NCAA Champion Magazine (Professor Laura Burton quoted)
Digital Technology Offers New Ways to Teach the Holocaust
The Conversation (Courtroom 600 Project, co-led by several Neag School professors, featured)
Visit to Middle East Marks Enduring International UConn Partnership
As part of an international partnership that began two-plus years ago, Neag School Dean Gladis Kersaint and Yuhang Rong, UConn’s associate vice president for global affairs, traveled this past fall to the Middle East on behalf of the University to connect with educators, administrators, students, and even royalty, in a country where one Neag School program has been making an impact.
Since 2016, the Neag School has partnered with Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) in Jordan, in collaboration with the Jordanian Ministry of Education, to offer a program designed to advance the leadership skills of Jordan’s public school principals. Known at the Academy as the Advanced Instructional Leadership Training Diploma, the program is based on the UConn Administrator Principal Preparation Program (UCAPP).
Originally conceived of by UCAPP program advisor Diane Ullman and QRTA advising consultant Mary Tardos, the training program is based in large part on research demonstrating that high-quality, school-level leadership is a key factor in creating a healthy school environment for students, teachers, and parents, as well as in raising student achievement.
With program funding that had been secured from Global Affairs Canada for the past several years by QRTA CEO Haif Bannayan, a total of 350 Jordanian public school principals will have completed the training. The program, Ullman points out, is twofold — focused on training principals, but also on developing a cadre of instructors who will take over the program once the grant has ended — and so some of those trainees who graduated have since gone on to become trainers for future students in the program.
“It has been a gift to train principals who work in some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable yet maintain a sense of purpose and hope for the future.”
— Diane Ullman, UCAPP Progam Advisor
A true global collaboration from the start, several Connecticut superintendents have also been involved in the program as adjunct professors, including alumni Kelly Lyman ’88 MA, ’01 6th Year, ’10 ELP, superintendent of Mansfield (Conn.) Public Schools; Howard Thiery ’08 ELP, superintendent of Regional School District 17 (Haddam-Killingworth, Conn.); and alum Paul Freeman ’07 ELP, ’09 Ed.D., superintendent of Guilford (Conn.) Public Schools. Meanwhile, Jennie Weiner, associate professor in the Neag School, has been working alongside QRTA’s research department to carry out a formal evaluation of the program.
“It has been a gift to train principals who work in some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable yet maintain a sense of purpose and hope for the future,” says Ullman. “Everyone involved recognizes that an educated citizenry is critical to not only Jordan, but to the stability of the region. I have learned much from the Jordanian educators whom I have come to know at QRTA and in principalships across the Kingdom.”
‘Pioneering the Way’
QRTA hosted Kersaint and Rong in mid-November for three days, during which they had the opportunity to meet with program instructors at the Academy, attend a workshop for its Advanced Leadership program, and join a focus group discussion about the impact of the program on participating schools. In addition, they visited Queen Zain Al-Sharaf School in Amman to witness the program’s outcomes on the school and its students, and had the opportunity to meet Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.
With the program’s current cycle of funding having come to an end this past fall, QRTA was eager to continue the program and recently secured additional funding from the Jack Ma Foundation, an education philanthropy organization created by cofounder and former CEO of e-commerce and technology conglomerate Alibaba. The funding will support another program cohort.
Last month, Her Majesty Queen Rania met with QRTA’s 2018 graduates, including 69 principals from across Jordan who had completed the Advanced Instructional Leadership Training Diploma, as well as 141 other school principals who are currently in the program.
“Hopefully, the graduates of this academy will continue to pioneer the way to raise education to the standard our children deserve,” she said.
Those who have completed the diploma also have shared their positive feedback. “All of us were inspired by [the] program,” says Sawsan Ali of Al Arqam School in Amman, who took part in the program and who says she believes the program should be a prerequisite for anyone aspiring to become a school leader in Jordan. “Jordan needs such a program,” she adds. “Working together with a shared vision will enhance learning in Jordan and teaching with best practices.”
View a photo gallery of the visit.
Related Stories:
UConn Joins BOLD Women’s Leadership Network
Editor’s Note: The following piece originally appeared on UConn Today, the University’s official news website.
The University of Connecticut has accepted an invitation to become part of the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network. The BOLD program seeks to equip young women at select universities nationwide to be innovative agents of change, both during their college careers and after they complete their studies.
The BOLD Women’s Leadership program is funded through a grant from Helen Gurley Brown’s Pussycat Foundation, a pioneering program that cultivates courageous leadership and career success in young women during the college years and beyond. Brown, the legendary editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, believed that every young woman should have the opportunity to pursue an education and career, and achieve her life’s ambitions.
“Supporting and encouraging the next generation of female leaders is a very important part of our mission here at UConn,” says President Susan Herbst. “UConn’s admission to the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network will help us greatly in that effort. All leaders need to actively seek talented women for top jobs. Not simply because they are women, but because they are highly qualified and happen to be women.”
“Women bring a different voice and a different concern for what’s in the best interest of the planet, in the best interest of peace, and in the best interest of work that makes a positive difference.”
—Sally Reis, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor
Each year, seven UConn female students will benefit from opportunities for career development and support in the form of mentoring, programming, scholarships, funded internships, and post-graduation fellowships.
The first BOLD scholars at UConn will start this spring semester, and student applications are currently being reviewed. Current juniors who are interested for the fall 2019 semester are encouraged to review the UConn BOLD Women’s Leadership Network website.
“What we know about women in leadership is that they oftentimes reach a certain point, but then are held back by various barriers,” says Sally Reis, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology, whose scholarship focuses on female talent development. “Sometimes they are family barriers, sometimes they are personal barriers, and sometimes they are internal barriers. Our hope is that exposing a cohort of talented young women to mentors, role models, and leadership training will increase the likelihood that they will become the leaders of tomorrow.”
Reis, of the Neag School of Education, and Rachel Rubin, Chief of Staff to the President and Executive Secretary to the Board of Trustees, will lead the BOLD initiative at UConn.
“UConn should be committed to developing a strong program to develop female leadership,” says Rubin. “We have many strong female leaders at UConn, including our current president. We have involved deans and department heads, female faculty that are internationally known, to help support a group of young women in our BOLD program who have the potential to excel in leadership.”
BOLD Scholars also have the opportunity to apply for generous funding – “Magic Grants” – from the Foundation to support efforts to serve their campus, local, and/or international communities. The funding will be housed in the Neag School of Education.
“Women’s leadership is needed,” says Reis, “because women bring a different voice and a different concern for what’s in the best interest of the planet, in the best interest of peace, and in the best interest of work that makes a positive difference to our society.”
UConn Joins BOLD Women’s Leadership Network
UConn Today (Sally Reis co-leads new women’s leadership initiative at UConn)
UConn Joins BOLD Women’s Leadership Network
UConn Today (UConn’s new BOLD initiative, co-led by Neag School’s Sally Reis, is featured)
To Add Black College Students, Recruit Black Schoolteachers
Inside Higher Ed (A paper co-authored by Joshua Hyman, who has a joint appointment with the Neag School, about same-race teachers having big effect on black children is featured)
Change Ahead: Stamford Students Consider New School Schedule
Stamford Advocate (Neag School’s Megan Staples is quoted about the proposed new schedule)
How Charter Schools Are Like Subprime Mortgages and May be Headed for a “Bubble”
Diane Ravitch’s Blog (An article on charter schools, co-published by Preston Green, is featured)
Neag School Announces Recipients of 2019 Alumni Awards
The Neag School of Education and its Alumni Board are proud to announce the 2019 Neag School Alumni Awards honorees. Seven outstanding Neag School graduates will be formally recognized at the School’s 21st annual Alumni Awards Celebration on Saturday, March 16, 2019:
Outstanding Early Career Professional — Victoria M. Schilling ’16 (ED), ’17 MA
Victoria Schilling serves as an eighth-grade teacher at Ellington (Conn.) Middle School, where she has designed and implemented next-generation science standards units of instruction, and also serves as the cheerleading coach. She is a member of the UConn Mentor Teacher Collaborative Professional Learning Network, through which she has co-published multiple articles and presented at national and regional conferences. After graduation, Schilling also worked for the Neag School of Education, where she led a middle school curriculum development project focused on the Carl and Marian Rettenmeyer Army Ant Guest Collection and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Outstanding School Educator — Deidra Fogarty ’05 (ED), ’06 MA
An educator for more than 12 years, Deidra Fogarty currently serves as a special educator for the Knowledge Is Power Program’s Spring Academy in Washington, D.C., where she has increased student reading capacities, established individualized education program goals, and worked to ensure compliance with special education reporting deadlines. She is the founder of Black Girls Teach, a collaborative platform she created to empower black women educators. In addition, she co-founded WAM! Book Bundle, a monthly subscription service for diverse children’s books.
