Dallas ISD has 14 finalists in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The students have a chance at the 7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth approximately $32 million. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Each year, approximately 1.5 million students undergo PSAT/NMSQT tests. Of those, approximately 15,000 become finalists. Being named a National Merit Scholar finalist is among the most prestigious national recognitions in high school. “We are proud of these students for achieving this important academic…

Dallas ISD is expanding opportunities for students to graduate high school with a college degree prepared to enter their chosen career. In fall 2016, the district will expand its early college high school model by adding eight new collegiate academies. In recognition of Early College High School Week, which is March 21–25, here are six great things an early college high school allows students to do: Earn an Associate of Applied Science degree tuition free while in high school; Earn as many as 60 hours of tuition-free college credit as a high school student; Eliminate thousands of dollars in college…

Expanding Dallas Independent School District’s two-way dual-language offerings has been a top priority of the district. And while Dallas ISD facilitates one of the largest dual-language programs in the country, the Bilingual/ESL department is working to add 28 additional two-way dual language programs by the start of the 2016-2017 school year. Why the emphasis on two-way dual language in Dallas ISD? Cloris Rangel, the district’s director of Bilingual Programs, said the two-way dual-language program brings many benefits. “Being bilingual and bi-literate gives students a huge leg up not just in school, but in their lives well beyond graduation,” Rangel said. “For these students and…

Telling trustees that the district “must do something differently” to close the student achievement gap, Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa recently recommended that the district sunset the Imagine 2020 program and replace it with an alternate effort to bolster achievement in struggling schools. The Imagine 2020 program was launched in 2013 at 33 schools and offered in-school tutoring, extended school hours and extra staff, including urban specialists, social workers and psychologists. At the trustees’ March board briefing, the superintendent presented data showing the program had not performed nearly as well as the more recently created Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE program. Like…