Dr. Cynthia Wilson, an experienced leader of schools, has been appointed as Dallas ISD’s Chief of Staff, effective Oct. 1, 2015. Wilson is currently the superintendent of the Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5, a 7,000-student school district in South Carolina. In Dallas ISD, she will report directly to Interim Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and assist in supporting the strategic work of the district. “Dr. Wilson is a great addition to our team. She is experienced in working with both school boards and administrative teams in large urban school systems,” Hinojosa said. “She is a former college student of mine, so I…

Dallas ISD’s groundwork on the Teacher Excellence Initiative paved the way for the district’s implementation of a fair, accurate and rigorous evaluation system and strategic compensation model that has been continuously molded by those it impacts most directly—teachers. Let’s revisit Dallas ISD’s timeline on the Teacher Excellence Initiative from conception to implementation. Following the Texas Education Agency’s announcement that the PDAS, or Professional Development Appraisal System, which was the traditional means of teacher performance evaluation, would cease, state school districts were given the option to create their own evaluation system. In 2011, Dallas ISD leaders proposed a pay-for-performance model that…

Leading up to Sept. 18, which is when teachers will receive their first-ever TEI scorecards, this episode of Ed Talk with Dr. Bravo provides background and context on the district’s comprehensive teacher evaluation system. TEI director Lindsay Coshatt talks with Dr. Robert Bravo, the Dallas ISD Chief of School Leadership, about the three main components—defining excellence, supporting excellence, and rewarding excellence—that make up TEI. Coshatt explains that, under TEI, an effective teacher over 15 years has the earning to potential to make $100,000 more than they could under a traditional step salary schedule. She added that no teacher would see…

Anyone who has attended a Dallas ISD school will likely agree that the district has some of the best and most dedicated teachers in the country. Those who personally know a Dallas ISD teacher have likely seen firsthand how much work goes into being an effective teacher. Whether it is staying into the evening to help a struggling student, grading assignments on the weekend or getting excited over the summer about a new lesson idea, great teachers don’t have the privilege of ever really taking a day off. It’s not lip service to say that being an effective teacher can…