Outstanding School Administrator — Maureen F. Ruby ’77 (CLAS), ’78 MS (ENG), ’82 DMD, ’07 Ph.D.
Maureen Ruby is assistant superintendent of Brookfield (Conn.) Public Schools, where she oversees school and district improvement plans, along with curriculum, instruction, assessment, and human resources. In her education career, she has been instrumental in securing and managing more than $8 million in grants including a five-year federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) for Brookfield High School, and also served as project director and co-principal investigator for a $3.9 million U.S. Department of Education literacy grant. Ruby has held previous administrator positions for school districts in Connecticut as well as faculty positions at UConn and other universities. Prior to her education career, Ruby was a dentist serving as an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service and in private practice.
Outstanding School Superintendent — Craig A. Cooke ’01 6th Year, ’07 Ph.D., ’08 ELP
For the past five years, Craig Cooke has served as superintendent of Windsor (Conn.) Public Schools, where he is responsible for managing the school district, including overseeing a $69 million budget. Prior to that role, he served as the assistant superintendent of human resources for the district of more than 650 educators and support staff. Cooke also previously served as the human resources director for Enfield (Conn.) Public Schools.
Outstanding Professional — Rachel R. McAnallen ’10 Ph.D.
Known as “Ms. Math” to children across the country, Rachel McAnallen has devoted her life to sharing the joy of mathematics with learners of all ages. A professional educator for more than 60 years, she travels the globe teaching her love of mathematics at every grade level. In addition to her experience in the classroom, McAnallen has served as a department chair, a school board member, and a high school administrator. A lifelong learner, McAnallen received her Ph.D. from the Neag School at age 75.
Outstanding Higher Education Professional — D. Betsy McCoach ’01 MA, ’02 6th Year, ’03 Ph.D.
A faculty member at the Neag School in educational psychology for over 15 years, Betsy McCoach also directs the Data Analysis Training Institute of Connecticut (DATIC) and the Modern Modeling Methods (M3) Conference, both of which bring international experts to UConn. She is the current co-principal investigator of a $3 million National Science Foundation grant on the science of learning and the National Center for Research on Gifted Education, funded by a $5 million grant through the Institute for Education Sciences. McCoach is an established scholar, having authored or co-authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, dozens of book chapters, and four books.
Distinguished Alumna Award — Carla S. Klein ’72 (ED)
A retired schoolteacher, Carla Klein has dedicated herself to supporting numerous educational endeavors through scholarships and service over the years, including as an emeritus UConn Foundation Board member. She and her late husband, John, former president and CEO of People’s United Bank, had been active in raising awareness and funding for various education causes, including support for school programs across the state focused on anti-bullying. A member of the Bridgeport Public Education Fund board of directors, she also was previously co-chair of Operation Respect Connecticut and spent a year serving on the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement, making recommendations — many of which were ultimately adopted by Gov. Dannel Malloy — on issues related to closing the achievement gap. Most recently, the Klein Family Foundation — run by Klein, along with her children — has instituted the Klein Family Scholarship Fund at the Neag School, which provides financial support to several teacher education students with demonstrated financial need and academic achievement.
The 21st Annual Neag School Alumni Awards Celebration begins at 5 p.m. on March 16, 2019. Attire is business formal. No-host bar. The cost of the dinner is $50 per person. Join us for the celebration. Register online at s.uconn.edu/NeagAlumni2019.
Questions? Contact Caitlin Trinh, Neag School alumni relations director, at 860.486.2240 or ctrinh@foundation.uconn.edu.
