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May 27, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor SOE Launches School Psychology Program in Dallas [05/27/2020]

Baylor SOE’s School Psychology program will offer the EdS degree from a Dallas campus through a hybrid program.

Baylor University School of Education is launching a new Dallas-based program in School Psychology, offering the Education Specialist (EdS) degree. Baylor’s school psychology program in Waco is nationally accredited by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), and Baylor is now accepting applications for the School Psychology-Dallas EdS program for the fall semester of 2020.

“There has been a national shortage of school psychologists for several years, and there is an expectation for over 20,000 new jobs over the next 10 years,” said Dr. Julie Ivey, associate professor and program coordinator for Dallas. “Baylor’s Dallas program is actively responding to this need by expanding opportunities and making this career accessible to more students interested in making a difference and helping children achieve success.”

School Psychology is a specialty of professional psychology that focuses on the science and practice of psychology with children and families, learners of all ages, and the schooling process. School psychologists apply expertise in mental health, learning, and behavior to help children and youth succeed academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. 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 →

May 7, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Cece Lively Receives Baylor Outstanding Staff Award [05/07/2020]

Baylor University honored the School of Education’s Cece Lively with an Outstanding Staff Award this spring. Lively is the Assistant Program Director for the EdD in Learning and Organizational Change, which is offered online by the SOE’s Department of Curriculum & Instruction and is the university’s largest graduate program. In that role, she coordinates and oversees program development and execution for almost 300 students and 25 faculty and staff. When the program reaches full capacity, it will serve more than 600.

Baylor’s announcement said, “Cece has proven to be an exceptional leader, innovative thinker, creative problem solver, student advocate, and collaborative colleague on campus. . . . The EdD students and faculty love working with Cece. She has a calm and caring demeanor and genuine concern for students.” Continue Reading →

May 6, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Dr. Shanna Hagan-Burke Appointed Dean of Baylor School of Education [05/06/2020]

Dr. Shanna Hagan-Burke

Following a nationwide search, Baylor University Provost Nancy Brickhouse, Ph.D., announced today that Shanna Hagan-Burke, Ph.D., professor of special education and head of the department of educational psychology at Texas A&M University’s College of Education and Human Development, has been selected as Dean of the Baylor School of Education. Her appointment is effective July 1.

Dr. Hagan-Burke will succeed Terrill F. Saxon, Ph.D., professor of educational psychology and associate dean for research and graduate education, who has served the past three years as the School’s interim dean.

“We welcome Dr. Hagan-Burke to Baylor University and the School of Education,” Dr. Brickhouse said. “Throughout her academic career, Dr. Hagan-Burke has demonstrated a strong commitment to both undergraduate and graduate teaching while also conducting robust externally funded research in her academic field. She also deeply values Baylor’s mission and aspirations as a preeminent Christian research university. As Dean, she will continue the impactful work of our education faculty, whose growing research portfolio complements a long-standing commitment to excellence in teaching and student mentoring.”

READ MORE . . .

April 28, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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School of Education Offers Online Summer Courses [04/28/2020]

Baylor University School of Education (SOE) will offer summer courses online as part of Baylor’s “Summer of Discovery” for 2020. Special tuition discounts apply for both current and incoming students, and the savings increase as the number of summer hours increases.

Baylor created special online course “bundles” for this summer, and the SOE has added some education courses that are not usually offered in summer.

“These online summer course bundles are a great way for students to pick up classes that help them progress toward graduation and free up time in their remaining semesters for work or study abroad,” said SOE associate dean, Dr. Suzanne Nesmith. 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 21, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Finishing Well: Closure for a different sort of Semester [04/21/2020]

By Dr. Jonathan Eckert
Faculty Guest Blog

I have given away over 700 books to college students in the last 11 years. Usually I hand them out in our last class session. This afternoon, I had to mail the books to my students as I have not seen them in person in a month. In each book, I write an inscription that tells students what I appreciate about them, how I have seen them grow, and what I am praying for them as they move on from our class. This year’s book is Prodigal God by Tim Keller – a reminder of God’s reckless love for us. This semester was more challenging as my students are scattered across the country, but this was more important than ever—certainly for me and maybe for my students.

Dr. Jonathan Eckert, Copple Professor

For me, this is how I bring closure to a semester. When each new class begins, I always wonder if I am going to appreciate the students as much as I did the previous class. Twenty-four years of teaching at all different levels has taught me that I will, but it is typically not until I write the book inscriptions that I realize how much I appreciate the individuals in my class and the class as a whole. Not being able to by physically present with them this month has been harder than I expected—writing was particularly important for me this semester. Continue Reading →

April 9, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Dr. Trena Wilkerson, Professor of Mathematics Education, Installed as NCTM President [04/09/2020]

Dr. Trena Wilkerson at NCTM headquarters in Virginia

Trena L. Wilkerson, Ph.D., professor of mathematics education in the Baylor University School of Education, has taken on a national leadership role as the newly installed president of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

Wilkerson, who has taught in the Baylor SOE department of curriculum and instruction since 1999, said she is honored by the opportunity to advocate for mathematics, which she has always loved. In her role leading the organization of more than 30,000 members, Wilkerson will continue NCTM’s efforts to “build strategic networks around critical issues, classroom instruction, teacher education and student learning.”

In her new role as NCTM president, Wilkerson will be working to make all kinds of connections to enhance mathematics education and benefit students. The beauty in mathematics, she said, is that “everything connects.”

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 25, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Advice from a Full-Time Distance Educator [03/25/2020]

Photo by Aiden and Jennifer Werse

While distance education is new for most of Baylor, Dr. Nicholas Werse has been a distance educator for several years. Werse is the Graduate Writing Coordinator for Baylor School of Education’s EdD in Learning and Organizational Change, the university’s largest online doctoral program, housed in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Werse runs a fully online writing center to coach the doctoral students with their academic writing. He meets with students one-on-one and also conducts webinars.

Werse holds an MDiv from Truett Seminary and a Baylor PhD in religion. He previously coached writing in Baylor’s Graduate School, often interacting with students from a distance after they had finished on-campus coursework. He has four years of experience teaching undergraduate college courses and spent two years teaching in an online format.

So we asked Dr. Werse for some advice about online interactions in academia.

Q: How do you typically interact with students in the EdD program?

A: We usually interact via email, and we meet via video conference. Students email documents for me to review. I provide written feedback and then meet with the students for a 30-minute one-on-one writing consultation. During that, we talk through the feedback and discuss strategies to help them grow as writers. In many ways, it reminds me of holding office hours for students when I taught in the classroom. Continue Reading →

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