South Oak Cliff High School (SOC) improved over 9 points above their average School Effectiveness Indices (SEI) scores since 2015, more than any other of the 21 DISD non-magnet high schools in 2024! With a 2024 SEI of 54.0, SOC also had an SEI that was higher than over 40% of the magnet schools in Dallas ISD!
(See more details about the 30+ year old SEI measurement in DISD at https://mydata.dallasisd.org/SL/SD/SEI/Default.jsp.)
SOC was the first DISD high school to have all students in all grades exchanging letters with each of their parents and grandparents about dreams for the student. Parents also included in their letter to their student a story from their family history. This happened in 2024.
Again, it was the first time for any high school to try this improved model of the Family and School Time Capsule Project. Parents, with increased communications with their own children and grandchildren, are working more closely with SOC. (See www.StudentMotivation.org.)
The SOC SEI for 2024 was the 3rd highest of all 21 DISD high schools! When compared with the school’s average SEI for the 7 SEI scores 2015 through 2023, SOC showed more improvement than any other of the 21 high schools!! See spreadsheet below.
Up to now, only 12th grade students had been writing letters since high schools first started Family and School Time Capsule Projects in 2010. The changes in SEI were similar to when only 8th graders were writing letters in middle schools. SEI improvements were constant, but only a very gradual improvement.
But when all students in all grades write letters with each parent, and then the final letter to themselves, the SEI growth is dramatically greater, as with SOC!
The same dramatic improvement happened in T.W. Browne Middle School in 2017 when they had all students in all grades writing and receiving letters. Browne went from being a potential 5th year failing school to being the highest performing middle school in DISD as measured by the highest middle school SEI on record since 2008! The 61.7 SEI Browne received in 2017 remains the highest SEI score ever earned by any middle school since 2008! (To study the report on 32 DISD middle schools and their SEI scores from 2006 through 2023, and how the Project improved SEI scores, see https://billbetzen.blogspot.com/2024/04/family-school-time-capsule-project.html.)
It is certain we will have the same results as SOC when all students in all grades & DISD schools from Pre-K through 12th grade are actively sharing goals and stories from family roots with every parent and grandparent! The positive results will only improve year to year as families and students become more comfortable writing about dreams for their students and documenting family stories! A family focus on roots and dreams make the difference, cooperating more closely with teachers in documenting a truly priceless history for each student.
Bill Betzen
www.StudentMotivation.org
