News Briefs

As the captain of the girls volleyball team, Hillcrest High School senior Skyy Owens was ecstatic to see the school’s newly completed competition gym when she returned from summer break. The new gym was financed by the 2015 bond, which voters approved and is bringing $1.6 billion in facility improvements to district schools. “Before we didn’t have the right equipment or space to help us meet our full potential,” Owens said. “This makes us students feel like we are worth it and matter to other people.” Parts of Hillcrest High School are still under construction as crews work on other…

The Dallas ISD, Family & Community Engagement Office is hosting a Saturday Fam Jam event for all Dallas ISD families in the Conrad, Hillcrest, W.T. White, and Thomas Jefferson high school feeder patterns. The Fam Jam is happening 8 a.m.–12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Conrad High School. The Saturday Fam Jam will offer free interactive parent workshops on topics such as bullying and college and career readiness. In addition, there will be free food and drinks, a variety of fun activities for kids, student entertainment, tons of door prizes, as well as many other giveaways and resources. Childcare…

Gifted and talented (G/T) enrichment is designed to close the identification gap for elementary students through the implementation of deductive, convergent, divergent, evaluative, and analytical thinking lessons. Kindergarten classroom teachers work in collaboration with G/T teachers to provide 30-minute lessons once a week to enhance critical thinking skills and identify G/T characteristics.  The curriculum supports a differentiated approach to general education, integrates flexibly into any existing primary curriculum, and offers opportunities for learners with different strengths to shine. G/T Enrichment implementation training was offered to all elementary campuses over the summer, where teachers received resources and materials for the 2019–2020…

Robert T. Hill Middle School teacher Josh Ault recently completed an intense, weeklong immersion in American history at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute. The Teacher Institute was created to encourage history education and make it engaging for students. Now in its 30th year, the Teacher Institute prepares teachers to help students meet national and state history standards through hands-on immersion experiences in colonial history. During weeklong sessions on location in Colonial Williamsburg and the surrounding area, Ault and other participants engaged in an interdisciplinary approach to teaching social studies with American history as the focus. Teachers had the opportunity to…