-
L.I.T. (Lee, inspírate, transfórmate)
It's L.I.T. (Literacy Is Transforming)
Building literacy skills is crucial in helping ensure lifelong success for every student. Dallas ISD is taking a future-focused comprehensive approach to ensure students have the foundational skills they need.
-
Innovative Strategies
Dallas ISD is using the following strategies as part of a comprehensive effort to get students reading and writing at grade level.
Project R.E.A.DDallas ISD is in the initial stages of an exciting initiative that will invest quite heavily in our libraries over the coming months and years. As part of a partnership with Apple, this library redesign initiative, titled Project R.E.A.D., will see libraries evolved into exciting learning laboratories for students to engage in research, exploration, application, and design. While these evolved library spaces will serve as a hub for experiential learning, they will remain firmly grounded in the core mission to spark academic curiosity through cultivating a love of reading.
Reading AcademiesDallas ISD is optimizing the implementation of the Texas Reading Academies, a state legislative requirement, to drive long-term growth and target closing the achievement gap for its Black and Latino students. The Reading Academies equip teachers and administrators with the evidence-based methods that best support the science of teaching reading. By developing skilled and effective educators, we ensure students have access to high-quality reading and writing instruction, thereby positively impacting student literacy achievement.
Summer BreezeThe district’s summer school programming, Summer Breeze, has been redesigned with a strong focus on literacy instruction. Through Novel Engineering, students are reading a book where they will work with peers to create a solution for the problem the character is experiencing in the book. This interdisciplinary approach to instruction starts with an interesting and relevant book and centers reading as the base for all Science, Social Studies, and Math learning.
Disciplinary literacyDallas ISD will build in foundational and critical reading and writing skills across all content areas, including math and science. This will teach students how to read, write, think and discuss in ways that are particularly to those different content areas.
-
Mitigating learning loss district wide
In addition to these targeted ways to boost student literacy skills, Dallas ISD is committed to investing up to $100 million over two years to mitigate learning loss in all subject areas.
This investment include:
-
Frequently Asked Questions
-
What does the STAAR data show about learning loss for reading?
Across all grade levels, the number of students who passed the Reading portion of the STAAR exam dropped by 5.8 percentage points from 2019 to 2021.
-
Is Dallas ISD getting rid of librarians across the district?
No. Under the Theory of Action, campus principals are given the autonomy to convert certain positions to best meet the needs of their school. Some principals have chosen to convert their librarian position into another position. However, this has just been at select schools, and at these schools, there is still a staff member who manages the library, which remains open to students.
-
Is Dallas ISD getting rid of its books and library resources?
All school libraries are still stocked with books, and the district continues to also invest in digital resources, while using innovative strategies to better serve students as they move toward 22nd-century learning.
-
What other literary resources is the district providing to students?
In addition to innovative strategies such as Project R.E.A.D, Reading Academies, Summer Breeze, and disciplinary literacy, the district will significantly scale up tutoring over the next three years. The district is planning a $12 million investment over the next three years to hire as many as 500 tutors next year and up to 1,800 additional tutors over time to support students. The district has also invested in Reading Academy Training for all PK – 3rd grade teachers, elementary campus principals and assistant principals, and instructional coaches. The training includes 60 hours of intensive professional learning in foundational literacy skills such as phonics and comprehension techniques. The training highlights the use of key resources such as alphabet letters and decodable readers in every classroom.