The Perils of Sexism for Men and Boys

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DSC_3733 copyA lot has been written about the destructive outcomes of sexism on women but not much on how it affects men. In his new book, James M. O’Neil, UConn professor of educational psychology and family studies in the Neag School of Education, seeks to raise awareness about the perils of sexism for men and boys. Titled Men’s Gender Role Conflict: Psychological Costs, Consequences, and an Agenda for Change (American Psychological Association, 2014), the book covers 35 years of research into how men’s gender role conflict relates to mental health problems including depression, anxiety, sexism, homophobia, substance abuse, and relationship problems.

UConn Today asked O’Neil about his latest work.

Q: What is gender role conflict?

A: Gender role conflict (GRC) is defined as a psychological state in which socialized gender roles have negative consequences on a person. Human qualities are, without question, more healthy and functional than those assigned to men and women by stereotypes that emanate from patriarchal values. Restricted gender roles dehumanize both men and women. Among the multiple effects on men that I explore are success, power, and competition issues; restricted emotionality; restricted affectionate behavior between men; and conflicts between men’s work and family relations. Our capacity to accept new definitions of masculinity and femininity is evolving but painfully slow.

Q: Why is change so slow?

A: Unfortunately, political, economic, and religious factions that want to control human behavior and set society’s priorities according to repressive ideologies endorse restricted gender roles. Before feminism, no collective consciousness existed about the perils of sexist stereotypes that cause GRC. There has been some progress over the years, but even now public awareness appears to ebb and flow based economic realities in our society. My book is a call to action for psychologists and other educators to discuss sexism and educate everyone to the perils of restricted gender roles.

Book imageQ: As a society, what can we do to change this, particularly for men?

A: Several things.

Deconstruct masculine and feminine gender roles and redefine what masculinity and femininity mean without using sexist stereotypes. For men’s lives to improve, the misinformation and dubious assumptions that reinforce denial about boys’ and men’s problems need to be exposed.

Humanize men. The greatest obstacle to the change is a failure to see men as full human beings. Previous psychology studies have established that men have been studied not as gendered human beings but as generic persons based on stereotypes.

Expose the denial about men’s problems. More than 300 studies reported in the book provide convincing evidence that boys and men have psychological problems, and that there is a relationship between these problems and masculinity ideology. Most everyone knows males have problems, but society as a whole has been slow to acknowledge it and do something about it. More than 100 years ago, the psychology of men threatened the status quo. Until the 1980s, convincing mainstream psychology to study men had been difficult because patriarchal values dominated psychological theory and research.

Help people journey with their gender roles through psycho-educational and preventive programming and in therapy. Men’s problems can be prevented through therapy and programming in public schools and in higher education. On a personal level, re-evaluating gender roles means looking inward and assessing how masculinity and femininity have both enhanced and restricted interpersonal growth.

Disseminate research on boy’s and men’s gender role conflict to 
educators and the public. Only a persistent and critical deconstruction of
 these damaging stereotypes in patriarchal societies can reverse the negative effects of sexism, GRC, and restrictive gender roles in people’s lives.

Create healthy and positive aspects of masculinity. A new direction would be to create positive paradigms of healthy masculinity.

Q: Is this an American problem?

A: International studies have shown that GRC is not just an American phenomenon. New culturally specific measures of GRC are needed to fully capture the nuances of GRC in different countries and with different ethnic and racial groups.

 

 

Federally Funded Research Center Strengthens UConn’s Role as National Leader in Gifted Education

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Del Siegle discusses research with two doctoral students, Janice Kooken and Kelly Stewart.
Professor Del Siegle discusses research with two doctoral students, Janice Kooken and Kelly Stewart.

As excited as gifted and talented education Professor Del Siegle is about having the newly formed National Center for Research on Gifted Education (NCRGE) at UConn, he’s even more excited about what its researchers can achieve.

Chosen through a competitive selection process and authorized by the U.S. Congress-revitalized Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act, the Center was established at UConn in the fall of 2014 with a $2 million grant from the federal Department of Education’s Institute of Educational Sciences to be used over the next two years. If its researchers meet all their benchmarks, the NCRGE will receive $3 million more over three years.

“The only way our country is going to reach its full potential is if we help our children reach theirs,” says Siegle, NCRGE director and head of the Department of Educational Psychology at UConn’s Neag School of Education. “Anything less will lead to mediocre students and a mediocre country. Every student has the right to learn something new every day. Gifted students who aren’t challenged can actually regress and become underachievers, and bright students shouldn’t have to sit and vegetate while they wait for classmates to catch up.”

Providing schools with methods to help prevent these kinds of scenarios is one of the NCRGE’s goals.

A Nationwide Collaboration

Working collaboratively, NCRGE researchers from UConn, the University of Virginia, the University of California – Berkeley and Florida State University will spend the next five years examining how gifted and talented third- through fifth-graders in Colorado, Florida, and North Carolina are taught, paying particular attention to Latino and African students, as well as those living in poverty and other underserved populations.

The four universities proposed to establish the NCRGE and conduct the work together, with Siegle serving as principal investigator. Co-principal investigators from UConn’s Neag School include professors Betsy McCoach, E. Jean Gubbins, and Jonathan Plucker, as well as assistant professors Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead and Christopher Rhoads.

“The only way our country is going to reach its full potential is if we help our children reach theirs.”

—Professor Del Siegle, gifted and talented education,
Neag School of Education, and director of NCRGE

 

UConn co-investigators are Catherine Little, Neag associate professor in educational psychology, and Joseph Renzulli, who in 1990 established the first national gifted and talented education center and is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the field.

“Because of the dedication and work of the Neag School’s extremely talented faculty, a national center for gifted education has never been located anywhere but UConn,” Siegle added.

Co-principal investigators from partner universities include Carolyn Callahan from Virginia, Frank Worrell from Berkeley, and Yaacov Petscher from Florida State.

Getting Results

“Studies focused on mathematically precocious youth have provided us with important information about gifted students in this discipline, but we know relatively little about the full spectrum of children and adolescents classified as gifted,” says Worrell, faculty director of Berkeley’s Academic Talent Development Program. “We also need real data; concrete research on best practices that we can use to encourage policymakers to provide appropriate resources for these outstanding children and adolescents. Right now, this area is rife with speculation, but short on data and evidence.”

Evidence gathered from the NCRGE project’s testing sets, classroom visits, and other means will be used to determine not just how to best teach and support gifted and high-potential students, but to keep them performing at high levels from year to year. The results will be documented as best practices models for all schools in the U.S. to use, which Siegle sees as especially important.

“Most states, like Connecticut, require that schools identify gifted students. But not every state requires that these students receive additional services,” he says. “Our hope, as leaders in the field, is to show states and schools why gifted services are so important, how to identify students who need them, and then how to implement and sustain them. It’s a daunting role, as well as a great honor.”

Petscher, associate director of the Florida Center for Reading Research, says he is particularly excited –and confident – about the “confluence of skill sets” and wide-ranging expertise of those involved.

“The opportunity to collaborate with so many smart people is always a joy to me in my work,” Petscher says. “There are so many exciting elements to this project.”

 

 

Education Expert on Obama’s Free Tuition Proposal

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Erik Hines, assistant professor of educational psychology in the Neag School of Education, is a specialist in school counseling and college and career readiness.
Erik Hines, assistant professor of educational psychology in the Neag School of Education, is a specialist in school counseling and college and career readiness.

President Barack Obama recently proposed offering free community college tuition for two years to qualified high school students who could then apply the credits toward a bachelor’s degree at a four-year college or university and use the time to enhance their skills to support the need for a highly trained workforce.

Under the plan, 75 percent of the tuition costs would be absorbed by the federal government and individual states would be responsible for the remaining funds. In order to be eligible for the program, called America’s College Promise, students would need to maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA and attend at least half their classes. The proposed program still needs Congressional approval and funding. But if approved, as many as 9 million students could benefit, each saving an average $3,800 a year in tuition, according to White House estimates.

UConn Today reached out to Erik Hines, assistant professor of educational
 psychology in the Neag School of Education, a specialist in school counseling and college and career readiness, to see what he had to say about the proposal.

Q: Which high school students may be best served by this program and how will it assist them in improving their education and preparing for a career?

A: Ultimately, America’s College Promise could benefit all students who want an opportunity to improve their career and life opportunities through education beyond a high school diploma. In particular, America’s College Promise will benefit students who may not have the financial resources to attend a four-year school right after high school. This proposal would also be beneficial to first-generation college students and historically underserved students who may feel that “going away” to a four-year college is not the best immediate option after high school, as they may play a significant role in helping their family – from taking care of siblings or parents to contributing to household finances. In addition, some students do not want to place a financial burden on themselves or their families to acquire a post- secondary education; therefore, America’s College Promise will be helpful to students who come from low-income and working-class families who desire an education but need it to be affordable.

Q: President Obama’s initiative is believed to be patterned after a popular program in Tennessee called the Tennessee Promise, where almost 90 percent of the state’s recent high school graduates have applied for a community college scholarship that is paid for using state lottery revenues. Do you think a proposal like this will work at the national level?

A: The America’s College Promise proposal could work at the national level. It is a step in the right direction for greater initiatives to come, as a result of making a post-secondary education accessible to students who may find it unattainable because of financial hardship or lack of resources. The national conversation is moving toward helping all students become college- and career-ready, as well as developing a workforce that is highly educated and highly talented to spur innovative and creative ideas as investments for the prosperity of the United States.

Q: Opponents of the plan say it would be more useful nationally if the federal government reduced some of the complex paperwork required for Pell Grants and if Congress increased college aid funding. What do you think of those other options?

A: The options of increasing funding for college aid and reducing paperwork for Pell Grants are good alternatives should the America’s College proposal not get Congressional approval. However, the America’s College Promise initiative is optimal, because students would not need to be concerned about the rising costs of tuition. The possibility of tuition increases can deter college enrollment and persistence.

Q: Colleges and universities across the country are expanding STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs in order to prepare a highly trained workforce for today’s high-tech industries and businesses. Will this program help that effort?

A: The initiative will help prepare students for STEM jobs that require a training certificate or an associate’s degree. Classes at community colleges tend to be smaller and, for some students, more conducive to getting the preparation in STEM courses to help them achieve once they get to a four-year university. The smaller setting may give students a chance to talk and work with instructors more than in a foundational STEM course at a four-year school, where a class size may be too big to get one-on-one assistance from instructors. In addition, industry is also taking an interest in hiring community college graduates for STEM fields. Companies such as Connecticut Light & Power have started partnering with local community colleges toward that end.

Q: Some students entering two-year colleges have struggled with the transition from high school and have needed remedial education to advance their basic skills. The Tennessee program assigns “mentors” to help these students achieve. Others have suggested that these colleges change their teaching approach by offering more online instruction and using class time for personalized support. How important are these extra support services in achieving success?

A: Support services are critical to the success of students. Research has shown that. Access to tutoring, social support, and an environment that is achievement-oriented can positively impact a student’s ability to succeed. Further, a pipeline between high school and community college educators is important to ensure students will successfully make the transition. Community colleges can offer tours to local high school students to get them acclimated and comfortable with navigating the institution, to give them a head start on becoming successful as a college student. College tours can help students identify where student services are located, what programs are offered, and how to access financial and social resources, as well as assist them in identifying a major or program suitable to their interests and talents.

Q: Some advocates have expressed concern that the President’s proposal will subsidize middle- and upper-income students and

A: I understand advocates wanting to ensure that students who do not have the financial resources to attend college remain the priority for this initiative. School counselors, teachers, and administrators and community college personnel can collaborate with each other to properly identify students for this initiative.

