The Neag School of Education hosted more than 150 special education directors, special education advocates, service providers, attorneys, parents, teachers, and school administrators from across the state this past week for its second annual Special Education in Connecticut Summit.

Although charter schools are intended to offer students better educational opportunities, they also pose a danger of making inequities worse than they were. That’s according to a new study by Preston Green, professor of education and law at the University of Connecticut, and Joseph Oluwole, associate professor of counseling and educational leadership at Montclair State University.

New guidelines have been developed by Connecticut’s education department that describe the process parents should use for their children to be evaluated for special education services. But concerns are being raised that the new guidelines would make it harder for parents, not easier, than under previous guidance.

Don Leu of the University of Connecticut said the performance of U.S. students likely does not demonstrate “a level of performance adequate to be fully successful in learning during online inquiry.”

Houston Independent School District trustees face a vote Tuesday on whether to move forward with plans to temporarily give up control over 10 low-performing campuses to a charter school operator, an unprecendented surrender designed to prevent school closures or a state takeover of HISD’s locally elected school board.

As a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, Shaun Dougherty noticed that students in career-focused programs seemed much more engaged than his other students. Now a researcher, Dougherty set out to see whether data backed up his experience. Could the programs not just prepare students for the workforce, but keep students from dropping out of school? To find out, Dougherty studied Massachusetts’ 36 vocational and technical high schools.

Norwalk Hour (Ratings system for identifying gifted students, developed by Joseph Renzulli, to be used by schools in Norwalk, Conn.)

“A trauma-informed approach is critical for schools,” says Sandra Chafouleas, a professor of educational psychology at University of Connecticut who has researched the topic. She says the new push helps school staffs identify and provide counseling for the estimated one-half to two-thirds of students who, according to the Education Law Center, probably have experienced trauma.

Suzanne M. Wilson has researched teacher knowledge, curriculum reform, education policy, measures of
teaching effectiveness and professional development. As the Neag Endowed Professor of Teacher Education, Wilson has found PD to be most impactful and engaging when instruction connects to a district’s curriculum, assessments and leadership policies.

A Kaplan Test Prep survey finds that 76 percent of future college students are more interested in topics regarding politics, human rights, and activism than they were two years ago. Such data is no surprise given the current heightened political atmosphere, said University of Connecticut professor in human rights Glenn Mitoma.