Orlando Valentin Jr., whom we honored in 2016, has emerged as a leader in educational equity issues in the Meriden public schools.

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

The Neag School Alumni Board seeks to support a Neag School graduate student(s) with strong academic achievement and in need of financial assistance through this scholarship fund. Apply by Oct. 30, 2020.

While some families are nervous about sending their children back to school, other parents are working to find ways to keep a teacher’s influence in their lives – even when they are learning remotely.

The University of Connecticut has been awarded a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to examine and strengthen gifted education opportunities for underserved populations through four studies. UConn’s National Center for Research on Gifted Education (NCRGE) will investigate strategies for recognizing and responding to untapped talent and explore the outcomes of gifted education services.

Education is student-centric. In the conventional education system, schools and universities have set up organizations, policies, and systems to provide students with the things that they need. COVID changed the educational landscape. Today, a larger number of schools in the country are considering online education, a move that raises questions on topics of learning, creating meaningful relationships with students, and the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on education.

In a state that is “massively struggling” to create educational equity, Casey Cobb, a professor of educational policy at UConn’s Neag School of Education, also shared concerns about microschools widening the gap between Connecticut’s “haves and have nots.” If families with political connections and wealth stop using public schools, it can be a disadvantage to those students who have no other options, he said.

I recently read a post from a frustrated parent who attended a back-to-school virtual meeting. The parent wanted practical steps on preparing for school, but instead received a lot of information about mindfulness and social-emotional health. The school perhaps missed an opportunity here to engage families in why social, emotional, and behavioral health is so important, and how it is critical for schools and families to partner as we head into fall.

With a new school year rapidly approaching, there are concerns over COVID-19 and how it may change what this year could look like.

Doug Glanville narrates his poem which honors baseball’s Black pioneers, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues.