Inside Dallas ISD

For four weeks this summer at A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School and Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center, nearly 10,000 Dallas ISD teachers took part in personalized professional learning and development. According to Executive Director of Professional Development Angie Gaylord, teachers selected from an innovative menu of educational sessions, giving them the ability to select topics that not only interest them but also reflect the feedback received in their TEI evaluation. “We want them to be motivated and excited so they can go back and do great things with their kids on campus,” Gaylord said. The teachers responded positively to the…

Some Dallas ISD teachers will roll into class next fall with a new method to teach science: Speedometry. A curriculum developed by Hot Wheels and the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education uses the small toy cars to teach concepts such as velocity and how weight and aerodynamics affect how far and how fast an object can travel. On Monday, teachers from the district’s Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) schools and from the Intensive Support Network received training on how to teach with Speedometry. They learned about the curriculum and also built ramps – some with looping sections of track –…

Last week, amid the organized chaos that is lunch service at Youth World Learning Center each summer day, the 100,000th free meal was served there by the Dallas ISD Summer Food Program. That number was celebrated on Monday, July 18, by staff, students, volunteers and partners at the center, which serves at-risk children by offering supplemental education resources, economic relief community support and more. Executive Director Darla Shirley said she almost can’t believe how far the center has come, from humble beginnings in an old, crumbling warehouse without air conditioning in north Oak Cliff to a more modern facility down the…

Dallas ISD choir directors have been invited to participate in a special concert honoring the victims of the recent tragedy. The community sing is being organized by the directors of the Credo Choir, Dallas Symphony Chorus, Turtle Creek Choral and Dr. Brad Olesen, Dallas ISD Director of Choir and Elementary Music. The free concert is open to the public and will begin at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 14 at the Myerson Symphony Center. Learn more here.