Inside Dallas ISD

The community and the State Fair of Texas came together to provide 100 percent of seniors at Lincoln High School and Madison High School with the opportunity to complete the Common Black College Application (CBCA) for free. The CBCA provides specific and targeted access to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the nation. The Common Application, while an effective access tool to colleges and universities, is limited in access to HBCUs, which is why this tool is so powerfully unique. HBCUs are institutions that were created in the 1800s for students of color that could not be admitted to traditional institutions due…

Volunteers from KPMG’s Family for Literacy last week distributed three books each to the more than 900 students at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School. Earlier this year, the Hotchkiss library benefitted from $3,000 worth of books, and the school also received a new container butterfly garden from this district partner. Hotchkiss Principal Cecila Criner confirms how meaningful these resources have been for her students, who often have few books at home. KPMG’s Family for Literacy distributed 25,000 books across North Texas last year and will top that this school year. Knowing that strong reading skills are the basis for future success, and understanding that…

More than 300 teachers and staff at the seven Dallas ISD ACE schools were surprised with $400 Target gift cards at assemblies at each campus on Wednesday. An anonymous donor provided the gifts to the staff in recognition of their efforts and success at improving extraordinary student educational outcomes. The seven campuses are part of the district’s Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) program, an effort to incentivize the top teachers and principals to relocate and work at some of the districts lowest-performing schools. Six of the seven campuses were removed from the state’s ‘Improvement Required’ list after the first school year the…

A handful of students at Dallas ISD’s John W. Carpenter Elementary School got a firsthand look of the school’s rejuvenated library on Thursday, Dec. 15, thanks to Behr and the Heart of America Foundation. The paint company and nonprofit organization teamed up to conduct six projects across the country to support literacy in 2016. The library now features brightly colored walls, inspirational signs and famous quotes and also new beanbags to help boost a love of reading, along with newly donated books. The school’s computer lab also got some sprucing up. A ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the project.