For three days this week, teachers from across the district gathered for training on the Teacher Excellence Initiative, the district’s innovative pay-for-performance teacher evaluation system. These teachers, known as TEI campus experts, then train the teachers at their schools on TEI and provide related updates to their campus throughout the year. But, equally important, the TEI campus experts continually provide feedback to district administrators on what is working—and what isn’t—with TEI. “Teachers have helped shape the formation and continual improvement of this evaluation system, and their feedback is invaluable as we continue to improve TEI in the upcoming year,” TEI…

Dallas ISD officials announced this week that the district earned the maximum score of 30 and a rating of “Pass” under the state’s school financial accountability rating system known as the School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) for 2014-2015. A Pass rating, which is the state’s highest possible rating for 2014-2015, demonstrates the high quality of Dallas ISD’s financial management and reporting, district officials said. This is the 13th year of School FIRST, which is a financial accountability system for Texas school districts developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76th…

In the first 48 hours, approximately 2,200 students were enrolled online in a Dallas ISD school. Entaune Tyson, a Dallas ISD project manager, said the district is happy with the strong initial interest in online enrollment. “We weren’t sure how many people would enroll online since this is the first year it has been available at most of our schools,” he said. “We have been very pleased with the response.” By utilizing online enrollment, parents don’t have to wait in lines to fill out paper forms at the campus to enroll their child. Online enrollment is not mandatory. Parents can still…

The iconic yellow buses will soon wind their way across Dallas, officially announcing the start of school. With bus routes just released and 25 new Multi-Passenger Vehicles (MPVs) ready to roll, Dallas ISD’s Transportation Services department is prepared for the 2015-2016 school year. The new MPVs bring the total number of district owned vehicles to 75. While most of the logistics from last year remain the same, Kathi Hayward, executive director of Transportation Services, encourages parents to visit their website to confirm bus routes, stops, and pick-up and drop-off times. Additionally, the website contains information on student eligibility and special busing for…