Education

On Monday, we told you the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had published a broad investigation concluding that hundreds of school districts, including Dallas Independent School District, displayed “troubling test patterns” that could indicate widespread cheating. That day, DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said the district had been aggressively investigating suspicious test activity for…

Update, 3 p.m.: Elliot Monteverde-Torres, the teacher suspended after blowing the whistle on his principal, was denied a contract renewal for next school year in the weeks before he sent the complaint letter. See details after the original item. Original item: The News’ Matthew Haag has a story in this…

Alternative elementary schools used for discipline are a “pipeline to prison” and a drain on Dallas Independent School District’s budget that should be closed, a group of DISD parents and activists said today. Alternative school opponents waded across the unkempt lawn at NW Harllee Elementary school in southern Dallas to…

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a sweeping investigation over the weekend of possible cheating on standardized tests in dozens of school districts across the country, and Dallas Independent School District made an appearance. The AJC examined test results for 69,000 schools in 49 states and found “high concentrations of suspect scores”…

A reader named Hometown Boy posted the link in the comment section of Bossman’s story yesterday examining Tuesday’s DISD board meeting, and the unwavering recalcitrance of DISD Trustee Carla Ranger. In it, board candidate Damarcus Offord appears to kind of perhaps threaten trustees. Hometown Boy clearly does not want Offord…

I didn’t catch the live version of last night’s Dallas ISD board powwow to winnow its list of superintendent candidates, figuring it would go immediately into closed session and that if I wanted grainy, depressing footage, I’d be better off popping in Inside Job, which I’d somehow missed upon its…

Back in January, the Dallas Independent School District suffered some minor self-inflicted PR wounds when it tried to eliminate a policy that bans schools from holding graduations in places of worship, except for in “unusual” circumstances. After the ACLU did the whole ACLU thing — stern press releases, vague threats…

With a lingering budget crisis and shrinking enrollment, the Dallas Independent School District has eliminated hundreds of teaching jobs in recent years, and this year will be no different. But in a sharp departure from years past, the district is preparing to part ways with hundreds more teachers for reasons…

Kids walking the halls of Prime Prep Academy next fall might have a shot at television stardom because Deion Sanders, the school’s co-founder, is working with entertainment exec Tracey Edmonds (with whom Sanders’ ex-wife accused him of cheating) to make his school a reality … show. That’s right, a reality…

Back in January, Robert watched as the DISD board, which has the amazing skill of stretching out any conversation to 10 times its natural length, debated the qualities they’d like to see in a new superintendent. Last night, Resource Center Dallas CEO Cece Cox sent the board an open letter,…

Make no mistake: The achievement gap is still a seemingly uncrossable gorge, and minority students in Dallas and across the country are still pretty much hosed. But in a few key areas at least, black and Latino students are slightly less hosed here than they are in other large, urban…

Like I was saying, or writing, earlier this morning …When Edwin Flores announced he wasn’t going to seek re-election to the Dallas Independent School District board two weeks ago, the District 1 trustee said he’d hold off on making an endorsement. At the time, only one other candidate had announced:…

More or less moments after Edwin Flores announced he wouldn’t be running for another term as Dallas Independent School District trustee, a Friend of Unfair Park wondered: “Is he going to give Educate Dallas their money back?” Referring, of course, to the $10,000 pledge made by the Dallas Regional Chamber-connected…

Whilst trolling the Dallas ISD’s website last night, I noticed that the district has posted its 2012-2013 District Improvement Plan, a 21-page look at all that ails DISD and offers general fix-its to accommodate its myriad needs. And needs there are: The word appears dozens of time over a handful…

I called Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander early this morning to see if that lone, anonymous teacher’s call for a leap day of protest went answered by his peers. No, says Dahlander in a statement just dispatched from 3700 Ross. Not at all:The percentage of Dallas ISD teachers…

Had a couple of readers ask late yesterday: Why no mention of tomorrow’s maybe-could-be-probably-not Dallas ISD teacher “sickout,” which a single anonymous teacher’s calling for? To which I responded: Well, I’m not sure it’s going to be much of one, despite lingering resentment over last month’s vote to increase workdays…

Deion Sanders is not messing around with haters. “Someone is ready to hate, somebody is ready to naysay,” he said at last night’s Oak Cliff town hall meeting to rally support for his charter school, Prime Prep Academy, slated to open campuses in Dallas and Fort Worth in August. The…

Deion Sanders overlooked the crowd from his seat at a long table, positioned in front of the altar at Charity Church in East Fort Worth at last night’s town hall meeting for his latest venture, Prime Prep Academy, a charter school he says will have campuses in both Fort Worth…

The Dallas City Council council didn’t waste much time getting ’round to the most eagerly awaited showdown of the day: Item No. 53 on its agenda, which creates that nonprofit that would allow Uplift Education to some $85 million in low-interest-rate bonds. As city Chief Financial Officer Jeanne Chipperfield told…

Speaking of the Dallas Independent School District’s doings … No doubt you recall the ugly allegations that came out of Ebby Halliday Elementary School in the fall, stories of abuse and intimidation that resulted in principal Kamalia Cotton going to another campus (Phillis Wheatley Elementary School) while furious parents demanded…

On the other side is a missive I just received from Dallas Independent School District board member Edwin Flores, in which the longtime District 1 trustee announces that he will not seek another term. I asked Flores why not — if, maybe, this had something to do with the furor…

In May we hopped about this ad-adorned Dallas County Schools bus, one of many so decorated courtesy an ad agency specializing in school-bus advertising (hence the name of its website). As Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander explained at the time, the district contracts with Dallas County Schools to…