Catch up on some of the Neag School news highlights you may have missed this past summer with these quick links.

Robert Colbert, associate professor in the Neag School of Education, passed away on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016.

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

Massachusetts requires public schools to have an anti-bullying plan — the result of a 2010 law passed in reaction to the suicides of two students who reportedly had been victims of bullying. George Sugai, co-director of the National Center of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and a professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, said research shows that “if classrooms and schools are positive, safe, and caring, [the] likelihood of bullying decreases.”

In a new report issued Aug. 10, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) calls for reorganizing schools to better cultivate deep learning for all students. The report, What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning, lays out an ambitious vision for educator-driven improvements buttressed by a coordinated system of policy and community supports.

This blog discusses Professor James Kaufman’s research and talks about how creativity may be a useful tool for social justice.

Colleges across the U.S. have been trying to do a better job of making students who have traditionally been underrepresented on campus feel welcome and included. But some of their attempts, however well-intentioned, garner as much ire as support. While many see the creation of safe spaces for black students, LGBT students, and other minorities as a positive step toward helping them navigate campus, others see it as resegregation and a step backward.

Last week, the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (NCTAF) released a report aimed at helping educators reorganize the nation’s education system in ways that support teaching, drive learning, and provide all students with the foundation needed to build a successful future. Building on a report the Commission issued 20 years ago, it addresses current challenges facing the nation’s educators and makes recommendations focused on improving teaching and learning in the U.S.

Professor Richard Schwab, former dean of the Neag School and now Raymond Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership, helped shape the new report, “What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning.” He describes it as a call to collective action ultimately intended to ensure that all students have access to great teaching.

Two Neag School faculty members in the Department of Educational Leadership have recently received funding — totaling more than $2 million — from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), as part of the latest round of grants issued by the National Center for Education Research (NCER)’s Education Research Grants Program.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sal Corda has announced the appointment of Thomas “Tom” C. Healy as the interim principal for Central Middle School effective Aug. 26.