Dallas school leaders are overhauling how they support struggling schools in a move that will cut the number of campuses receiving intensive resources and curtail the number of teachers who qualify for bonuses.

The district is moving to a new campus turnaround model, which will limit the number of schools targeted for extra support from more than 80 currently to roughly 50 after the change. Doing so will also shrink the number of educators eligible for salary stipends of up to $12,000.

Two programs – Accelerating Campus Excellence and High Priority Campuses – are sunsetting at the end of next school year, district officials confirmed. Dallas ISD will transition into a three-tiered model that officials are calling the District Support Initiative.

“This initiative will truly prioritize campuses of greatest need,” according to an online DISD statement.

Over the past decade, district leaders have credited the ACE model for several campus turnaround success stories. The program evolved since 2015 but its hallmark – paying great teachers more money to teach at challenging schools – remained in place.

“The whole concept behind ACE was to get our very best teachers in the places they’re needed the most. That idea is very much still alive here. It’s just more focused,” DISD trustee president Joe Carreón said. “Every school can’t be ACE – that defeats the logical purpose of the program.”

This year, roughly one-third of DISD campuses were included in either the Accelerating Campus Excellence program or designated High Priority Campuses. Both models involve teacher stipends, though ACE bonuses are generally larger.

The new initiative will target only about 20% of Dallas’ 233 campuses.

Low-performing elementary schools, many of which in high-poverty communities, will be the main focus, according to district documents.

Nine of those low-performing elementary schools will receive the highest level of support next year. These campuses will get funding for two literacy specialists and one math expert. Students will have access to expanded afterschool sessions, a mentoring book club, a home library program and more.

Highly effective teachers who work at these campuses, meanwhile, will be eligible for stipends  between $4,000 and $12,000.

Thirty elementary and middle schools will get a second-tier of support, while 10 high schools were chosen for staffing help – including stipends for some teachers.

Right now, educators at more than 80 campuses are eligible for these kinds of bonuses.

Of those, 48 schools were not chosen for the District Support Initiative next year. Teachers at these campuses will instead receive a “bridge year stipend,” valued at half of their previous amount.

That money will end in the 2026-27 school year, with bonuses only continuing for the campuses that are part of the new model.

DISD turnaround schools

Dallas ISD’s signature turnaround program, launched in 2015, centered on flooding a small number of struggling schools with extra time, money and some of the best teachers in the district.

Officials persuaded effective educators to work in ACE schools by offering them large bonuses intended to compensate for the extra work.

It relied on a districtwide pay-for-performance evaluation system to define which educators were the “best.” That model led to a statewide merit pay push and lawmakers are now funneling millions of dollars a year toward such stipends.

The ACE program also inspired similar models in other districts.

But questions quickly emerged about the ACE’s sustainability. It was intensive – and expensive – to pour so much into a small cohort of campuses, though it generated many positive results.

One elementary, Annie Webb Blanton, improved enough to beat the results of a campus in affluent Highland Park in 2018.

However, once money and programming was pulled back, some schools reverted.

For example, Dade Middle School received passing grades during its three turnaround years. But immediately after losing resources, the school earned a D in state academic accountability ratings.

“When ACE stipends are largely eliminated, a substantial fraction of highly effective teachers leaves, and test scores fall,” a 2023 study of the program found. 

ACE saw several iterations. Then, a few years after it launched, the district designated dozens of additional schools as High Priority Campuses to allow a broader array of schools to get extra resources and attention.

Now, DISD leaders are evolving the model again.

“This has been something under careful consideration,” DISD spokeswoman Robyn Harris said. “We are retooling to once again really support our most fragile and critical schools.”

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.