Baylor School of Education Receives $925,000 Grant

WACO, Texas-The Texas Education Agency recently awarded the Baylor University School of Education $925,000 to fund a Center for Professional Development and Technology for the 1995-96 school year.
The Partners As Researchers and Technologists Negotiating Educational Reform Strategies (PARTNERS) grant will be used as part of the PARTNERS Project, a collaborative effort to restructure teacher education as a continuum of culturally diverse and technologically rich professional development experiences in field-based settings.
In an effort to prepare future educators and today's students, Baylor's School of Education is pursuing the project to connect the School of Education to K-12 schools throughout Texas with two-way audio visual equipment, Internet and other media.
Telecommunication links will begin with five to six schools connected to the Baylor School of Education and the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) in Waco. These model schools will be demonstration sites for the best teaching practices. Two-way communication will enable selected school staffs, CORD and Baylor to share ideas and experiences among urban and rural classrooms and the Baylor teacher education program.
Dr. Charles D. Schmitz, dean of the School of Education, said one goal of the PARTNERS project is for schools of education to work closely with school districts and multi-media firms to advance teacher education and integrate technology into the classroom.
"We hope that someday the school of education will be seen as more than campus-based, but a collaborative effort between the schools of education and partners," he said.
Dr. Betty Conaway, associate professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the project, said in addition to Baylor, the PARTNERS project includes three Texas educational service centers, six school districts, Texas State Technical College and CORD.
Schmitz said: "We believe we are on the path to the future. We're not heading down a pre-ordained, established path. We are creating a path to the future."
For more information, contact Conaway or Schmitz at (817) 755-3111.