The second day of SXSWedu kicked off this morning, March 7, with a presentation by keynote speaker Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of higher education policy & sociology at Temple University, who explored the intended and unintended consequences of the college-for-all movement. Goldrick-Rab argued the systems in place that were previously intended to support low-income families in pursuit of higher education, such as the Pell Grant program, are broken, leading to a trend which leaves young people under a mountain of debt and with little to show for it. To remedy the issue, Goldrick-Rab said funding for higher education needs to be remodeled to more accurately reflect today’s socio-economic realities.  

My #SxSWedu keynote on #PayingthePrice is here now-- FREE! https://t.co/YQ6oypbDnF

— Sara Goldrick-Rab (@saragoldrickrab) March 7, 2017

Students, educators and school board members from across the Austin area participated in various panel discussions throughout the day, including Austin ISD board President Kendall Pace, who was among the panelists answering the question, "Do school boards work?" Pace, along with her fellow panelists, argued that in order for school boards to operate effectively, they must first set their sights on improving student outcomes by setting goals and monitoring achievement.  

Kendall Pace, trustee and president of the @AustinISD board, talks reforming school boards to better student outcomes #SXSWedu pic.twitter.com/UGLvHpRht9

Student journalists from Round Rock, Pflugerville and Manor ISDs asked audience members to vote by applause on a selection of news headlines and tweets to decide which ones were real and which were fake. The students, who attend schools in the Pflugerville, Round Rock and Manor ISDs, are part of PBS NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs program that aims to encourage media literacy among high-schoolers by teaching them how to produce their own news segments, said Leah Clapman, managing editor of education for PBS NewsHour.    

#sxswedu #fake news @iTeachManor pic.twitter.com/YZbBBlExv9

— Cathy Ash (@hslibrarian) March 7, 2017

What’s next?

Here is a selection of SXSWedu panels set for Wednesday:

• The Secrets of Accelerated Learning and Mastery: Tomorrow's keynote speaker Tim Ferriss, author of “Tools of Titans” and “The 4-Hour Workweek,” has spent years interviewing and studying world-class performers—celebrities, entrepreneurs, athletes, Special Ops commanders and others—to deconstruct accelerated learning. In his talk, Ferriss will share frameworks and techniques that can help educators take learning and teaching to the next level.
• How Restorative Justice Can Impact your Community: Austin ISD Superintendent Paul Cruz dog-eared this panel discussion as one of the events he was most excited about. Panelists will show how restorative justice practices, or RJP, prevent harm through extensive community-building and intervention through de-escalation classroom management techniques while building life skills that support enduring success.
• Transgender Student Rights in K-12 Education: Panelists will share best practices for creating transgender-sensitive policies and procedures across all areas of K-12 education, with a transgender student adding additional perspective. Attendees will collaborate in small groups to develop their own plans to safeguard transgender student rights and foster an inclusive school community.
• Next Gen Schools Share the Future of Data: Data analysts and technology gurus from some of the most innovative schools will share how they have been collaborating to build tools and share best practices on getting data in and out of programs while pushing vendors on investing in interoperability.