Inside Dallas ISD

There are lots of exciting things going in the Dallas ISD Summer Achievers Academy, a tuition-free, full-day summer enrichment camp for district students. Students are spending their days in two parts—the morning is dedicated to classroom instruction, which also doubles as a training ground for new teachers entering the district through Teach for America and Dallas ISD’s Alternative Certification Program, Compass. Afternoons are dedicated to social emotional enrichment facilitated by Big Thought, a Dallas-area non-profit. Teachers and students spend the day engaged in high-energy, interactive activities aimed at helping Dallas ISD campers grow as students and people. Dallas ISD’s Summer…

Seventy Dallas ISD seniors are receiving special assistance selecting, applying for and securing financial aid for college thanks to a collective of organizations that have formed the Texas Higher Education Initiative. St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church, 12 Texas colleges and universities, and four area school districts created the initiative to streamline the college admissions process for first-generation students interested in attending Texas colleges. On a recent Saturday morning, the initiative partners invited ninety area high school students to talk with college admissions officers, learn how to write winning college essays and to get help navigating the higher education financial aid system.…

Two student groups from Lakewood Elementary School set up lemonade stands last week to raise money for the families of the police officers killed in the July 7 shooting. The students, with help from a Woodrow Wilson High School student volunteer and two Lakewood Elementary teachers, raised $235 through the lemonade stands.

A summer meal milestone, workshops that help teachers become even more effective, and lessons in “speedometry” are just some of the big news items in this edition of This Week in Dallas ISD. Watch the above video—or read below—to learn more. Professional learning workshop About 1,000 teachers attended a professional development workshop personalized to them to help them become even more effective at working with students. (Watch this) Summer meal milestone Staff, students, volunteers and partners celebrated the 100,000th free meal served by the Dallas ISD Summer Food Program at the Youth World Learning Center. (Read this) Valuable partnership For the…