Compared to the bells and whistles of previous years, the Dallas Independent School District has apparently decided to keep it simple next term.
NBC 5 DFW reporter Wayne Carter described the vibe at DISD campuses as staff begin to prepare for students as one of continuation rather than innovation.
“We’re going to keep it simple, we’re not breaking out some major tools, or software, or some consultant to come and give us some magic key to get to the targets the state has set for us, we’re not doing that,” Tiffany Huitt, Dallas ISD’s chief of school leadership, told NBC 5.
The last school year was characterized by new curriculum rollouts, security updates, various teacher retention initiatives, and a heavy dose of politics amid a backlash against Gov. Greg Abbott’s push for school choice.
However, as recently reported in The Dallas Express, Dallas ISD also decided to keep up its clear backpack policy despite acknowledging that it does not guarantee complete security. It begs the question of whether staying the course is the best policy.
For many of the district stakeholders Carter spoke to, the emphasis for the upcoming school year will be to build on what has already been established.
“It was a heavy lift to get everybody there in one year,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said about the new math curriculum she implanted last year, per NBC 5.
“And people said, it couldn’t be done but our teachers prove it can be done. And now, you should see the number of folks that are coming to professional development, and it’s no longer like, ‘Oh, I have to get used to this new resource.’ It’s let me dive into this new resource,” she added.
Indeed, boosting students’ math grades is a major focus for the district this school year, with statewide results on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams causing alarm as far up as the Texas State Board of Education.
“At Skyline, we need to focus on math, it’s a huge, huge thing,” Joe Pouncy, the principal of Dallas ISD’s Skyline High School, told NBC 5.
This sentiment was echoed by Olivia Santos, the principal at Dallas ISD’s Solar Prep for Girls.
“Our reading scores were amazing this last year. So now we’re just trying to get that math and science bolstered up,” Santos said.
The STAAR results currently available for Spring 2024 show that Dallas ISD students’ math and science scores are subpar. For instance, only 18% of students met grade level in grade 5 science, and only 32% did so in grade 6 math.
Insofar as reading scores at Solar Prep being “amazing,” this wasn’t the case across the board. While between 78% and 92% of students in grades 4-8 met grade level in reading on the Spring 2024 STAAR at Solar Prep, grade 3 reading results were lackluster, with just 59% doing so.
At the same time, when compared to the districtwide results for reading, the campus did perform better, with the share of students meeting grade level in the subject ranging from a low of 42% to a high of 50%.
Student achievement has been a longstanding concern in the district. The latest accountability report from the Texas Education Agency shows that just 41% of Dallas ISD students scored at grade level or above on their STAAR exams in the 2021-2022 school year, compared to the statewide average of 48%. Meanwhile, almost 20% of Dallas ISD’s graduating Class of 2022 did not earn a diploma in four years.