Dec 6, 2007 4:34 pm US/Central
Report Says DISD Isn't Meeting Critical Goals
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
A new report out today shows the Dallas Independent School District isn't meeting some critical goals and that students could suffer in the long run.
DISD leadership set up an outline to become the best urban school system in the country by 2010. According to the early report...they have a long way to go.
"I feel confident that we will meet them [the goals]. It's not going to be an easy process," said DISD trustee Leigh Ann Ellis. "It will take a year or two years, but I feel very confident that we can do this."
Some 300 children are enrolled at Lipscomb Elementary. Nine out of ten of those students are passing state reading and math tests.
While Lipscomb has the state's highest academic rating, almost 40-percent of all other schools in Dallas have been judged to be 'low performing'.
The goal of increasing the district's graduation rate, bringing students to a level of college-readiness, and narrowing the achievement gap between minority and white students is on a slow road, according to analysts.
Currently only 6-percent of Dallas high school seniors graduate at a college-ready level.
The report, by the National Center for Educational Accountability, indicates a major challenge in student performance in math and science.
"What we show is that there's still, in terms of kids reaching college and career-readiness benchmarks, they're still a long way away from where they need to be," said Chrys Dougherty with the NCEA. "That's pretty obvious to everyone."
Some people had speculated that after the report the district would lower the bar to reassess and reevaluate goals for the district, but DISD officials say that isn't going to happen.
"Sure we have high expectations, but if we don't have high ones we can't meet them," Ellis said.
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