News Briefs

When Lincoln alum Carlesa Dixon (Class of 1999) thought about naming her daughter, one name came to mind—Alanna. It was the name of her favorite teacher who taught her second grade at Charles Rice Learning Center. Today, Dixon is the girls head basketball coach at her high school alma mater. As coach, Dixon herself is the inspiration for many students she works with. AlumNow, a Hub feature that checks in with district alumni, took a few minutes to catch up with Dixon to find out what she’s been doing since her days as a stand-out player on the Tigers Basketball Team. What are you…

The road to potentially earning the district’s highest effectiveness levels and the corresponding compensation as a Dallas ISD distinguished teacher starts with submitting a Distinguished Teacher Review (DTR) application. To earn a Distinguished effectiveness level, teachers must: Earn an effectiveness level of Proficient II or higher. Achieve high scores in teacher performance, student achievement and student perceptions. Meet additional performance criteria assessed through the Distinguished Teacher Review. This school year, more than 2,000 teachers have been identified as DTR-eligible and invited to submit an application with examples of their leadership, lifelong learning and contributions to the profession. Aspiring DTR-eligible teachers…

The Dallas Morning News reports on teachers who were named “distinguished” under Dallas ISD’s Teacher Excellence Initiative, but were already making more money above the salary range for that performance level. The affected 148 teachers could each receive a $1,000 retention stipend. Read the full story here.

Fox 4 profiled a new approach that six Dallas ISD schools are taking in handling discipline issues. The schools are testing a program that uses circles, which are known as discipline discussions, that help students and teaches find common ground. Click here to view the report from Fox 4.