Post

Every March, Austin, Texas is abuzz with the SXSWedu® Conference & Festival. It brings together educators, advocates, journalists, and others to engage in and collaborate on various education issues. The best part? SXSWedu asks for community input to decide the programming for the conference. So, Ed Trust needs your help! Let’s make sure there are substantive panels about equity in education, led by the Ed Trust team.

SXSWeduClick to read more about our sessions below, and be sure to give them a “thumbs up” so that they’re included during SXSWedu 2015:

From Research to the Field: Closing High-End Gaps: Over the past decade, gaps between students of color and white students at the low end of achievement have narrowed, while gaps at the advanced level have widened. Presenters will highlight strategies used by high-performing schools to push students not just beyond the threshold of proficiency, but to advanced levels of achievement. They will also discuss ongoing advocacy work in communities to ensure that schools are closing gaps at all levels.

Tough Love: Minimum Quality Standards for Colleges: The federal government gives $180 billion (in the form of federal student aid and tax benefits) to U.S. colleges annually. Yet, when the checks are cut, performance on access, completion, and post-enrollment success essentially doesn’t matter. Ed Trust experts will discuss how to protect students and taxpayers from failing institutions, how the federal government can use its existing resources to improve performance, and how to use our interactive tool, College Results Online, to see which schools are already up to par.

Voting (which you can do by creating an account — it only takes a minute!) is open through September 5. We thank you for your support.