The Baines Report
First in a series by Isabel Hovey (LBJ MGPS Student) covering her internship at Exponential Education. LBJ alum Helen Gradstein founded Exponential Education (Expo) as a community-based solution to educational gaps facing students in developing countries. Alongside her undergraduate professor, Dr. Kate, the two of them started Expo with 4 senior high school students and 15 junior […]
The 2014 Tribune Festival’s coverage of issues related to higher education in Texas began with a panel discussion on the State’s Closing the Gap education plan. Texas initiated the initial plan in 2000 to address low minority postsecondary education rates. This year’s panel was composed of educators, analysts, administrators and politicians, some having served in […]
Silviana Brunele, the director of elementary and high school education at SESI and SENAI Linhares, speaks with us about the SESI and SENAI systems’ structure, the benefits of the Conexão Mundo (or World Connection) program, and how their mission fits into Brazil’s economic development goals. Listen to the interview (in both Portuguese and English) or […]
Yesterday, University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers announced that at the end of the next academic year he will officially step down from his post and resume his role as a professor in the School of Law. Many UT-Austin students, faculty, and staff are celebrating Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa’s decision to allow Powers to […]
At the crack of dawn tomorrow morning, I will board a train travelling 12 hours from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais to Linhares, Espirito Santo, Brazil. There I will begin the on-site phase of the Global Leadership Fellowship with Denver-based NGO, US-Brazil Connect (USBC). The NGO focuses on assisting Brazilian vocational and high school students with […]
April 8-10, 2014 marked some of the best and most important days in my time as a student at the LBJ School. I am extremely proud that our school had a significant role in the creation and implementation of the Civil Rights Summit, marking the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act. […]
President Lyndon Johnson said, “Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from poverty.” As students at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, President Johnson’s commitment to accessible education holds particular significance for us. Without financial aid, including student loans, education would be inaccessible for many of us. Even […]
When Ross Perot embarked on his crusade to fix the Texas education system in the 1980s, he said the state’s schools excelled in only three areas: drill team, band and football. To fix this, he helped craft and lobby for a sprawling education reform package that boosted state aid to poor districts, funded prekindergarten, […]
Last week, the Statesman delivered good news for Texas: STAAR passing rates jumped after a recent round of retakes. This is a big win not only for Texas schoolchildren and teachers, but also for state policy. The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) identified the students in need of a little extra help, […]
This summer I worked for the non-profit organization The New Teacher Project (TNTP), which is in the middle of a five-year contract with the Houston Independent School District to reform the human capital system of HISD. The changes happening at HISD quietly place the district in the center of the most controversial debates in education […]