Dallas ISD plans to emphasize writing and math to help turn around two dozen failing schools.
The district was one of just three statewide to release its projected school grades last week, along with Houston and Garland ISDs. Irving offered a grade for the district but not individual campuses.
Dallas’s estimated ratings show 24 “F” campuses, most of them elementary schools.
Dallas Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde told KERA Thursday that new state tests have changed and are in many ways harder. For example, she said half of the new language-reading arts test is now in writing.
“So we know we need to ensure that the writing is incorporated into our reading blocks,” Elizalde said. “That's something our teachers have spent a lot of time (on) this summer and beginning this year. So I think we're going to see some dramatic improvements.”
Elizalde said to help solve the math problem, she’s taking a lesson recently learned from the state.
“The state invested a lot ... on reading academies,” Elizalde said. “So Dallas ISD is actually beginning, through our academics office, math academies.”
She said that will give teachers more time to study the standards students are being tested on.
"Our process moving forward is simply to work on the things that did produce growth and align the curriculum a little more tightly to the assessment,” she said.
The TEA’s newest STAAR test is described as more rigorous, with new scores for determining A-F ratings.
Dallas ISD expects a C this year overall with a score of 79 compared to last year’s 76. Its last grade was a B.
Dallas said its preliminary scores showed the number of high schools in the district “with A and B grades almost doubling compared to internal calculations for 2023 ratings.”
Elizalde is confident the district can fix Dallas’ failing campuses.
“Check back this time next year, and you're going to see dramatic improvement in those schools that…are far underperforming,” she said.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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