As you watch this year’s summer Olympics, pay attention to the athletes from smaller countries. There’s a good reason why some countries manage to produce elite athletes consistently, even though they’re drawing from populations much smaller than those of China, Brazil, or the U.S. They cultivate them differently.

Research can inform policy, but it must first be vetted and publicly debated. A recent exchange illustrates the value of such a public deliberation.

“We have spent billions, passing endless pieces of reform legislation at the state and national level — yet still we have not succeeded in supporting and enhancing the teaching profession to the degree we must if we are to achieve the lofty goals all of us have for our nation’s schools,” says Richard L. Schwab, former dean of the Neag School and a longtime commissioner for The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF).

West Hartford News (Neag School alumnus, Alan Addley, was named president of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents)

Vocational training is making a big comeback in American high schools. And it’s not just wood shop and auto repairs anymore. Shaun Dougherty serves as a guest panelist on vocational training, referring to his Fordham Institute Study.

UConn Today (Neag School’s Jaci VanHeest, employed by U.S. Swimming in the early ’90s to identify young swimmers who might become champions, says U.S. sports focuses too much on early success) 

Middle and high school teachers are on campus this week learning how to use genocide and human rights education to address complex historical and current issues. The program – The Upstander Academy: Intellectual Humility in Public Discourse Summer Institute – was developed by the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the Upstander Project, with assistance from secondary educators in Connecticut.

UConn Today (Neag School alumna, Melissa Gonzalez, will compete in the Olympics for a second time, this time as a Team USA captain)

Inside IES Research (Neag School faculty member Shaun Dougherty’s research grant on career-technical high schools is mentioned)