Nearly 800 Dallas ISD ACE educators and campus leaders from 23 campuses across the city joined a virtual kickoff celebration on Aug. 24th to launch the 2020-2021 school year.
The kick off began with the schools’ impressive results shared to highlight the group’s success with growing student achievement. The chart below shows the double-digit gains the ACE schools have achieved outpacing the state and other campuses for Reading and Math at the Meets level. The team reflected on the ways they could continue this momentum despite the current challenges presented by CoVid 19.
“The big message that our teachers took away is that even though we are starting the year virtually, we can still have strong connections with our students and high quality instruction,” Stokes said. “We are honored to have such a strong group of educators and campus leaders ready to work together to support students. Our ACE educators really believe that their students can and will succeed, and they are willing to do anything possible to make that happens.”
The celebration ended with ACE Principals sharing a special message by singing a rendition to “Lean on Me” letting their teachers and staff know they can and will get through this moment together by supporting each other. The group of educators reported leaving the event inspired and ready for a great school year.
The ACE program is part of the district’s larger effort to address and ensure racial equity across schools. The ACE plan works to ensure that effective leadership teams and teachers are in the classrooms where they are most needed by incentivizing top teachers and principals to relocate.
The ACE program also provides additional resources that include an additional Assistant Principal, Counselor, and PLC Facilitator staffed at each campus to support campus culture and instruction. They also receive 2-3 resident teachers and additional funding for after school programming and school uniforms.
Since Dallas ISD launched the ACE program in 2015, the impressive improvements in student achievement and culture have inspired 10 other school districts to implement the program at 27 other campuses outside of Dallas ISD.
