East Dallas Community School is an early childhood learning center with programs to meet the needs of children from birth to age nine. It is the school’s policy that more than 60 percent of the students come from families living at or below the poverty level at the time of their enrollment.
Operating in old East Dallas since 1978, East Dallas Community School (EDCS) is proof that all children, regardless of race or income, can succeed in school when the children start young and the parents are involved. This two-pronged strategy has yielded outstanding results among the population most at risk of failure in school, primarily low-income families, many learning English as a second language. Although EDCS does not screen children for enrollment based on their academic abilities, the average scores of EDCS third graders consistently are in the top 36% on national standardized tests. In a neighborhood where less than half the entering freshman graduate as seniors in high school, 94% of EDCS third-grade alumni have graduated from high school, and nearly 88% continue on to college.
East Dallas Community School’s mission also includes a commitment to replicate its successes by opening a cluster of publicly funded schools under the charter school provision of the Texas Education Code. In August 1999, EDCS opened a second campus, a public charter school that replicates the academic programs and success of the privately funded model. Today both schools provide an outstanding education to children most at risk of failure in school.