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May 15, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor School of Education Announces Elementary PDS Sites [05/15/2020]

Hillcrest PDS

Hillcrest PDS in Waco ISD

After a yearlong application and review process, Baylor University School of Education (SOE) has selected four local elementary school campuses to serve as Professional Development School (PDS) sites for Baylor teacher-education students, with two schools each in Baylor’s two partner districts, Midway ISD and Waco ISD.

The elementary PDS campuses will be:

  • Bell’s Hill Elementary in Waco ISD
  • Castleman Creek Elementary in Midway ISD
  • Hillcrest PDS in Waco ISD
  • Spring Valley Elementary in Midway ISD

Castleman Creek Elementary in Midway ISD (Midway ISD photo)

Baylor’s PDS program launched in 1993 with an intense partnership at the newly re-opened campus of Hillcrest Elementary in Waco ISD, which changed the school’s name to incorporate “PDS” into the title. Hillcrest PDS has remained a PDS campus for 27 years.

Baylor SOE’s partnerships with Midway ISD and Waco ISD have both won national awards for excellence from the National Association of Professional Development Schools, in 2017 (Midway) and 2018 (Waco). Continue Reading →

April 22, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor Career Center Offers Virtual Info Sessions with Schools [04/22/2020]

Baylor Career Center’s regular job fair had to be canceled this year, but that didn’t stop Baylor from helping its students with employment opportunities in education.

For Baylor graduating teacher-education students seeking a job, the Baylor Career Center is offering Virtual Information Sessions with more than 30 school districts beginning this week (today) and continuing next week. The Zoom sessions are designed to help students learn about employment opportunities.

During each Info Session, a school representative will share information about the schools, then answer questions via Zoom chat and video. Just like a regular career fair, this is a chance for applicants to learn about the schools and ask questions about their openings and application/hiring process. Participants may attend any or all of the sessions. The calls are scheduled in 30-minute intervals, and students may come and go. Continue Reading →

April 7, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor SOE Doctoral Candidate Wins NAPDS Award [04/07/2020]

Baylor School of Education doctoral candidate Kurt Salisbury, MSEd ’03, won the Emerging PDS Leader Award from the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) at the annual convention in February.

The award recognizes a student member of NAPDS who shows promising leadership in the PDS movement. Criteria for the award includes service to NAPDS, presentations at the annual conference, publications, and service to a PDS program.

Salisbury is a full-time doctoral student in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and also a math instructional specialist at Midway Middle School, which is a PDS campus of the Baylor School of Education. Salisbury was a high school mathematics teacher for 12 years and spent two years as an assistant principal in Midway ISD. He earned a master’s at Baylor and his undergraduate degree in mathematics at Texas A&M.

NAPDS supports genuine collaborative, field-based, rich partnerships between P12 schools and colleges and universities. NAPDS was founded in 2005, growing out of an already-established national annual gathering of P12 educators and university representatives. The membership of the organization represents equally the public-school partners along with the higher-education partners. Continue Reading →

March 12, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor SOE Coronavirus Updates

 

Updates for the School of Education for the Spring of 2020 will be posted to the website at:

Baylor.edu/SOE/coronavirus

Updates on that page are specific to the Baylor School of Education. For full updates from Baylor University, visit baylor.edu/coronavirus.

Please watch SOE social media @baylorSOE (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), the website at baylor.edu/SOE and university email for updates specific to School of Education.

February 25, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Waco ISD Celebrates Baylor SOE Partnership with Rise Award [02/25/2020]

Waco ISD superintendent Dr. Susan Kincannon (right) presented the Rise Award to Baylor SOE, represented by Dr. Krys Goree (left) at the Board of Trustees Meeting, January 23, 2020.

Waco ISD presented Baylor School of Education with its Rise Award for Outstanding Community Partners last month. Waco ISD has chosen the theme of “Rise” for the 2019-20 academic year and is recognizing a community partner each month for making a difference to the district.

Baylor School of Education and Waco ISD have been collaborating for 26 years to train the next generation of classroom teachers through Professional Development School (PDS) partnerships.

Currently, Baylor SOE has six PDS campuses in Waco ISD: Bell’s Hill Elementary, Hillcrest Professional Development School (Baylor’s first PDS), Mountainview Elementary, Parkdale Elementary, Cesar Chavez Middle School, and University High School. Continue Reading →

September 17, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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School of Education History Exhibit Open at Mayborn [09/17/2019]

SOE Centennial Exhibit at the Mayborn Museum

A public exhibit outlining the history of the Baylor School Education has been extended through March 2020, continuing as part of the SOE’s year-long Centennial celebration in 2019.

The exhibit is located at Baylor’s Mayborn Museum, 1300 S. University Parks Drive, in Waco, immediately to the right inside the Mayborn’s front door. The display is available for visitors to browse during regular museum hours.

