K-12 Education

The Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development at SMU has engaged in a number of reading instruction initiatives in preschools, in elementary grades, and in areas of teacher training.


  • Dallas Regional Science & Engineering Fair
    The DRSEF is a research project competition affiliated with the International Science & Engineering Fair, the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. Supported by SMU faculty and staff since its inception in 1957, the DRSEF is now led by SMU in collaboration with local ISDs and volunteers, and with the continuing support of title sponsor Beal Bank and more than 50 other donors. The goal of the fair is to stimulate interest in scientific investigation beyond that covered in the classroom through independent student research in local high and middle schools.

  • Reading Initiatives.
    Through the Institute for Reading Research within the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, SMU has engaged in a number of reading instruction initiatives in preschools, in elementary grades, and in areas of teacher training.

  • Gifted Students Institute.
    The Gifted Students Institute within the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development includes various Gifted Student Conferences that are offered at a low cost and with scholarships.

  • The Infinity Project
    The Infinity Project was founded by the SMU Lyle School of Engineering with the support of Texas Instruments and continuing support from sponsors such as National Instruments, Tyco Electronics, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the Texas Engineering and Technical Consortium. Created by a world-class team of university faculty, high school teachers, working engineers, and leading researchers, the Infinity Project is aimed at increasing interest in and knowledge about engineering in high schools. The Infinity Project strives to provide this curriculum at minimal cost to high schools across the country. The Infinity Project strives to provide this curriculum at minimal cost to high schools across the country.

  • Dallas Arboretum Science Education Teaching Partnership
    SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, and The Guildhall at SMU (the premier graduate video game education program in the U.S.), are partnering with the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society in connection with a unique science education initiative. The Dallas Arboretum plans to begin construction in early 2010 on the new $43 million, seven-acre Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden. The area will be the largest science education garden in the country, filled with concepts that correspond to state and national standards in earth science and life science for kindergarten through sixth grade. Students and faculty from the SMU Simmons School of Education and The Guildhall will work with the Arboretum in connection with preparation of lessons, teaching activities, and technology to match the Arboretum’s aim of making the garden a premier educational science education destination. SMU will work closely with Arboretum President and CEO Mary Brinegar, who holds an elementary education degree from SMU.

  • Diagnostic Center for Dyslexia and Related Disorders.
    The Diagnostic Center was established in response to a community need for services that evaluate individuals for learning disorders related to reading acquisition and comprehension. The Center is dedicated to providing comprehensive evaluative services and appropriate medical, psychological, and educational referrals and recommendations to children, adolescents, and adults who are at risk for dyslexia. For more information, click here, or contact the center at 214-SMU-READ (768-7323), or at reading@smu.edu.

  • Mentoring and tutoring.
    SMU’s Federal Work-Study Mentoring Program largely funds significant efforts to promote mentoring and tutoring in the Dallas community for children in elementary school through ninth grade. From 2006-2007, the program contributed 21,997 hours of mentoring and tutoring for at-risk youth in these grades.

  • Center for Academic Progress and Success (CAPS)
    The Center for Academic Progress and Success (CAPS) offers tutoring services for school-age children who are experiencing difficulty with reading, vocabulary development, writing, math and spelling. The Center's tutoring methods and tools have been designed by researchers from The Annette Simmons Caldwell School of Education and Human Development’s Institute for Reading Research. Tutoring sessions are individualized, providing one-on-one instruction that is explicit, intensive and specifically designed to address learning differences and disabilities in children.

  • Summer education in partnership with the National Association of Black Accountants.
    The Cox School of Business, in conjunction with the National Association of Black Accountants and SMU’s Office of the President, sponsors a week-long summer camp known as the Accounting Career Awareness Program.

    Through the Lyle School of Engineering’s Visioneering Program, approximately 750 DISD students in the 6th through 8th grade participate in a Saturday program exposing them to the challenges and excitement of engineering.


  • Lyle School of Engineering Camp for Girls.
    This summer camp enrolls a total of 144 female students from Metroplex high schools. There are 4 week-long half-day programs, designed for girls entering 8th-12th grade in the upcoming fall. Girls explore engineering through hands-on, interactive projects that show how engineering is related to social concerns, community interest and individual development.

  • Engineering Education for DISD students.
    Through the Lyle School of Engineering’s Visioneering Program, approximately 750 DISD students in the 6th through 8th grade participate in a Saturday program exposing them to the challenges and purposes of engineering. The day begins with an opening rally, and students work with mentors and with teams on a design challenge. A panel assesses the results of the work at the end of the session.

  • Business education cooperation with the Dallas Independent School District and Youth Achievement Program.
    SMU’s Cox School of Business, through its Office of Diversity, works with ESL program in school districts, providing campus tours, mentoring and advice, in English and in Spanish, for first generation immigrants in the DFW region.

  • Arts Education in the Dallas Independent School District.
    The Meadows School of the Arts has participated in a program known as the Dallas Arts Learning Initiative (DALI) of the Dallas Independent School District. DALI is sponsored with a grant from the Wallace Foundation and is aimed at coordinating and leveraging high-quality arts learning experiences for Dallas children and families. The Meadows School provides training through its Music Educators summer workshop

    The Meadows School of the Arts works has sponsored Saturday art and art history programs in conjunction with Advanced Placement Strategies, a non-profit corporation that works with Texas schools and the private sector to improve and manage advanced placement strategies for students, schools, and teachers.

  • Youth Theology School.
    The Perkins Youth School of Theology, which is partially funded by a grant from the Lilly Foundation, brings together a cohort of twenty-five high school age young people for a two year program that includes some form of community service and a summer academy with classes taught by faculty members of the Perkins School of Theology. Most participants are from the Dallas-Ft. Worth region. All selected participants are defined as youth under pressure or youth at risk.

  • Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy.
    Offered by the Perkins School of Theology, this is a program of vocational exploration, educational preparation, and theological education specifically for Latino and Latina high school youth.

  • Conversation Buddy Program.
    SMU participates in this program, which pairs college students with students who are learning English as a second language.

  • Journalism camp for DISD students.
    The Meadows School of the Arts offered a free, one-week SMU Journalism camp, named “College Zone,” for select DISD students in summer 2007. The camp included five full days of video production skills. Students learned to shoot, edit and run the TV studio. They focused their reporting on college and interviewed many people about various aspects of how to prepare for, get into, pay for and succeed in college.

  • Museum outreach to middle-school age students.
    SMU students are trained as docents at the Meadows Museum to facilitate campus visits by elementary students in the Dallas Independent School District.

  • Art and Soul
    Sponsored by the Perkins School of Theology, this program brings to the Dallas community outstanding religious music, including, in recent years, “Sweet Honey in the Rock” and the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge.