The Dallas-Fort Worth area has seen massive economic growth in several sectors since 2012 and is thriving, but even with the economic prosperity, the area is known for income inequality, which can also affect schools.
The Dallas Fort-Worth metro area ranks in the top third of the state’s metro areas for economic disparity, which reaches into school performance. The Dallas Morning News reported in 2018 that schools in the northern areas are mostly high performers, while in the south, you find more low performers.
A “Governor” study ranked Dallas worst for a regional education system that doesn’t compete with others and for low average wages.
Things are improving though. Schools are improving and nonprofit organizations are getting involved in that mission.
The Coniclio is an Oak Cliff-based nonprofit with the mission of helping communities by empowering parents to improve the education and health of their families. Stuart Williams is the vice president for advancement and recently told the Dallas Morning News that part of the problem is that immigrants may not understand the resources available to them as part of the American school system, which they also may not understand.
At The Concilio, there are nine-week courses to help parents access the schools and help parents to understand how important their roles are in their children’s education.
Williams points to the landmark Stanford University “achievement gap” study, which shows a gap of 30 million words between the poorest and wealthiest children by age 3. Williams says this gap leads to a number of problems, including attention issues and childhood obesity. The Concilio team encourages parents to talk to their infants and toddlers more often and read to preschoolers nightly as one way to reduce the word gap.
“Parental involvement is vital to helping a child achieve academic success and develop healthy lifestyles. One obstacle many people face with school is that they don’t know the value of getting involved,” Williams told the Dallas Morning News. “They’ve never experienced it, so they’re skeptical and wonder why should they put any energy into it. But others have grown up in a different environment and have seen it work and have come to understand that ‘my voice matters,’ and those are the people that get involved.”
Because it can be difficult for parents to get involved with their children’s education at the level educators would like to see, some area school districts are starting Accelerated Campus Excellence (ACE) programs to support underperforming schools. After the Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD) implemented ACE in 2015, all of their “ACE schools have improved in all areas.” This includes core content areas, attendance and even parents’ outlook on their child’s education has improved, according to Dallas ISD.
And the Dallas school district isn’t the only one in the state to make strides with the use of ACE schools.
In 2018, Richardson and Garland independent school districts both began ACE programs. The Richardson ISD ACE program includes extended day offerings, skill-building for social and academics, and to encourage teachers and staff to connect with students and their families at the district’s four ACE campuses.
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