 and in October 2019.

Beginning in Fall 2019, the goals of LEAD 2.0 became a major part of the day-to-day work of all staff across GCISD:

• Deeper understanding of the goals initially began in GCISD's campus and department leadership meetings. Leaders participated in activities and/or heard from expert speakers in subject areas related to each of the four goals. As these leaders became more familiar with the goals, they were better able to garner a deeper understanding of LEAD 2.0 amongst the broader GCISD staff.
• Sessions related to each goal were offered as a part of the 2019 GCISD Learning Institute, an annual, unique opportunity for professional learning in GCISD. All District staff gather at one campus on a professional development day and participate in sessions and collaboration opportunities that are designed to help staff start the school year energized, informed, and prepared to meet students’ needs.
• The district-wide professional learning day in January 2020 was also centered around LEAD 2.0. Campuses individually created staff development activities with the purpose of creating an understanding of LEAD 2.0 and how they could implement the four goals on their campus.