Photo courtesy of Dallas ISD
Greetings, District 2!
With spring vibes in the air, we are marching on at Dallas ISD! Here’s a glimpse of what’s unfolding this month:
Dallas ISD District 2 Monthly Updates:
Dallas ISD is Up for Debate: Collaboration between the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance and Dallas ISD is providing opportunities for 1,100 of our students across the district to compete in debate. With the second largest debate program in the United States, it’s hard to argue against the benefits of sharpening critical thinking, boosting public speaking skills and fostering an understanding of diverse perspectives that are enjoyed by our debaters.
Dallas ISD District 2 Student: She’s Making Waves and Making History: Woodrow Wilson High School’s Campbell Chase set yet another 5A swimming record in the individual medley in addition to winning two gold medals at this year’s UIL 5A Swimming State Championship! We wish her well as she competes this summer in Indianapolis to join the 2024 Olympic swim team, and then heads to The University of Texas at Austin in the fall, where she will join the Longhorn swim and diving team.
Dallas ISD’s New Namings: At our March meeting, the Board approved the following school names:
- Henry W. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy’s library at its new replacement campus will be named for former First Lady Laura Bush, honoring her literacy advocacy and career as an educator, which began in 1968 in the original Longfellow Elementary School building.
- Biomedical Preparatory at UT Southwestern, the pre-K through eighth-grade school designed to offer students a STEM program focused on biomedical science, will have its building named for Dr. Charles Ginsburg, honoring his visionary leadership in the creation of the school.
- Dr. Elba and Domingo Garcia West Dallas STEM School is the new official name of the West Dallas STEM School, honoring the public service of both the honorable Dr. Elba Garcia and Domingo Garcia for their commitment to advancing opportunities in the Hispanic community.
March Board Meeting Debrief:
Last month, Dallas ISD had its regular board briefing and meeting. I’ve chosen to highlight the most important items below:
- Update on Third-Grade Student Achievement Goals:
The Dallas ISD Board of Trustees has specific goals related to improving third-grade reading and math achievement. This month, we received a mid-year progress update for third graders, which showed strong progress in math and reading proficiency over their middle-of-year results during second grade. This is significant given that Dallas ISD implemented a new math and reading curriculum this year.
While we did show material cohort growth, we did not achieve the year-over-year growth in third grade we were hoping for; that is when comparing last year’s third-graders to this year’s. Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde, Ed.D. and her team shared strategies to continue accelerating student growth including more hands-on, engaging content in both math and reading, targeted professional development for teachers, and targeted interventions for high-need students.
- Teacher Excellence Initiative (TEI) Update:
TEI is the district’s performance evaluation system, implemented in 2015-2016, in which teachers are compensated based on performance, student achievement, and student experience surveys. With TEI in place, Dallas ISD is able to take advantage of incentive state funding (Teacher Incentive Allotment, or TIA), which in turn allows us to attract, reward, and retain highly effective teachers and provide strategic incentives to work at high-priority campuses.
Dallas ISD has been a leader across Texas and the nation in innovative teacher compensation. Since TEI’s implementation, highly rated teachers have been retained in the district at rates above 90%. Also, while teacher turnover rates have increased across the state, Dallas ISD turnover is 1.3% which is lower than the state’s turnover rate, and 3.6% lower than Region 10 districts, despite having a higher percentage of high-poverty campuses.
- Dallas ISD Budget: Every year, the Dallas ISD Board adopts our subsequent year’s budget at the end of the school year. Check out this story for an update on the proactive measures the district is building into its 2024-2025 budget.
Dallas ISD Bond Construction Updates:
Campus infrastructure upgrades funded by the proceeds from the 2020 Bond continue. For up-to-date information across the district, please see Dallas ISD’s dedicated 2020 Bond website.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, or simply want to say hello!
Best,
Sarah Weinberg
Photo courtesy of Sarah Weinberg.
