Best Practices
Educators across the state and nation are striving to implement the requirements of federal reform legislation known as No Child Left Behind. The law emphasizes the importance of excellent reading instruction, and it demands that highly qualified teachers be placed in all classrooms. It encourages innovation in schools while requiring unprecedented accountability. It promotes school choice but demands results. The UT Elementary School is aimed squarely at addressing these goals. It offers a new approach.
The school's educational philosophy is grounded in research generated by UT Austin's College of Education and the National Center for Educational Accountability. What distinguishes this school is its comprehensive programming and consistent application of rigorous scientifically-based research to inform all aspects of its operation. This includes curriculum, instruction, and assessment in the core areas, as well as cultural awareness, social and emotional education, technology, health, nutrition, social services, Spanish language, and fine arts.
A number of innovative features distinguish the UT Elementary School from other schools for the children of East Austin. These features include:
- instruction time, with a 30-minute-longer school day and an extra week of classes per year
- with several departments at The University of Texas at Austin, including nationally acclaimed Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts led by noted educator and researcher Dr. Sharon Vaughn, Director of the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk.
- Continuous curriculum improvement through research-guided instructional practices
- Ongoing teacher development
- Compact with the school's families which spells out expected conduct
- Dress code which includes Little Longhorn uniforms
We believe that two powerful methodologies in use at UT Elementary are integral to our success and could be shared with other schools to help achieve similar results – Response to Intervention (RTI) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)These are the cornerstones of our educational approach and of our belief in the value of monitoring each individual child.
