We are overjoyed to share the 2nd issue of the Neag School of Education Journal. Leading from our mission, our journal provides a unique space for graduate and early career scholars to develop and share a broad variety of scholarly work, including research articles, essays, literature reviews, and reflective pieces. We take pride in providing a supportive “testing-ground” for graduate authors to refine their original work in collaboration with our graduate-led editorial board. Fundamentally, the Neag School of Education Journal is committed to the growth and development of emergent educational researchers across fields. After much hard work and dedication from our authors and editorial board, we are thrilled to unveil the culmination of their efforts – four carefully selected pieces that showcase the excellence of our 2024 edition.

Each of this year’s articles exemplify the equity-grounded, methodologically rigorous, and innovative research that this journal endeavors to elevate. …

We look forward to your enjoyment of this issue’s work and the outstanding contributions from our graduate and early career authors. We further hope that authors use the feedback they received during the editing process and choose to publish these manuscripts in professional peer reviewed journals in the future. At the Neag School of Education Journal, we focus on the development of student work by employing a high-dose, collaborative review process. Our novel copyright policy is designed to empower students and early career scholars, allowing them to maintain the copyright for future publication.

We have many fantastic and dedicated people to thank for the realization of our 2nd issue. To Dr.Jennie Weiner, our advisor, thank you for your tireless dedication to this journal and to students. You model to us what a human-centered and compassionate review process can be and have taught us enduring lessons as reviewers and researchers.

Another thank you to Dr. Jason Irizarry, our dean, who has enthusiastically supported the journal from its inception and made it clear that our work and voices matter.

Thank you to Shawn Kornegay and the design team at UConn who helped ensure a second issue as beautifully apportioned as the first. We look forward to continuing to uplift graduate students’ work in years to come.

Thank you to the members of the journal whose hard work and enthusiasm made this issue possible. We are excited to continue advancing this work with your assistance going forward.

Finally, thank you to the authors of the pieces featured in this issue and all who submitted work. It goes without saying that this would be impossible without your contributions. We are immensely proud to feature your work in this issue.

To learn more about our team and mission, please visit us at https://education.uconn.edu/neag-journal/