Dallas ISD hosted a high-energy information fair last week to help prepare principals for a successful school year. Nearly 40 Dallas ISD departments hosted booths at the fair to provide information about their services to the principals. Macario Hernandez, who will begin his first year as principal at Trinidad Garza Early College High School, said he is excited to use the resources available. “This is the first training that we are able to see so many departments from all over the district that we are actually able to tap into,” he said. “I’m excited to be able to utilize the…

Dallas ISD will reduce the number of semester exams, otherwise known as Assessments of Course Performance (ACPs), by more than 30 percent in the upcoming school year. The majority of the cuts in testing will happen in elementary schools, where all second semester ACPs have been eliminated and first semester exams are limited to Reading and Math plus Grade 5 Science and Grade 4 Language Arts. “Reducing the number of assessments will allow for more valuable time for teaching and learning inside the classroom,” said Stephanie Elizalde, chief of school leadership. For example, a third-grader last year took ACPs for language…

The Dallas Independent School District has appointed Scott Layne as the district’s new chief operations officer. Layne, who will join Dallas ISD in mid-August, brings 34 years of public education experience to Dallas ISD, most of it served as assistant superintendent for School Support Services for the Irving Independent School District, where he managed more than 700 employees. His responsibilities included maintenance, grounds, custodial, energy management, warehouse, transportation, safety and security, construction, food service, technology services, risk management, fixed assets/surplus, records management, health services, and athletics. During Layne’s 25-year tenure with Irving ISD, he also managed the district’s 1997, 2001…

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…