As a child growing up in Seattle, Michael Johnson lived in a house perched on a hill beside King County International Airport, better known as Boeing Field. From his window, he watched Boeing 747s, affectionately called “Queen of the Skies,” take flight. Each night, engine tests rattled the windows of his home, but for Johnson, it wasn’t noise. It was the spark of a lifelong passion for aviation, which he now shares with students at Career Institute North. Johnson recalls how he began flight training while in college, balancing coursework with lessons in the air. He paid for training by…

When school ratings were announced, Dallas ISD learned it had doubled its number of A-rated campuses from 30 in the 2023-2024 school year to 60. Among those A-rated campuses were Umphrey Lee and Whitney M. Young Jr. elementary schools, both of which had previously been among F-rated campuses. “I expected it, but didn’t know we would get it,” said Yolanda Knight, principal of Umphrey Lee Elementary School. “But our expectation is always to be at the top. We didn’t know we would get there as fast, but we knew we would get there.” Shabranda Mathis, principal of Whitney M. Young…

Katherine Leiva remembers the first time she stepped into a U.S. classroom at age five.  After moving from El Salvador, she landed in Virginia, where she found herself surrounded by a language she didn’t understand. Every word feeling strange and unfamiliar. “You just got thrown into English,” she said. “I had a big disconnection with my culture, Spanish at home, English everywhere else.” Now, as a sixth-grade teacher at Annie Webb Blanton Elementary School, Leiva guides her students through the same challenges she once faced.  “It’s nice to be that person that they can talk to in whichever language they…

Dallas ISD is proving its role as a leader in innovation by launching a cutting-edge artificial intelligence initiative, developed in partnership with Educate Texas, an initiative of the Communities Foundation of Texas. Designed to improve instruction and student outcomes, the program will offer personalized feedback so teachers can better support students with new math concepts. It specifically helps educators improve teaching methods when students struggle to grasp challenging math concepts “Our leadership team has a readiness to innovate in this space. We value learning new tools to set our teachers and students up for success,” said Angie Gaylord, chief academic…