“I really enjoyed diving into the rich history of the School of Education,” said Museum Studies and Curriculum & Instruction graduate student Meg Tucker, who curated the exhibit. “I am impressed by the School’s resilience and continued dedication to excellence. It was an exciting challenge to use my background in education and museum studies to help curate this exhibit. It was powerful to read about and see pictures of education students and professors working at Baylor more than one hundred years ago.”

Among other things, the exhibit features artifacts specific to SOE history along with items from partner Professional Development Schools in Waco and Midway ISDs. A World War I uniform from Fred M. Hale is also on display. Hale and his wife, Edith, were the first donors to make a gift of $1 million to the SOE.

The exhibit also features vintage photographs, including some by famed Waco photographer Fred Gildersleeve, which outline the evolution of the SOE from its creation in 1919 to where it is today. More current exhibited items include research from SOE faculty members and displays that speak to the SOE’s commitment to research, community service, study abroad, and faith. Continue Reading →

August 21, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Impact LLC Welcomes New Program Director [08/21/2019]

Ryan W. Erck, new Program Director for Impact Living-Learning Center (LLC), wants to make sure that students in the LLC have the kind of community experience that he missed out on when he was a college freshman. Impact LLC, which is a partner of the School of Education, is located in South Russell Hall and is home to 240 Baylor students, both male and female.

Erck said, “Impact LLC creates cohesive spaces for students to have very meaningful interactions with faculty, staff and peers. Residential learning communities embody an experience that provides many campus amenities in one place. Impact LLC reflects the larger campus culture, but on a micro-scale — encompassing things like study areas, fitness spaces, technology areas and classrooms.”

As a college freshman, Erck chose to hold down a job while attending school and didn’t take advantage of a residential community, he said. He earned his BS in Leadership and Development and his MS in Educational Human Resource Development, both from Texas A&M University. Erck is now a doctoral candidate pursuing a PhD in Higher Education Studies and Leadership in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership. Despite these obvious accomplishments, Erck said that his chances for success would have been better if he had lived in an intentional community during his early college experience, and he suggests that students look for this kind of experience when exploring housing options during the college application process. Continue Reading →

July 29, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Educators from Costa Rica Visit Baylor [07/29/2019]

Teacher education students from Costa Rica visited the Baylor MELA (Mathematics for Early Learners Academy) program to observe teaching methods.

Education professors and students from the National University of Costa Rica (NUCR) spent three weeks at the Baylor School of Education (SOE) this summer, under the guidance of senior lecturer Rick Strot. For nearly fifteen years, Strot has led Baylor SOE students to Costa Rica to study methods of teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and complete service projects.

“As a result of the Baylor in Costa Rica program, this group has taken an initiative to visit us for the first time, thanks to a year of hard work with visas, passports, and all the small details that brought them here,” Strot said. “I’m so happy they made the trip to visit our programs, tour our professional development schools, see this beautiful campus, and experience the arrangments we have for our students.” Continue Reading →

July 3, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Research-proven Early-intervention Math Program Launches for 2019 [07/03/2019]

Dr. Sandi Cooper, professor and MELA director, with students

Baylor’s Mathematics for Early Learners Academy (MELA) launched its fourth summer of math intervention for struggling young students on Monday, July 1. The program has proven effective in helping pre-K and kindergarten students who were identified as below level in mathematics to achieve and exceed grade level in their mathematics skills.

Founded in 2016 by the Baylor School of Education and Sandi Cooper, Ph.D., professor of mathematics education, the program is expanding this year, with 80 students from La Vega ISD and Waco ISD — 36 who just completed pre-K and 44 who just completed kindergarten. MELA 2019 is funded by a $74,000 grant from Waco’s Cooper Foundation. The partner school districts also provide significant support, including bus transportation and para-professional staff during MELA.

READ MORE . . .

June 24, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor Freedom Schools Helping to Prevent Summer Learning Loss in Waco Students [06/24/2019]

Baylor’s third annual Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools program has launched at Indian Spring Middle School and J.H. Hines Elementary School, both in-district charters through the Transformation Waco initiative of Waco ISD. The program will serve more than 170 students, providing quality literacy enrichment from June 12 – July 26. The program is free to students and includes field trips, special guests and meals.

Freedom Schools literacy program exposes students to culturally relevant books for maximum student engagement and the prevention of summer learning loss. Freedom Schools also offers curriculum in social action, character building and STEAM activities. Freedom Schools students, called “scholars,” will participate in community service and create a project for the National Day of Social Action focusing on gun violence and awareness.

Dr. Lakia Scott with Freedom School scholars

Lakia M. Scott, Ph.D., assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the Baylor School of Education and executive director of Baylor’s Freedom School, said the program has successfully  prevented summer learning loss in participants. For 2018 participants, who were middle school students only, 100 percent either improved (80 percent) or maintained (20 percent) in independent in-text word recognition skills. And 94 percent of scholars increased or maintained comprehension, based on independent questioning, with 77 percent increasing and 17 percent maintaining. Continue Reading →