Dear Dallas ISD team,
Wow! I hope you are energized after our fantastic first week of school. As we settle into the rhythm of the academic year, I wanted to take a moment to note what made the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year so successful.
First, we successfully opened five new campuses. Opening even one by the start of the school year is a big lift, much less five! And yes, while it was right down to the wire with a couple of those schools, credit goes to our Construction Services and Bond Office, as well as the staff at these campuses, for making sure that the schools were ready on day one. Congratulations to the school communities of DeGolyer, Geneva Heights, Peabody, L. K. Hall, and John Quincy Adams, their principals, and team members, as well as to Chief Brent Alfred and his entire construction team.
Second, we are getting more good news on enrollment. Last week, our enrollment number snapshot came in a couple thousand students higher compared to this time last year, with huge jumps in pre-K. These families are probably hearing about the wonderful things you are doing and how you’re creating higher engagement and excitement in our classrooms. Increases in our pre-K and kindergarten enrollment also tell me that, for the first time since COVID, a lot of parents feel good about sending their little ones to our schools again.
Finally, we released our projected STAAR results that had both some encouraging takeaways, as well as some disappointing news. Here’s what is encouraging:
- Early learning is critical, and, in Dallas ISD, it is effective.
- More students in advanced/honors math in middle school is resulting in higher rates of achievement in Algebra 1.
- The longer students stay with Dallas ISD, the better they perform academically. We can follow classes of students longitudinally and see the rise in their scores year after year.
- Dallas ISD’s economically disadvantaged student population (which constitutes 87.2% of our school district) performs better, in some cases significantly better, than similar student populations in every other Texas urban school district.
Here’s what is disappointing:
- As anticipated, a new state test, STAAR 2.0, resulted in declines in student academic achievement in general–not just for Dallas ISD, but for the state as well.
- Under the state’s accountability system, our district rating is projected to be a C at a 79, up from the projected 76 in 2023, but down from the B in 2022.
- The number of Dallas ISD schools expected to be D and F likely declined from projected 2023 ratings, but increased significantly from 2022 before the changes in STAAR 2.0.
Our Board President Joe Carreón said it best when he said that no one, including me, is putting their heads in the sand. We all know that we have work to do to best serve our students, and we have the best team to do that work. All in all, our journey this school year has gotten off to a strong start. Progress over perfection. This is the place, this is the time, and you are the secret ingredient for making it happen! Thank you!
Sincerely,
Stephanie S. Elizalde, Ed.D
Superintendent,
Dallas ISD
