Principal credited with 'climate and culture' changes that lead to turnaround
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – At Dade Middle School in Dallas, it doesn't take much for a history lesson, or a science class – that students help lead – to turn into a pep rally.
"We want to make this school better, "says 7th grade student Ja'Kyre McCoy after leading his peers through a class.
The instruction punctuated by snaps, claps and 'woo hoos' to encourage students who respond with correct answers.
"Sometimes you have to get up there and show who you are," he said.
And they are rock stars.
Once the lowest performing neighborhood middle school in Dallas ISD - one that teaches whoever arrives without the benefit of applications or cherry picking those already on a path to success - Dade has vaulted to the top.
It is now the highest performing middle school among its peers under the leadership of Principal Rockell Stewart, a proud product of South Dallas.
"I grew up in a two-parent home," shares Stewart, "Where my parents, and even my grandmother said 'Rockell, whatever you put your mind to...you can do. And that's what I want to do right here at Dade."
It is a task she has undertaken in spite of the poverty that surrounds the spotless campus – where 95% of students are considered economically disadvantaged. Still, at Dade, the expectation is that everyone will excel.
"It takes believing in our students," explains Stewart "having passion for South Dallas and Dallas ISD... because it produced me."
Dade is considered an 'ACE' campus – a program put in place to offer incentives to experienced teachers to bring their skills to the most challenging communities. And yet, staffers at Dade say it is the 'culture' that Stewart creates at the school that is as important as any curriculum.
"The climate and culture are better than anywhere I've ever been," shares 7th grade Texas history teacher Marquis Barnes, also a product of South Dallas. "It makes you want to come to work, it makes you want to teach."
Stewart says it is critical to make sure every staff member buys into the vision of success for the school, from the assistant principal to the custodian.
"How am I affirming? How am I making you feel valued? And then when we think about the curriculum, we're not making changes to it: but how can we make it more engaging, where students are excited to stand up and teach in classrooms?"
And in Barnes' history class, stand on their chairs to yell, shout and affirm their commitment to their own futures.
"You can turn around a whole community, just by passion," says Barnes. "Just by letting students know that you care: because kids don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
Stewart cares so much that in order to reach her school each day, she drives down the street where her only brother lost his life. She says the loss is with her "every.single.day."
After losing her brother to the lure of the streets, she says it is so much of what drives her to make sure her students know that they can choose a different path. It is the pain that drives her passion.
"It is my life's work," she shared, wiping away tears. "It is why I do what I do... because I want them to know that you can have challenges... and you can overcome. And you can be whatever you want to be."
