“There has to be some happy medium there between finding assessments that will provide reliable information for parents, students, and teachers,” said Morgaen Donaldson, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut who researches educator evaluations, “and then having teachers set goals based on those assessments that are smart, realistic and context-specific, and can be part of their evaluation.”

Weston High School Principal Lisa Wolak has been selected to take the reins on July 1 as Superintendent of the Weston Public School District. She completed her superintendent certification program at the University of Connecticut and remains in the doctoral program.

Uyi Osunde, principal of Windsor High School since 2016, has accepted the position of school superintendent in Stratford. A former defensive end and co-captain for the UConn football team in 2003 who played briefly in the NFL, Osunde earned a bachelor’s in psychology from UConn, then later earned a master’s in educational psychology and a doctorate in educational leadership. He is also a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at UConn’s Neag School of Education.

“The problem that we may have is that, even if we spend the money wisely and do things that need to be done, you may not get the turnaround in two or three years,” says Preston Green, a professor of educational leadership in the Neag School of Education. “What I’m calling for is more patience.”

With the pandemic projected to set women back a decade in the workplace, we take listener calls and talk with two working mothers about how their lives have been affected this past year. We’re joined by Quiana Agbai, a Boston parent, entrepreneur, and author of the blog and Instagram account “Harlem Love Birds,” and Jennie Weiner, a Somerville parent and associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Connecticut.

UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey will coach the Huskies for the first time since 2019 for Sunday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against High Point after it was announced Monday that head coach Geno Auriemma has to quarantine for 10 days due to a positive COVID-19 test. It’s not the first time she’s coached the Huskies in Auriemma’s absence.

“The big concerns with charters are the lack of oversight and the draining of funds from public schools,” said Preston Green, the John and Carla Klein Professor of Urban Education at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. “Charter schools can be detrimental to the larger public school system even if they benefit, in relative terms, a small number of children.”

Casey Cobb, a professor of education policy at UConn’s Neag School of Education, said that rather than moving money around, the preferable thing would be to increase funding for all the schools — choice schools and district schools alike.

In this month’s episode of the NEPC Talks Education podcast, NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldaña interviews Drs. Bruce Baker and Preston Green, leading experts in K-12 school finance and school choice policy. Baker is a professor in the Department of Educational Theory, Policy, and Administration at Rutgers University. Green is the John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

“If we prioritize things like teacher retention; if we prioritize things like school culture and climate as much as student achievement,” says Richard Gonzales, “everyone focuses their time, money, effort, energy toward those things.”