Inside Dallas ISD

Last November, thanks to the generosity of the Laura Bush Foundation (LBF), the Dallas Education Foundation (DEF) was awarded $500,000 for the direct benefit of Dallas ISD to rebuild library collections of schools affected by the October 2019 Dallas-area tornadoes. These grants are being used to expand, update, and diversify the library book collections at Thomas Jefferson High School, Francisco “Pancho” Medrano Jr. High School, and Walnut Hill PK-8, with the goal to increase student interest in reading and directly tie book collection to instruction. After the 2019 tornadoes, Francisco “Pancho” Medrano Junior High School accepted 310 students displaced from…

Umphrey Lee Elementary students and staff put on their aprons, transformed their campus into the U Lee Pizzeria, and cooked up a whole day of interactive learning. Principal Stephanie McCloud and Umphrey Lee teachers organized this day-long activity to reinforce learning in areas of improvement in an exciting, engaging way. “The transformation idea really sparked during one of our professional learning community meetings,” McCloud said. “We looked at our standards and we determined what skills the students needed to be engaged in. We saw that it was going to be fractions, and we said: ‘What better way to really learn…

Navigating the magnet school application process can sometimes be intimidating for students and families. This is why the Magnet Mentors program works to assign mentors to qualified in-district students who wish to apply to any Dallas ISD magnet program. “Our desire is to help students succeed academically,” said Keisha Crowder-Davis, executive director of Centralized Enrollment and Magnet Programs in the Dallas ISD Office of Transformation and Innovation. “We are convinced that magnet programs are a gateway to that success. Magnet Mentors helps students take advantage of available programs by assisting with awareness, application, acceptance, and enrollment.” Magnet Mentors, formally known…

Like any parent, Itzel Davis wants the absolute best education possible for her children. Her son, Landon, is a kind four-year-old boy with a love for learning, and a special interest in tornadoes. When Davis and her husband noticed delayed speech development in Landon, they knew that their son might have learning differences.  The Davis family sought private speech therapy to help Landon, and while they certainly saw growth in Landon through that therapy, the most noticeable growth has come from his time at Lida Hooe Elementary School. Landon’s school counselor, Ms. Passmore, recommended that the Davis family have Landon…