Author: The Hub

The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) starts Monday, March 30, and there’s still time to help students prepare for success on the exams. Prep University All Star Workshops continue across the district, providing opportunities to help parents better understand the test requirements and gather helpful tips to prepare their children for the test. Parents will view sample test questions and learn how STAAR impacts graduation. The remaining free workshops, offered in English with Spanish interpretation, are scheduled for Thursday, March 26, at 9 a.m. at Billy Earl Dade Middle School, 2727 Grand Ave., 75215 J.N. Ervin Elementary School, 3722…

A news report from WFAA looks into the district’s draft Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) plan that aims to incentivize effective teachers to voluntarily transfer and work at struggling district schools. Click here for the full story. Photo courtesy WFAA 8.

After months of planning and community engagement, Dallas ISD’s Office of Transformation and Innovation formally announced its plan to launch its inaugural group of Choice Schools. The district plans for seven Choice Schools to be in this first group: two are being announced today; four were announced last winter; and one has been proposed in the district’s Interim Bridge Plan. As part of its Public School Choice strategy, the district plans to launch a total of 35 new Choice Schools by the year 2020. The schools announced today are Bryan Adams High School and a brand new, start-up K-8 Young…

A record number of job candidates registered for and attended Saturday’s district job fair at Emmett J. Conrad High School. More than 2,250 candidates registered for and nearly 1,200 candidates attended the event. District schools made job offers to 406 candidates at the event. “I am personally excited that this is one of our biggest job fairs we’ve ever had,” said Jordan Carlton, talent leader for the district’s Human Capital Management (HCM) department. Saturday marked the district’s first major job fair under its new teacher evaluation system that compensates teachers for their in-class performance. Prior to the event, Carlton said he’d heard…

In February, Dallas ISD hired Karry Chapman as the interim director of Human Capital Management. Chapman has 16 years of leadership experience in human resources for school districts in North Texas. With Chapman leading the Dallas ISD department for one month as of March 17, The Hub caught up with the Baylor University graduate to see how the job has gone so far. Below is a transcribed copy of the conversation. Why did you want to become the HCM interim director? Chapman: I served in another school district in a similar interim capacity. When Dallas ISD interviewed me, it seemed…

KERA recently featured the district’s newest drop-in center, which helps students in need, including those that are homeless. The latest drop-in center, which is in Madison High near Fair Park, “is an attempt to lighten things up for those kids stressed by challenges like homelessness,” KERA reports. Read the full story here. Photo courtesy KERA.

Part of being an MVP in Dallas ISD is promoting a safe and civil climate. National Youth Violence Prevention Week is March 23-27. With violence-related behaviors on the increase, good conversation topics to have with kids this week include weapons safety, communication, and respect towards others for elementary age students to relationship violence, bullying and harassment, and teen driving safety for high school age students.  For more ideas, check out Students Against Violence Everywhere.

Interviews, presentations on district initiatives, and excited faces of candidates hired-on-the-spot to teach at district schools were common sights at Emmett. J. Conrad High School during Saturday’s annual job fair. The job fair saw a record number of candidates—more than 2,250—register to attend the event. Every district school was in attendance, and Jordan Carlton, talent leader for the district’s Human Capital Management (HCM) department, said the event would play a significant role in meeting the district’s goal of zero vacancies by May 31. For the first time, the district offered a live online stream of presentations made at the job fair.…

Yesterday, State lawmakers applauded Dallas ISD’s “innovative initiatives” that aim to place an effective teacher in every classroom. During a Texas Senate Education Committee hearing on a bill that would improve teacher evaluations, Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles briefed lawmakers on the district’s new teacher evaluation system that better identifies effective teachers. The new teacher evaluation system under the district’s Teacher Excellence Initiative includes “arguably the most fair, accurate, and rigorous large-scale teacher evaluation system in the nation,” Miles said. “We’ve had discussions in this committee that there are districts out there that are innovators,” Sen. Larry Taylor said. “And I…