Partnerships | Instant Impact

June 16, 2021
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Impact Newsletter Online [06/16/2021]

The spring 2021 issue of Baylor Impact newsletter is now online and in the mail to alumni. If you do not receive a newsletter in the mail soon, please let us know by emailing BaylorImpact@baylor.edu. To make sure you don’t miss any future communications, you can also update your information online at this link: Update Your Information

The Spring Impact issue features the work of faculty, students, and alumni who are making a difference through education. This issue is notable for the number of award-winning faculty and students we are celebrating — people you’ll want to know about!

Read about exciting and impactful new grants helping children with developmental disabilities like autism and their families and teachers, new leaders in K12 education, national professional roles for faculty, and so much more!

Great news includes:

• The cover story shares the work of Dr. Stephanie Gerow, who has received a prestigious national grant to design a system to help agencies provide effective behavior interventions for children with developmental disabilities.

• SOE faculty members received three of the university’s Outstanding Faculty accolades this spring.

• Dr. Trena Wilkerson is serving is a significant national role as president of NCTM, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, working to bring equity in math education.

• New graduates in the K12 Educational Leadership program are making an impact in schools and districts from Texas to Washington, D.C.

• In our alumni profile, Isaac Gittens, MSEd ’16, tells what it’s like to work in the NFL and how to land a job there.

• SOE news briefs share new books and other news, awards for doctoral students, significant new grants, and a multi-faceted science education project.

• And find out how scholarships are helping future teachers like Lana Brady make their vocational dreams come true.

July 16, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor SOE and Museum Studies Offer Informal Education Minor [07/16/2020]

Alex Sudduth (left) of the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler and Rachel Moore or the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco are Baylor graduates with careers in informal education.

Baylor graduate Rachel Moore had somewhat of an epiphany after her junior year of studying education. While working at a zoo, she discovered that education can occur outside of traditional classrooms.

“I had always wanted to be a teacher,” Moore said, “and I thought that meant I would be in a classroom. But after working at a zoo, I became passionate about informal education, and fortunately, two of my School of Education professors were eager to help me become an unconventional teacher.”

Alex Sudduth with Baloo

Alex Farrell Sudduth had a similar experience. In a junior course on elementary mathematics, professor Dr. Sandi Cooper took the class to Baylor’s Mayborn Museum to create a mathematics lesson based on the museum’s exhibits.

“It was so fun and exciting to be creative and craft lessons that related to our TEKS but also kept the students engaged in the topic,” Sudduth said. “I found the museum to be more inspiring than a traditional classroom.”

Sudduth pursued a master’s degree at Baylor SOE, which professors tailored to coordinate with Baylor’s Museum Studies Department, allowing her to develop the expertise for her current job as education manager for the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. Continue Reading →

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

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 →

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