Texas Center for Education Policy Introduces Advisory Board and Charts Course for Next Year - July 19, 2007

The College of Education’s Texas Center for Education Policy (TCEP) recently held a reception to welcome its advisory board of directors and give key TCEP supporters an opportunity to meet board members and discuss education policy issues.

The TCEP, which was created in the spring of 2006, will draw upon the board’s expertise to address critical education topics such as teacher quality and experience, state accountability and assessment, college readiness and bilingual/immigrant English language learners.

The board of directors is comprised of a distinguished group of public education advocates who hail from fields as diverse as politics, law, business, cultural advocacy and philanthropy.

“We are honored and quite fortunate to have such an incredibly gifted group of people on our board,” says Dr. Angela Valenzuela, TCEP director. “Each board member shares an active interest in promoting a strong public education system both statewide and nationally. They have a commitment to helping us chart our course as we bring research-based information and counsel to policymakers.”

The TCEP advisory board members include: Anne Mauzy, former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, former Texas State Sen. Carlos F. Truan, John Guerra, Stephanie Whitehurst, Clay Jenkins, David Bolger, JoAnn Jenkins, Bernard Rappoport, Amy Wong Mok, Laurence J. “Larry” Payne, Gary Bledsoe, Martha P. Cotera, Willie Chapman and Jennifer Tyson.

“I deeply appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this board,” says former Sen. Truan, “I, and my fellow board members, share a passion for influencing public policies that will help our children. We want to tackle difficult issues like distributing education funds more equitably and reducing teacher and principal attrition rates. This can be done, we believe, by drawing on the best research available, tapping into the best minds on education-related issues and sharing our conclusions and findings with policymakers.”

This fall TCEP, the College of Education and the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement will be joining an effort spearheaded by Dr. Gary Orfield, co-founder and former director of Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project. Orfield holds a position at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Titled “Affirmative Action in a Post-Grutter Era: Defining and Addressing the Immediate and Long-Term Challenges and Successes at The University of Texas at Austin,” Orfield’s research project will be examining the impact of shifts in race-conscious policies and their alternatives. The project also will be studying the effects of policy shifts on student admissions, enrollment and academic success at The University of Texas at Austin. More information about the research project will be available on the TCEP Web site in the fall.

In the spring of 2008, TCEP will convene Texas health policy experts to discuss some of the myriad health issues affecting Texas schoolchildren.

“In the most recent Texas legislative session,” says Valenzuela, “Texas State Sen. Jane Nelson filed a bill that would have mandated that kindergarten through eighth grade public school students get at least 30 minutes a day of ‘moderate or vigorous’ physical activity. This requirement was stripped from Senate Bill 42 – a bill that otherwise requires assessing students’ levels of physical fitness. We plan to address this topic as well as numerous other health-related issues in a constructive, policy-focused manner.”

For further information TCEP-sponsored events and news, please visit www.edb.utexas.edu/tcep.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910

Related Links:

• TCEP Website