Nowadays, there are new motivators and mantras at the Maxfield Park Primary School. Throughout the day, both inside and outside of the school, students are guided by a set of core values — being safe, responsible and respectful. Beverley Gallimore-Vernon has been leading the shift in behaviour at the school since she became principal a little over one year ago, and much of her success is attributable to the school-wide positive behaviour intervention and support (SWPBIS) program that the school has been piloting under the guidance of the Ministry of Education.

Zirin’s lecture, “Social Issues in Sport,” was featured as part of a newly created “Beyond the Field” lecture series, focusing on how sports and society are intertwined. The series was coordinated by the sport management branch of UConn’s Neag School of Education.

The RHAM Board of Education announced the appointment of Patricia Law to succeed Superintendent Robert Siminski, who is retiring.

Paula Milone-Nuzzo, professor and dean of the College of Nursing, has been named the new president of the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Milone-Nuzzo will end her tenure at Penn State in August and a national search for her replacement will begin immediately.

There’s not much research available to prove whether or not game-based learning even works, according to a 2012 paper that University of Connecticut researchers published in the Review of Educational Research.

Shamim S. Patwa has been named the 2017 Outstanding School Educator Award recipient by the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education Alumni Board. Patwa was recognized on March 18 at the Neag School’s 19th Annual Awards Celebration in Storrs, Conn.

First-year college students with executive function difficulties arrive on campus and can be overwhelmed by the independence. Research shows that the ability to self-advocate is the most crucial factor in college success for students with executive function deficits, says Allison Lombardi, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

Dyllis Schlosser Braithwaite is the opposite of what people envision when they think of a fashion trendsetter. She’s 89 years old, 5-foot-3, a size 12 to 14 and a suburban shopkeeper.

n Making Teacher Evaluation Work, Authors Rachael Gabriel and Sarah Woulfin suggest there’s a way to not only improve the evaluation process, but use evaluations as a way to improve teaching. Rachael and Sarah have created a resource for teachers and evaluators to read together that walks them through every step of the evaluation process.

In part it’s a pushback to the narrow focus on math and reading tests under the former federal accountability law No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Declines in student participation in elective courses nationwide, especially in applied technical education, showed “the poverty of focusing on academics only … and losing the practical application of learning,” says Shaun Dougherty, an education policy professor at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education in Storrs. “To be a good college student, employee, citizen, you have to have a broader appreciation for why what you are studying might matter.”