Education

Four Austin schools received the lowest ranking in an accountability report released by the state Tuesday.

Burnet, Martin and Mendez middle schools, as well as Govalle Elementary School, were rated "improvement needed" by the Texas Education Agency. 

That's down from eight Austin schools receiving the rating in 2016. 

This episode was originally published on April 9, 2017.

College students who work hard might tend to play hard, too. School can be filled with temptations that keep students from leading healthy lives: caffeine, junk food, late nights, partying. We know those habits aren't good for us, but why does school present so many temptations? In this episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss balancing work and learning with health during school (and beyond).

This episode was originally published on Feb. 5, 2017.

This might be a familiar scene to you: You're walking down the street and see someone heading toward you, not looking up, face firmly transfixed on the small screen of a smartphone or tablet. What does all that time spent attending to devices do to our personal interactions, conversations and learning? In this episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger look at the personal and educational implications.

This episode was originally published on Dec. 11, 2016.

We all face questions in life that seem just about impossible to answer. Maybe it's a really tough question on a test. Or maybe it's a challenging assignment at work. What can we do when the answer just won't come to us? How about not answering the question? In this episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger explore ways to break down seemingly impossible questions into manageable parts.

This episode was originally published on Nov. 20, 2016.

Was there a subject in school that seemed so hard and unsatisfying to study that even to this day the thought of it makes you cringe? For many students, that subject was math. And perhaps more specifically, calculus. Maybe it was the confusing terminology or seemingly abstract concepts. Can calculus ever redeem itself? Is it ever useful? On this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger give calculus a second chance.

This episode was originally published on Oct. 20, 2016.

It's good manners to say "thank you" and show gratitude. But there are also ways that slowing down to notice and appreciate what's happening around us can give our brains some much needed rest. In this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss the impact of showing gratitude and appreciation on learning.

This episode was originally published on Oct. 23, 2016.

Most dictionary definitions of "learn" make reference to acquiring knowledge or skills, becoming informed or finding out something. Sure, that makes sense, but what does it really mean to learn something? How do we know if we've actually learned it? In this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss what learning does and doesn't mean.

This episode was originally posted on Oct. 16, 2016.

How can educators, parents and other adults encourage young people to be curious and get creative? In this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger respond to a listener's question about promoting intellectual curiosity and confidence in kids.

For children who get free meals at school, summer can mean going hungry. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Parks and schools across Austin are serving free meals to children under 18 while school's out, thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Central Texas Food Bank.

This episode was originally published on Oct. 9, 2016.

What do you think of when someone is described as "smart"? They know a lot of things. Maybe they got high grades in school. Or maybe they always use correct grammar. But what does it actually mean to be smart? In this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss the deeper meaning of the word "smart."

It’s the final week of classes at Harris Elementary. UT graduate student Kim ​Canuette Grimaldi is meeting with her students one last time before summer vacation. Second- and third-graders Amira and Sajeda, both from Sudan, sit across from her at a small, half-moon-shaped table. While they’re working on multiplication, Amira starts sounding out the word on ​Canuette Grimaldi’s shirt.

A sticker there reads “mentor.”

In this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger tackle a question posed by a listener about teaching giving and philanthropy in school. Can it be done? Should it be done? And if so, when?

So much of what we encounter in formal education is planned; we attend scheduled classes in designated classrooms and go through specific lessons plans. But there can also be real educational value in chance encounters or unexpected opportunities. In this week's episode of KUT's podcast Higher Ed, KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss lessons learned on the fly.

At 43 years old, Katina Johnson is planning her high school graduation party. It's been about 30 years since she dropped out of middle school when she found out she was pregnant.

Even before then, though, she'd never had a stable education. Her mother was addicted to drugs and moved her around a lot before she died when Johnson was just 12 years old. "That was the last time I even seen the inside of a school," she says.