turner 12

Turning Heads with the Turner 12

John Carter volunteered in Dallas schools until a teacher told him that “the only reason she was still teaching was because she got 3 months off in the summer.”

That’s when he knew that he needed to make a difference. That’s when he became a teacher himself, and that’s eventually how he came to change the lives of more than 20 young people in South Dallas.

Graduation marks another Turner 12 milestone

Coach John Carter has devoted years to developing the Turner 12 program at Lincoln High School in South Dallas.

The program gets parents involved in their children’s education and pushes youths to transform their lives inside and outside the classroom. Carter works to instill discipline, good study habits and parental oversight — with a strong emphasis on volunteerism to help uplift the surrounding community.

Twelve students commit to the program in seventh grade, and if they stay with it through graduation, Carter promises them a shot at college.

Mentoring Program Has Dramatic Success

DALLAS - In 1999 John Carter learned some disturbing statistics. In the previous 10 years only six students from the Turner Courts in south Dallas had gone to college. So he quit his job teaching.

But instead of leaving the students, Carter began mentoring them. He worked with 12 students and 11 of them graduated college. He proved with the right attention no obstacle is too great.

And now Carter has done it again with a second group of students from Lincoln High School.

Bridging Dallas' North-South Gap: Parents as Partners

Nothing focuses an audience’s attention like the voice of authority, and there is no question that John Carter, a coach at Lincoln High School in South Dallas, has it when he calls together students and parents for the monthly meeting of his Turner 12 group. His command of the room shows parents that they need to be the ones in control, while students get the message that it’s time to sit up, listen and learn.