Solar Preparatory School for Girls at James B. Bonham has been named a recipient of a $100,000 grant from NewSchools Venture Fund, an organization committed to supporting innovation in education. Solar Prep is a Transformation School launching under Dallas ISD’s Public School Choice initiative. In the summer of 2015, NewSchools Venture Fund launched NewSchools Catapult, the first endeavor of their Innovative Schools strategy.  Its purpose is to create a bellwether for innovation in PreK-12 education by supporting promising school teams from around the country in creating the kinds of incredible, inspiring schools that all students deserve. Solar Prep was one of 14…

A variety of studies on the topic conclude that students that enter kindergarten able to read and learn on grade level are more equipped for success and less likely to fall behind their peers. The district’s proposed $1.6 billion bond program, to be considered by voters on Nov. 3, includes plans for additional prekindergarten classroom space. At this time, such plans include four new campuses that will include additional prekindergarten classroom areas along with more preK classrooms at a minimum of three other campuses. More specifically, those proposed spaces would be built in neighborhoods where the need is greatest among…

Students in the Dallas Independent School District made significant gains in fourth-grade math in the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation’s Report Card. Dallas’ gains outpaced those of the nation’s public schools and placed the district among the only three districts to see gains compared to 2013 results in that subject. Results for fourth- and eighth-grade reading held steady compared to the 2013 assessment. The results for the sampling of eighth-grade students who participated in the math assessment in 2015 registered a decline. This is the third time that Dallas ISD has participated in the Trial Urban…

There might be 10 months left until the start of next school year, but the Dallas ISD Human Capital Management department is already hard at work recruiting effective teachers for next August. Last week, HCM staff kicked off their effort to recruit bilingual teachers from outside the United States with a trip to Puerto Rico. More than 100 people signed up for interview slots in Puerto Rico, and HCM staff selected 26 candidates to move forward in the recruitment process. Dallas ISD recruiters are scheduled to travel to Spain and Mexico later in the school year. “There is a critical bilingual…