The West Dallas Education Task Force is a group of concerned citizens and West Dallas community partners working with anyone interested in improving K-12 education in the West Dallas community; we are open and inclusive.
Primary Goal
- Assure quality K-12 public or private educational options for all West Dallas families such that schools achieve student performance at “Recognized” levels based on nationally normed testing with longitudinal evidence of performance improvement.
Educational Objectives
- Convene West Dallas educators to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy
- Develop an educational laboratory in West Dallas to respond to the challenges facing urban schools through a partnership with the SMU Simmons School of Education and Human Development
- Identify, implement and document effective educational practices
- Support a learning exchange with Indianapolis ISD, former Mayor Peterson and The
- Mind Trust; visit 3-4 additional excellent inner-city charter schools for best practices
- Attract a new K-12 charter school to West Dallas
Current Challenges
- 80% of children live in families that earn less than $35,000 per year
- Fewer than 35% of adults in West Dallas have completed high school
- Pinkston High School faces closing in 2010 due to poor student performance; in SY 2008- 09, 304 students started 9th grade at Pinkston, 70 will graduate; per their TAKS scores, 4% of those graduates is able to complete college level work
- 76 pregnant teens attended Pinkston in SY 2007-08; many had their second child
- Recent DISD cuts cost West Dallas schools 35+ teachers and support staff
Success Stories
- 470+ children are now paired with committed mentors through Mercy Street
- Children K-8 can access quality faith based education at West Dallas Community School and St. Mary of Carmel Catholic School
- Amelia Earhart Elementary was rated “Recognized” by TEA in 2007
- DCCCD will open a new mini-campus in the fall of 2009
More About The Task Force
- The West Dallas Education Task Force is only one facet of the larger West Dallas Comprehensive Development Plan.
- Our focus is the schools in West Dallas – traditional public schools, charter and private schools
- We are focused on West Dallas because the children of West Dallas are our children
- We are made up of leaders from many sectors – K-12 education, higher education, government, business, faith communities, not-for-profits and community residents
- The group was formed to support the best possible educational outcomes for our children and is exploring new initiatives and funding sources to bring about those outcomes
- We seek to find ways to focus attention on our schools and improve educational opportunities
- We recognize the challenges facing DISD and we respect the valiant efforts of parents, teachers, school leaders and administrators to make DISD the best educational system it can be; we too support DISD in becoming the best it can possibly be, including winning the Broad Prize.
- We recognize that traditional public schools may not be the best place for every child or parent, so we support the presence of educational alternatives including charters and faith-based schools
- While we will require the flexibility to operate independently in the early stages, we hope to engage DISD as a valued collaborator as the project develops
- Although we will eventually make recommendations regarding desirable outcomes, our conversations are currently oriented towards reviewing options not recommending solutions
- We are seeking to develop models that lead to improvement city wide
- The May 18, 2009 breakfast (with Mayor Leppert, former Mayor Peterson, and David Harris) was the first in a series of ongoing exploratory conversations about public education opportunities
