May 29, 2023

Greetings parents, teachers, staff & community!

In January, under the leadership of Chief of Schools Tiffany Huitt, our School Leadership department re-organized the structure for how Executive Directors (EDs) support campuses. Our goal is to serve our entire community better by aligning practices, systems, and communication within the entire vertical team (feeder pattern).

For the past several years, School Leadership has been organized into Networks that included approximately 3-4 high school feeder patterns. One ED supported the middle schools and high schools and 2 EDs supported the elementary schools that feed into the middle and high schools.

Prior to January, I supported the Woodrow & Skyline elementaries. In January, I released my Skyline schools and added JL Long and Woodrow.

I picked up where ED Richard Kastl left off and hosted 3 "Think Tanks" to dive deeper into the needs of this entire community. We convened campus teachers & leaders, district central staff, and parent leaders from all 8 of our campuses. We brainstormed together and prioritized focus areas.

This newsletter is the result of the Aligning Communications Think Tank.

A top priority that emerged was communicating positive news throughout the whole community. My thoughts are to send out a similar E Newsletter 4 times a year.

Please take a read and let me know what you think!

Respectfully yours,

Executive Director,

Woodrow Wilson Vertical Team

We Are Woodrow Think Tanks

Celebrating Excellence

Academics * Co/Extracurriculars * Leadership

FOCUSING ON CURRICULUM

This year all Woodrow elementary campuses as well as our middle school campus piloted Amplify, a knowledge-building Reading Language Arts curriculum. For the 2023/24 school year, all Dallas ISD elementaries and middle schools will roll-out Amplify. As always, the Woodrow schools are leading innovation!

Additionally, OM Roberts piloted Eureka and this coming year, all district campuses will use Eureka as our math curriculum K-5, and Carnegie for 6th - Geometry.

Take a listen as Chief Academic Officer Shannon Trejo introduces the rollout to teachers.

Math and Reading/Language Arts Tier 1 Curriculum Framework

The Science of Reading

La ciencia de la lectura

AMPLIFY K-8

Created specifically for Texas, Amplify Texas

is built on the Science of Reading,
Incorporates explicit, systematic, foundational skills,
Builds deep content knowledge,
Incorporates critical and collaborative engagement,
Integrates reading and writing, and
High expectations and strong supports for all students.

EUREKA K- 5

CARNEGIE 6 - 8; Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry

Both Eureka Math and Carnegie teaches students the underlying concepts of math - the why, not just the how. Students learn multiple strategies and models to solve math problems rather than tricks or mnemonic devices to pass a test.

With concepts that are linked across lessons, modules, and grade levels, the curriculum empowers students to intentionally build a deep understanding of math and apply what they learn in real-life scenarios. Over time, the approach enables students to successfully tackle increasingly complex problems and to apply procedures more flexibly and accurately to unfamiliar material.

Eureka Math Website

Carnegie Website

DIVING INTO THE NUMBERS

Each year since 2015, Dallas ISD students answer survey questions about their experiences in our classrooms. Dallas ISD partners with Panorama Education, a data analytics company focused on K-12 education, to administer the survey and report out the results.

The survey asks questions about the students’ perception about their teacher’s level of care, support, and expectations for their students, as well as their instructional methods and delivery.

The survey was developed by Panorama Education under the leadership of Dr. Hunter Gehlbach, Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

See below for how our students across the Woodrow Vertical Team responded.