Dallas school superintendent Mike Miles will unveil the next stage of his Destination 2020 project Tuesday. That could be good news for South Oak Cliff High School.
Plans for Miles' Destination and Imagination 2020 target four areas he says are key to improving student results. They include new methods for training and evaluating teachers and principals; improved curriculum; better internal systems to gather, understand and distribute data; and more parental and volunteer involvement in schools.
A few weeks back, Miles led a bus tour to of the “Imagine 2020” schools -- Madison, Pinkston and Lincoln high schools topped the list that included the elementary and middle schools that feed them.
“They’re areas of great need,” Miles said. “We have a number of kids come to us who are challenged with poverty and are behind in academics.”
Miles now plans to add South Oak Cliff High and the 11 elementary and middle schools whose students will eventually go there.
The plan includes an extra $3 million budgeted to pay for more principals, master teachers, paid and volunteer tutors and other resources.
Richard King liked the program at Lincoln High School, where he just graduated.
“Imagine 2020 does a lot for people,” King said. “They bring in programs that benefit students. Imagine 2020 helps the students as if some students may not have enough money. They make sure everything’s OK. I love it.”
Miles hopes other students, now at South Oak Cliff High, will benefit the way King did. He’s on his way to Wiley College, a historically black liberal arts school in Marshall, Texas.
