After meeting with principals and focus groups, preparing safety protocols, and reviewing campus space available for social distancing, Dallas ISD is proposing a hybrid learning model for all high schools and at least one elementary school when students return for on-campus learning Oct. 5. The proposed hybrid model is designed to reduce the number of students on campus at any one time by dividing students into two cohorts and alternating time on campus and distance learning for each cohort. High school principals strongly support this model as important to promoting safety because they expect that more students will return to…

Happy faces were seen at the entrances of select Dallas ISD schools yesterday morning, as students receiving special education services at specialized self-contained classrooms were given the option to return to their campuses to begin working with their teachers. This was the first time the students saw each other in person after months of virtual learning due to the pandemic. “It is important for these students to be back because they need the consistency of the daily routine that the school can provide, as well as the support for the academic and social skills they need to develop,” said Heather…

Dallas ISD administrators have been selected to join a nationwide effort of school system leaders to develop strategies that further equity in education. The district will be a part of the inaugural Century Foundation’s Bridges Collaborative cohort, which will advance integration along race, class, and other lines in schools and communities. Dallas ISD will join approximately 50 other organizations – school districts, charter schools and fair-housing advocates – as members of this school integration initiative. The collaborative will serve as a hub for practitioners from across the country. Dallas ISD is highlighted for its work using 50/50 socioeconomic diversity enrollment lotteries…

From Sept. 9–30, Dallas ISD schools are administering beginning-of-the-year assessments to help inform teachers exactly where students are so they can best tailor the supports they will need. Students are encouraged to take the assessment on their campus, though they do have the ability to take the assessment from home. Dallas ISD is providing transportation for the in-person assessment, and you can go here to see the shuttle stops for each campus. Here’s how the process works if your student is in grades K to 11: Families will be informed by their campus of the student’s scheduled date and time…