When the National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) decided to update its foundational “essentials” document, the national organization included representation from the Baylor University School of Education (SOE) to help lead those efforts.
Baylor was one of the first universities to fully implement the Professional Development Schools (PDS) model, a clinically based educator preparation program in partnership with local schools to train preservice teachers.
The SOE autism research team in the BRIC MiraColt lab (l-r): Ashley Allison, Ryan Coleman, Alex Plank, and Dr. Julie Ivey.
A team of Baylor School of Education autism researchers is helping evaluate the effectiveness of a Baylor-invented mechanical horse that is designed to treat children with autism. A Baylor interdisciplinary team received a grant of nearly $600,000 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to study the effectiveness of the MiraColt, a mechanical device that simulates the motion of horseback riding.
Dr. Julie Ivey, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, is a co-investigator and is leading an SOE research team that includes one Ph.D. level School Psychology student, Ryan Coleman, and two Ed.S. level School Psychology students, Ashley Allison and Alex Plank.
The team is currently recruiting children ages 6-12 to participate in the project to measure the effects of riding the MiraColt, an invention patented by Baylor mechanical engineering Associate Professor Dr. Brian Garner. Through Baylor’s Lab To Market Collaborative, Garner formed Chariot Innovations, LLC, to develop and market the product. Continue Reading →
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.
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 →
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
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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 →
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
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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
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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
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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 →
When the National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) decided to update its foundational “essentials” document, the national organization included representation from the Baylor University School of Education (SOE) to help lead those efforts.
