University of Cincinnati Students to Host an Education Reform Symposium Presented to Ohio Lawmakers

Honor students of the School of Education in collaboration with other schools at the University of Cincinnati will present their best ideas for education reform to Ohio Senators Peggy Lehner and Cecil Thomas as well as Representative Bill Blessing on

April 27 at Teachers College

(Room 407) on UC’s Uptown West Campus. The legislators will consider the suggestions and related bills being debated in the House and Senate Education Committees as they shape new policy.

The event will take place from noon to 2 p.m. and is the culminating experience of an honors course taught by associate education professor Sarah Stitzlein: Save Our Schools: Education Controversy and Change. The event is free and open to the public.

Throughout the semester, students have worked in the community and with speakers in class to learn how different groups, institutions, politicians and others are working to improve schools. Divided into four groups, students selected topics on which they would like to impact reform. These include: Common Core and testing it via PARCC; merit pay for teachers; early childhood education literacy (especially connected to the local Preschool Promise initiative); and STEM education.

About University of Cincinnati’s School of Education

The School of Education is housed in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) at the University of Cincinnati and offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The largest of the three schools in the college, the School of Education contains more than 50 full-time faculty members and serves approximately 1,600 undergraduate and 700 graduate students in classrooms both on-campus and online. The school is ranked 76th among the Nation's Top Graduate Schools for Education and 23rd for Best Online Education Programs in U.S. News and World Report rankings. It is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Education Preparation (CAEP). For more information, visit

http://cech.uc.edu/education.html