The Office of Transformation and Innovation (OTI) is excited to formally announce the release of the Public School Choice (PSC) Competitive Proposal Process, Version 4.0.
Through this process, educators have the opportunity to create high-quality, best-fit options for Dallas ISD students to realize their full academic potential. The past Public School Choice competitive proposal processes have ushered in schools ranging from those that anchor teaching and learning under a Personalized Learning model to a Leadership school to schools driven by a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) framework.
Future Choice Schools could include a variety of instructional approaches and content/themes, such as Montessori, International Baccalaureate (IB), academies for Visual and Performing Arts, Business/Entrepreneurship, Government/World Affairs, Health, Humanities, and Communications. Additionally, through Choice Schools, the district would continue to expand socioeconomic diversity pilot schools and programs.
There are five types of proposals for 4.0:
• Innovation Schools are existing neighborhood schools that want to implement a new academic model, but stay in their existing facility and keep their traditional attendance boundaries. Existing neighborhood school leadership teams can apply for their current schools to become an Innovation School. Botello ES, Cabell ES, Rogers ES, Martin Weiss ES, Marsh MS, and Bryan Adams HS are the district’s current Innovation Schools.
• Choice Pilots are specifically designed to create small-scale programs at an existing neighborhood school. These pilots will be implemented schoolwide across one or two grade levels, with no entry requirements and potentially grow. De Zavala ES is the district’s first Choice Pilot, implementing a Montessori program.
• Rotation Enrichment Programs is a new category, specifically designed to create a rotating Choice program at an existing school. The program is intended to be a stationary model in which at some point in the year every student will rotate into the program. Rotation can be done by grade level, subject matter, or other designation as proposed by the Applicant Team.
• Transformation Schools are brand new, start-up, open enrollment schools. Unlike the past iterations, the Public School Choice 4.0 competitive proposal process will allow for schools identified as Improvement Required (IR) to apply. Additionally, an Applicant Team is not required to have a proposed principal as part of their team in order to be eligible to submit a proposal. Mata ES, Solar Prep, Hulcy MS, Ignite MS (name, location pending), IDEA, and CityLab HS are the district’s Transformation Schools.
• Transformation Replication Schools will be new, start-up, open enrollment schools where teams will replicate an existing successful model, such as a single gender campus for boys modeled after Solar Prep, or a Leadership Academy modeled after Weiss ES. The intent of this option is to focus on replication and teams applying for this model will be vetted, selected, and then paired with existing schools to help coach them through planning and implementation.
The process and any relevant information related to PSC 4.0 (templates, resources, due dates, etc.) can be found here by clicking on “Design and Launch a Choice School.”
The application opened on Tuesday, May 16. The deadline for Letters of Intent is at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7. The final proposal is due by 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14. The proposal template will be available for Applicant Teams starting in June.
The OTI looks forward to meeting and supporting all interested applicants. Individuals may contact Shakeatha Butler, Director, Transformation and Innovation, at shakbutler@dallasisd.org or (972) 925-3306.
