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…

“Comeback kids” aptly describes the Lincoln Tigers weekend in San Antonio earlier this month at the 2016 UIL State Basketball Championship. The team came from behind to win both games on their way to claiming a state title. In their Friday night game against La Marque, the Tigers found themselves down nine at halftime. The Tigers came back to win the game 62-59, which advanced them to the state championship game the following day against Silsbee. Then, against Silsbee, the Tigers came back from a 15-point deficit to win the 2016 4A title. Lincoln Head Boys Basketball Coach Cedric Patterson says his team’s “refuse-to-lose” attitude is…

Trustees and Dallas ISD leadership say the seven district collegiate academies and P-TECH opening in August won’t just be a game changer for the schools and surrounding community. The program could have a noticeable positive impact on the entire city. The collegiate academies, which will apply to become early college high schools in December, will allow high school students, at no cost to them, to earn up to 60 hours of college credit or an associate’s degree. The collegiate academies will be “schools within schools,” meaning they will be a separate program inside existing high schools. “This will have a profoundly…

As part of Dallas ISD’s effort to provide choices for families, the district has been expanding its two-way dual-language program, which helps prepare students for success in the global workforce. Here is what to know about the two-way dual-language program. What is a two-way dual-language program? A two-way dual-language program puts Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students in the same classroom, teaches them the same curriculum in both languages, and creates bilingual, bicultural and biliterate students. Over the course of a day in a two-way dual-language classroom, Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students are taught together certain subjects (such as science) in Spanish and…