Author: The Hub

A summer meal milestone, workshops that help teachers become even more effective, and lessons in “speedometry” are just some of the big news items in this edition of This Week in Dallas ISD. Watch the above video—or read below—to learn more. Professional learning workshop About 1,000 teachers attended a professional development workshop personalized to them to help them become even more effective at working with students. (Watch this) Summer meal milestone Staff, students, volunteers and partners celebrated the 100,000th free meal served by the Dallas ISD Summer Food Program at the Youth World Learning Center. (Read this) Valuable partnership For the…

For four weeks this summer at A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School and Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center, nearly 10,000 Dallas ISD teachers took part in personalized professional learning and development. According to Executive Director of Professional Development Angie Gaylord, teachers selected from an innovative menu of educational sessions, giving them the ability to select topics that not only interest them but also reflect the feedback received in their TEI evaluation. “We want them to be motivated and excited so they can go back and do great things with their kids on campus,” Gaylord said. The teachers responded positively to the…

About 40 interns from Protiviti, a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For award-winner, spent a recent afternoon painting walls at George Herbert Walker Bush Elementary School. Protiviti has plans to return to support the campus in reading activities this school year.

The Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program gives Dallas ISD high school juniors and seniors real world experience in a professional field. The Hub is spotlighting some of these Dallas ISD students participating in the program. Today, meet Taylor Griffin, a student at Skyline High School who is an intern with Dallas ISD’s Summer Learning and Extended Day Service Department. What is your role as an intern? To provide a helping hand to the summer learning and extended day services program. What do you hope to accomplish through the internship? I want to know more about the business environment and whether it’s for…

For the second consecutive year, Dallas Independent School District partnered with the Annette Caldwell Simmons School at Southern Methodist University (SMU) to provide targeted professional development academies and courses for district teachers. The academies were tiered to support specific teacher needs based on each teacher’s most recent Teacher Excellence Initiative evaluation. The partnership’s goal is to improve district teachers’ classroom instruction. Led by SMU professors, the academies and courses were designed to strengthen teachers’ understanding of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and incorporated effective use of lesson objectives, demonstrations of learning, purposeful and aligned instruction, and the use of…

Some Dallas ISD teachers will roll into class next fall with a new method to teach science: Speedometry. A curriculum developed by Hot Wheels and the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education uses the small toy cars to teach concepts such as velocity and how weight and aerodynamics affect how far and how fast an object can travel. On Monday, teachers from the district’s Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) schools and from the Intensive Support Network received training on how to teach with Speedometry. They learned about the curriculum and also built ramps – some with looping sections of track –…

Last week, amid the organized chaos that is lunch service at Youth World Learning Center each summer day, the 100,000th free meal was served there by the Dallas ISD Summer Food Program. That number was celebrated on Monday, July 18, by staff, students, volunteers and partners at the center, which serves at-risk children by offering supplemental education resources, economic relief community support and more. Executive Director Darla Shirley said she almost can’t believe how far the center has come, from humble beginnings in an old, crumbling warehouse without air conditioning in north Oak Cliff to a more modern facility down the…

Dallas ISD continues to provide high quality programs for students through the Summer Learning Program made possible through partnerships with Big Thought, Teach for America and Compass, the district’s teacher alternative certification program. Summer Learning comprises three initiatives: the pre-K through grade 8 Summer Achievers Academy, high school credit recovery and Accelerated Instruction, a more traditional summer school offering geared towards students needing to pass state assessments and provided instruction to students that did not meet local promotion standards. In June: 180 elementary and middle schools provided Summer Readiness to 7,075 students in graded 1-8; 180 elementary and middle schools…

The Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program gives Dallas ISD high school juniors and seniors real world experience in a professional field. The Hub is spotlighting some of these Dallas ISD students participating in the program. Today, meet Galilea Hernandez, a student at Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School who is an intern with Dallas ISD’s Summer Learning and Extended Day Service Department. What is your role as an intern? I assist with the departmental organization for the summer program that is taking place, draft agendas for meetings, as well as help with the organizations of Excel documents and other small tasks that I am asked…

In the calm before the storm that is back-to-school, parents are encouraged to resolve student immunizations as early as possible to avoid the inevitable back-to-school rush in clinics, doctor’s offices and medical facilities throughout the city. The law requires that students be fully vaccinated against specific diseases before attending school. Now’s the time to have your student vaccinated early and avoid the back to school rush. Low cost immunizations are available for eligible students at the district’s Youth and Family Centers and the county’s health clinics located across the city. For more information, visit this webpage or call 972-502-4190 for the…