Restoring the Faith

With Moses at the helm, the venomous criticism is gone.

As Mike Moses listens intently to a group of about 100 students introduce themselves at a meeting of the "teen school board," he folds his arms across his broad chest and nods approvingly. "I like that you say the name of your school with pride," he tells the group of primarily African-American and Hispanic students. "I'm proud of your schools, too."

Moses, a 50-year-old, baby-faced Texas native in his second year as the superintendent of the Dallas schools, promises to answer their questions. But first, anticipating their prime concern, he addresses the students' dress code. As of last fall, it requires them to tuck in their shirts and prohibits midriff-baring tops, short skirts or shorts, and steel-toed boots. The dress code says something about the district: It shows "the pride we have in what we do at our schools," he says.

That feeling of pride still feels new for the 166,000-student Dallas Independent School District. For years, the district was considered a laughingstock by many people here. The school board was once one of the nation's most fractious, plagued by racial politics, infighting,...