COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Texas education commissioner was invited by the College of Education to speak as part of the spring lecture series.
On Wednesday, Texas A&M’s College of Education held a lecture as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series. The series brings well-known speakers to help enrich the academic community.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath was the spring semester speaker for the lecture. Dean Michael De Miranda said Commissioner Morath broke down more about his experience with the state’s public education system.
“Commissioner Morath today was very, very appropriate because it focused on education, the state of education in the state of Texas, the direction that the state, that education is headed in the state of direction, talked a little bit about the impact of legislation,” De Miranda said.
He highlighted key practices that educators can use to help provide necessary education for their students.
“We have this vision that we want it to be the great equalizer, that regardless of your background, regardless of where you come from, you come to public school and we will prepare you to pursue the American dream,” Morath said.
Commissioner Morath said only 37 percent of high school students will earn a secondary degree or trade credential. He said he wants transparency to reshape the classroom environment.
“We try to be very serious about making sure that parents and everyone in Texas knows how well schools are performing,” Morath said. “We provide A through F ratings and so a lot of what we talked about today also was about the benefit that kind of transparency has on our children.”
The College of Education said more than 80 people attended this semester’s lecture. Associate Professor of Special Education Sarah Nagro said it was her first time attending a lecture, and she took away a new lesson for her own classroom.
“We have to keep pushing ourselves, do not lower our standards, do not lower our expectations for our students, for our teachers, or for the leaders in this field,” Nagro said. “We need to keep expecting great things from our students and keep raising the bar.”
The College of Education said it hosts two lectures every year. It said the next one will be held during the fall semester. For those interested in the next lecture, more information is available on the College of Education’s website.
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