Paid to Innovate, 21 Neighborhood Schools Eye New Goals

Your neighborhood school might just be making some changes.

Foster Elementary in Midway Hollow, Pershing Elementary in Preston Hollow, and 19 additional schools have received $50,000 in seed money to pursue innovation with an aim at increasing interest in the neighborhoods they serve.

Last year, the Dallas ISD Office of Transformation and Innovation began its Innovation Engine Grant Program, hoping to help neighborhood schools better position themselves as a first option for families as they weigh their options between charter schools, private schools, and even public magnet schools.

Last week OTI notified the 21 campuses selected for an Innovation Engine Grant, bringing banners and a socially distanced celebration to the neighborhood schools.

“We are planting seeds of innovation throughout Dallas ISD,” said Shakeatha Butler, director of the Office of Transformation and Innovation. “Sometimes it takes money to innovate. A school team might have the passion and might have the ideas, but they need the funds to make those ideas a reality.”

The selected schools can use the funding in a variety of ways to support innovation on their campus. Foster Elementary will pursue a personalized learning curriculum, while Pershing is exploring a STEAM college and career exploration track.

Nearby DeGoyler Elementary is also pursing a STEAM track, but in design thinking.

Other schools selected include:

• Roosevelt High School (STEAM)
• Boude Storey Middle School (STEAM)
• Gaston Middle School (Communications and Culture-Inquiry Based Learning)
• Hector P. Garcia Middle School (International Baccalaureate – Middle Years Programme)
• Kennedy-Curry Middle School (Visual and Performing Arts)
• O.W. Holmes Middle School (STEAM)
• Herbert Marcus Elementary School (Leadership)
• Adelle Turner Elementary School (STEAM – Project Based Learning)
• Eddie Bernice Johnson Elementary School (STEM)
• Rhoads/Thompson Elementary School (STEM)
• Brashear Elementary School (Leadership)
• H.I. Holland Elementary School (New Tech)
• Harrell Budd Elementary School (Theater Arts)
• Dunbar Elementary School (STEM)
• Soto Elementary School (Leadership)
• Dorsey Elementary School (Leadership)
• Guzick Elementary School (International Baccalaureate)