Citing the benefits to both students and the business community, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings urged local business leaders to help expand a program that provides paid internships to high school students. Since its inception in 2008, the Mayor’s Intern Fellows program has provided summer internships to 1,048 students in such fields as healthcare, law, engineering, and the non-profit sector. While the program, which is open to high school students who attend Dallas ISD and public charter schools, provided 300 internships last summer, Rawlings set a goal of 400 student internships for the upcoming summer. “Businesses ask me all the time,…

At Dallas ISD, we talk a lot about Destination 2020. You will see Destination 2020 repeatedly mentioned on the Dallas ISD website, discussed in speeches from district leaders, and referenced when talking about other district initiatives. For those who are newer to Dallas ISD, or who haven’t closely followed the progress of Destination 2020, we’ve compiled an introductory guide to help catch you up to speed. What is Destination 2020? In the simplest terms, Destination 2020 is the district’s strategic plan to raise student achievement for all students. The district implemented the Destination 2020 plan in 2012. What are the…

Hammering on the point that “effective teachers matter,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles laid out a new draft plan Tuesday aimed at incentivizing top teachers and principals to relocate and work at the district’s lowest-performing schools. The district will begin the implementation of the Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) Plan in the 2015-16 school year. Miles said the pilot program is a part of the district’s goal to get an effective teacher in every classroom. “Our lowest-performing schools need the most effective teachers,” Miles said. “Let’s do something about that.” Miles cited national research that shows that a lower percentage of effective teachers teach at…