Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom.

Neag School students completing the UConn Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) this spring presented their change projects — the program’s signature capstone assignment, in which students identify a need or opportunity for school improvement and work toward positive change — during the 6th Annual Change Project Day.

“Rather than supporting students with my practical expertise, I have to narrow my own curriculum to address students’ anxiety regarding edTPA and answer logistical questions regarding the requirements and expectations, much of which they are not finding helpful to their practice,” Violet Jiménez Sims, an assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, wrote in an op-ed.

“For parents trying to help their kids with homework in this new era of online learning, solving math problems may be among your more worrisome tasks,” says Tutita Casa, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the Neag School of Education. “There are, perhaps, two equations that many parents can agree on: Home ≠ school, and parents ≠ teachers.”

WDIV (Neag School alumnus and Lions general manager Bob Quinn is interviewed about the draft and maintaining work-life balance)

WNPR – audio 5:53 (Jennie Weiner is interviewed about the challenges of parenting and working online during the pandemic)

Tara Amatrudo has been hired as the new principal at Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton. Amatrudo earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Southern Connecticut State University and her Sixth Year Professional diploma at the University of Connecticut.

With the recent transition from educating in the classroom to the virtual realm due to the pandemic, the teaching world has changed drastically. We wanted to hear from Neag School alumni now serving as teachers about how they are managing the online teaching and learning environment.

“Sport went from being kind of like a safe haven [for me] to something that transformed into something that I really value, but really wanted to pour into others,” Batouly Camara said. “I understood what it did for me at a young age, and I’m still forming what it means to me now. But I know that it’s a huge part of everything that I do and everything I want to do in the future.”

“I am proposing … that we need to adopt a different approach to school and curriculum during the three or four months this lasts,” says Elena Sada, a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction at the Neag School.