Walnut Hill Elementary School - Dallas, TX

Walnut Hill Elementary is an urban school with a student population of 380 located in Dallas, Texas. Walnut Hill's performance peaked when the campus received national recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School in 1999. During this time the campus was not as racially and ethnically diverse, and less than half of the students were Economically Disadvantaged(ED). Over the last two decades, the student demographics drastically changed. For example, the school's English Language Learner (ELL) population has increased from 21.5% in 1999 to 55.3% in 2019, and the Economically Disadvantaged population more than doubled. Many believed the school's best days of National Blue Ribbon performance levels were behind it with its increasingly growing at-risk population and new instructional challenges. However, in 2015, the staff committed to a growth mindset and embraced innovation under the transformational leadership of the principal in order to meet students' needs and achieve academic excellence.

Even with more disadvantaged students and changing demographics, Walnut Hill Elementary has experienced a renaissance over the last four years and reached new heights in academic achievement. The educators at Walnut Hill collaboratively developed and committed to a vision, promise, and an unwavering pledge to our stakeholders to provide a world class education with a focus on developing students to be leaders in the diverse global society of tomorrow.
The teachers furthering their professional development by learning the most current and innovative pedagogy. Teachers collaborate during 120-minute weekly PLCs to create cross-curriculum learning experiences. They differentiate instruction by process and product to move all students beyond grade level expectations. Student products are based on cultural thematic units that are displayed throughout the campus which develops student pride in their work. As a result, in 2017, the campus received all six of the state's academic distinctions and the highest district climate survey for the first time in the school's history and went on to earn an "A" letter grade from the Texas Education Agency's new grade accountability system in 2018.