Education Renewal Zone (ERZ), housed in the College of Education and Health Professions, recently hosted a panel during the Arkansas Department of Education's 2025 Summit about tutoring models recently implemented in Northwest Arkansas schools.

ERZ's panel, "Promising Practices: Innovative Interventions Solutions," featured Department of Curriculum and Instruction faculty members Bonnie King, Jacquelyn Scalf and Renee Speight discussing their experience working with teacher candidates to implement tutoring in elementary classrooms.

Panelists shared approaches for planning and collaborating with school partners to enhance the experience for teacher candidates and elementary-aged learners. They also outlined their successes and challenges to help support other educator preparation programs in developing their own tutoring models.

ERZ Director Lindsey Calhoun said this collaboration goes a long way towards building better teachers and helping students.

"I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to partner with our faculty to create meaningful learning experiences for our teacher candidates and our local schools," she said. "This initiative was made possible through support from the Arkansas Department of Education and funding outlined in the LEARNS Act. This partnership was such a valuable learning opportunity for our teacher candidates to gain meaningful experience as teachers and for our local schools to provide specialized tutoring for their elementary students."

ERZ's primary goal is to identify and implement educational and management strategies that improve public school performance and student academic achievement across Arkansas.

In the 2025-26 academic year, Calhoun said the office will focus on initiatives like tutoring and academic support, school attendance improvement strategies, ethics training for teacher candidates and more.

The organization plans to continue collaborating with local programs and districts to strengthen connections and provide high-quality professional development and growth opportunities for pre-service and in-service educators.

There are six Offices of Education Renewal Zones throughout Arkansas. Each Office of ERZ is housed in a different university and is grant-funded by the Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.

To learn more about Education Renewal Zones, visit the Arkansas Department of Education website.