Thanks to a team collaborating and working together, Dallas ISD has successfully eliminated a backlog of about 2,000 unprocessed referrals for Special Education services. Nearly 400 Dallas ISD employees have worked since late May to process the backlog. As part of the district’s ongoing commitment to educate all students, last spring, Dallas ISD discovered the backlog of about 2,000 unprocessed evaluations and referrals for Special Education services. The program is one of the district’s fastest growing areas. To process the backlog, the Dallas ISD Special Education team reached out by phone, email and in-person to connect with every family with an…

Superheroes–and a few well dressed supervillains–took over 41 Dallas ISD schools this week. But instead of a battle of good versus evil, these teachers and students are tackling something just as important: unfinished learning. The 41 schools adopted an intersession calendar, which extends the school year to start at the beginning of August and end in late June, creating time for five additional weeks spread throughout the year. Sept. 20–24 marked the first of the intersession weeks, granting select students the opportunity for more personalized attention and fun instruction in small groups. There is no testing in the intersession weeks,…

Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy and Trinidad Garza Early College High School at Mountain View have earned National Blue Ribbon School status for the second time in less than a decade. National Blue Ribbon status is one of the highest U.S. Department of Education recognitions for campuses where students perform at very high levels or where exemplary progress is being made toward closing achievement gaps. Both campuses are among the first Early College High Schools (ECHS) built by Dallas ISD. Each ECHS partners with a higher education institution to offer students the opportunity to earn credit for both high school…