District Initiatives

Closing the Gaps

Closing the Gaps was a pilot program of the Post-Secondary Student Success Initiative. The purpose of the program was to provide high-quality post-secondary advisory services, so as to increase the number of DISD graduates who pursue post-secondary education. The $1,711,456 in grant funds purchased services and consulting specialists from The Princeton Review (TPR), which provided classroom instruction and other services to DISD students, parents, and educators. The district implemented the program in five high schools: Seagoville, South Oak Cliff, Sunset, W.T. White, and Woodrow Wilson. Selected program components were available to students in five feeder middle schools: Storey, Long, Marsh, Quintanilla, and Seagoville.

Counselor Connection

The mission of Dallas ISD counseling program is to promote and support academic excellence and personal well being for all students. Primary outcomes expected from the implementation of the Elementary School Counselor Connection Program (CCP) are to increase the retention of new district counselors and to improve the effectiveness and quality of the district’s elementary school counseling services through the improvement of new counselor performance.

Enhancing Education Through Technology

The Instructional Technology (IT) department of the Dallas Independent School District managed the Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology grant awarded annually by the U.S. Department of Education. The grant provides funding to the district to be used to facilitate improvements in the use of technology as part of educational delivery strategies employed by the district. The IT department applied the funding to a variety of major program areas within the district each year. Individual programs apply to participate annually. Each of the recipient programs is carefully integrated into a district-wide plan to fully prepare both teachers and students to embrace technology in the school, workplace and home.

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Justice Youth Mentoring Program Grant (JUMP)

This evaluation examined the implementation of the U.S. Department of Justice Youth Mentoring Program Grant, JUMP, during the 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006 academic years. The main purpose of the JUMP Grant was to utilize mentoring initiatives and activities as a means for lowering drop-out rates within the school district. Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Dallas (BBBS) and Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD) combined efforts for the duration of this grant period in order to more effectively serve and support at-risk youth and to prevent them from dropping out. With the collaboration and support of Dallas ISD, BBBS provided a Youth Mentoring Program to Dallas ISD 7th, 8th, and high school students. At the end of the funding period there were 176 matches in place. Results from Dallas ISD and BBBS surveys revealed that mentors reported students possessed improved levels of confidence, competence, and caring after being mentored, and that students were less likely to engage in detrimental activities as a result of their mentoring experiences.

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Professional Preparation and Support

The Professional Preparation and Support Department designs and implements teacher preparation, support, and retention programs. Professional Preparation and Support includes two major divisions: Alternative Certification and New Teacher Support and Development. Alternative Certification is a state accredited program that recruits talented professionals seeking teacher certification and offers pre-assignment training, intensive and structured support, and ongoing professional development for interns. New Teacher Support and Development trains and funds campus mentors and administers the T3: Teachers Training Teachers program, which provides intensive mentoring to beginning teachers. The department oversees the implementation of New Teacher Support Teams comprised of administrators and mentors on each campus. The department also runs several pre-service programs designed to improve recruitment of future teachers who are familiar with the curriculum and environment of the district including: student teaching, professional development schools in partnership with area universities, and coordination of campus future educator organizations.

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Safe and Civil Schools

The Safe and Civil Schools Initiative is designed to improve school safety across Dallas ISD. While the entire initiative consists of a minimum of 20 programs involving multiple departments within the district, the universal component of the initiative is the Safe and Civil Schools program. This program includes three components, Foundations, START on Time!, and CHAMPs. The Foundations component is a comprehensive program, designed for secondary schools, that guides each school through the process of designing an effective and efficient schoolwide discipline plan. It incorporates both the implementation of effective behavior management and positive behavior support for all students. The START on Time! (Safe Transitions and Reduced Tardies) is a program developed for middle and high schools designed to create safe hallway transitions and reduce tardiness schoolwide. And finally, CHAMPs, a proactive and positive approach to classroom management, is a comprehensive program designed to help teachers improve the management of their classroom. The program leads teachers at all levels through a process of identifying and maintaining the effective aspects of their classroom management style, while concurrently adding and/or strengthening any missing techniques or eliminating less effective ones.

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Title V Innovative Programs

Title V-Innovative Programs: 2004-05
Federal funds under Title V provide support for local education reform efforts to meet the needs of students at risk of failing or dropping out of school. During the 2004-05 school year, Title V funds were used to provide services for teachers, students, and parents in seven program components:

• The Basic Skills Core Program uses music (piano, violin) as a motivational strategy for teaching vocabulary and oral language (listening and speaking) skills to PreK-3 students
• The Parent and Family Literacy Program provides families with instruction in English, parenting skills, pre-school instruction for children, and weekly parent and child interactions.
• Home Instruction for the Parents of Pre-school Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home based literacy program for preschool children, ages 3, 4, and 5.
• The Campus Leadership Launch for First-time Administrators Program provides training and assessment for principals in preparation for re-certification by the state.
• The Region 10 Block Grant provides funds for the Region 10 Education Service Center to train district teachers, administrators, and private school teachers.
• The World Cultures Program provides workshops and instructional materials for World Geography and World History teachers (grades 6, 9, and 10.)
• The Early Childhood Training for Campus Facilitators Program provides professional development for campus facilitators and administrators to improve school, student, and teacher performance in Grades PreK-3.

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Voluntary Drug Testing

As part of its commitment to student academic achievement the Dallas ISD designed the Voluntary Drug Testing program. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and designed to deter students, through a carefully designed reward system, from using illicit drugs. The program has two components. The first component is the Drug-Free Youth in Dallas (D-FY-ID). In this component, students enroll themselves in the program and receive rewards for remaining drug free. The second component is First Alert. In this component parents of students in the district may request that their child be drug tested.

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Youth and Family Centers

The Youth and Family Centers program is a school-based health center initiative dedicated to providing primary, preventive, and mental health care, through an interrelationship among family, school, and community. Nine centers are operated through a partnership between Dallas ISD and Parkland Health and Hospital System. As the program serves students and families who might otherwise not have primary health care providers, a goal is to remove barriers to physical and mental health care by providing services in accessible, integrated settings at locations throughout the district. Nine centers provide services in an interdisciplinary, holistic approach.

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