Summit for Meaningful Impact of Learning and Education

The College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University is working to build strong partnerships with school districts across the state. That goal is what prompted the Summit for Meaningful Impact of Learning and Education: A Texas Schools Summit in The Woodlands earlier this month.

Teachers, principals and administrators from Houston-area school districts got a chance to hear from top researchers in the field of education about best practices to ensure students are given the best opportunity to be successful.

Dr. Kay Wijekumar, director of the Center for Urban School Partnerships, developed three goals for this summit:

  1. Make a positive impact so that every child has the opportunity to succeed by having a solid foundation of education.
  2. Bring powerful, well-researched methods for classroom instruction that have stood the test of time.
  3. Allow school districts to bring challenges to the researchers to start partnerships to help make an impact on students.

What this does is bring together lots of folks who are struggling with the same kinds of issues. It also brings together world class experts from around the country who have done some great research and can help us explore ways to solve these real world problems. When I think about impact, the one thing I want to make sure we all understand is it’s not just colleges stepping in to fix schools. That’s not what this is about. It only works when colleges and schools work together in partnership and that’s when we can help solve real world problems,

Dr. Joyce Alexander

Professor, Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University

Presentations

Not every child in the classroom learns to read the same way. We need to take into account these different ways of learning and the constellations of skills the children bring to the classroom.

Dr. Carol McDonald-Connor

Chancellor's Professor of Education, University of California - Irvine

Everything that happens in schools impacts the entire universe. That’s why I am so passionate about the children. These children are our future. Whatever we do to help them will help us all. Our world will be a better place if all of our children get an excellent education and become proactive citizens.

Dr. Kay Wijekumar

Director, Center for Urban School Partnerships, Texas A&M University