Two long-running educational programs at UConn for Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) recipients are combining under a new $4.2 million USDA grant. Neag School Professor Jennifer McGarry in the Department of Educational Leadership and executive director of Husky Sport is the PI on this grant.

The Neag School of Education, the Connecticut Writing Project, and the UConn Department of English invite your students to enter the 29th annual Letters About Literature contest.

As a psychologist and a parent of children participating in youth sports, it has been exciting for me to witness the increasing media attention on mental health and athletics. Mental toughness has long been a central topic within sports circles, but the current discussions are different. The past year has brought the mental health and well-being of athletes into mainstream conversation, whether it be as a plotline in season two of Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso” (promise, no more spoilers!), professional athletes’ stories highlighted during World Mental Health Day, or Simon Biles’ withdrawal from events at the Tokyo Olympics.

This past month, UConn alumni, staff, and students gathered virtually for the #ThisIsAmerica: Critical Race Theory in Schools panel. #ThisIsAmerica, organized by the UConn Foundation with co-sponsors from across the University, is a series that brings together the UConn community to discuss and unpack systematic racism, social justice, and human rights issues. In addition, it spotlights the individuals, organizations, and movements fighting for justice and equity, and against oppression and white supremacy.

When Neag School of Education professor Doug Glanville cleaned out his garage during a recent family move, he unearthed some unusual stuff. Interspersed among the old grill equipment and lawn chairs were a dozen baseball bats, signed by Derek Jeter and other MLB stars, and beneath them a pair of Nike spikes that once belonged to Michael Jordan, during his year of professional baseball.

“Parents who want their kids to be more creative may be tempted to enroll them in arts classes or splurge on STEM-themed toys. Those things certainly can help, but as a professor of educational psychology who has written extensively about creativity, I can draw on more than 70 years of creativity research to make additional suggestions that are more likely to be effective – and won’t break your budget,” says James Kaufman, a professor of educational psychology at the Neag School of Education.

Samuel J. Kamin and Alexandra J. Lamb, Neag School doctoral candidates in the Department of Educational Leadership, prepared the following rapid research brief on grade retention in affiliation with the Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE).

In this policy brief, doctoral student Shannon Kelley presents a brief overview of early childhood literacy including its importance for future literacy achievement. She details six best practices for preschools of all types, discuss the importance of family literacy, and offers three high-leverage strategies parents and guardians can use with their children.

White public schools have always gotten more money than Black public schools. These funding disparities go back to the so-called “separate but equal” era – which was enshrined into the nation’s laws by the Supreme Court’s 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. The disparities have persisted even after Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that ordered the desegregation of America’s public schools.

With federal funding, Lisa Sanetti and colleagues will explore interventions to help reduce schoolteacher stress and improve mental well-being, with the long-term goal of retraining teachers in classrooms.