 

Accolades: Read About the News and Accomplishments from our Students, Alumni and Faculty/Staff

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104516017-hands-clapping1-300x2001Below are news and notes from our alumni, faculty, staff, and students. We are proud of all the amazing accomplishments by our Neag family. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items (and story ideas) to neag-communications@uconn.edu.

Students

The Neag School has voted in the new Teacher Education Student Association (TESA) officers for the 2015 year! We would officially like to congratulate:

Madison Corlett – President
Kathryn Dooley – Treasurer
Cheyann Kelly – Secretary
Olivia Sherman – Event Coordinator

Alumni

Vera Harsh ’80 is the external affairs officer for the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Conn. Vera joined Lyman Allyn with a wealth of experience, having spent the past 12 years working in development and fundraising. As a longtime southeastern Connecticut resident, she began her career at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association as the assistant to the president and development associate. Later, as the director of development at New England Science and Sailing, she created the organization’s development department, including infrastructure, fundraising, marketing, and event planning.

The Irish Voice, a New York City-based newspaper that focuses on news from the Irish-American perspective, named Patrick J. Healy ’91, senior vice president for finance at Quinnipiac University, a top Irish educator.

Dr. Sandra Diana Ingä ’02 was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame (CWHF) at the CWHF’s 21st Annual Induction Ceremony & Celebration, “Shaping Our World: Women in Design & Innovation,” in October. Ingä is the PK-12 STEM director for Hartford Public Schools and is a recognized STEM educator, leader, and mentor in the Hartford region. Ingä oversees the development and integration of science, technology, engineering, and math programs in 53 schools across the city. She served as co-chair of the design team for a K-8 STEM magnet school that has been recognized by the federal government as a Blue Ribbon school and has established the first Hartford STEM Conference as well as the district’s STEM Leadership Team to coordinate an integrated approach to science, math, and technology instruction. She has also presented at numerous local, state, and international STEM conferences. Additionally, she is responsible for the ongoing observation, evaluation, and professional development of STEM educators as well as the teacher-in-residence program.

Zato Kadambaya ’99, ’03 has been appointed interim assistant principal at New London (Conn.) High School. Kadambaya says, “This is a true testimony of the great program that the Neag School Education provides. I am very grateful.”

Sarah LaRose ’07, ’08 and Michael Kingsbury ’11, ’12 were recognized in November by the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) during the organization’s annual convention in Nashville. Sarah, an agricultural educator at Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury, Conn., was one of only six individuals nationwide to receive the NAAE’s Outstanding Young Member award. Michael, an agricultural educator at Middletown (Conn.) High School, was honored with the NAAE’s 2014 Teachers Turn the Key professional development scholarship.

Jeff Larson ’03, ’05, ’11 is the principal at CREC Public Safety Academy in Enfield, Conn. He previously served as an assistant principal at Hartford’s Classical Magnet School. Prior to that, Larson was a teacher, dean, athletic director, and coach. He was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, and he served in the Connecticut Army National Guard. Larson earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and sixth-year degrees from UConn.

Tim Shriver ’97, chairman of the Special Olympics, released his memoir Fully Alive: Discovering What Matters Most in November (Sarah Crichton Books, 2014). He was also featured on Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday” that same month. Shriver spent 15 years in public education as a high school teacher in New Haven, Conn., and as a counselor and teacher in UConn’s branch of the Upward Bound program for disadvantaged youth. He received his Ph.D. from the Neag School.

In memoriam:

Henry W. Beck Jr.  ’62
Ralph M. Clark Jr. ’71
Eugene E. Combs ’54
Phyllis M. Dixon ’60
William J. Dowd ’58
Suzanne V. Drake ’75
Pauline G. Dreher ’77
Ann Dublirer ’73
Marion M. Fischer ’59
Ashley C. Gray ’67
Kenneth G. Holt ’57
Jean M. Jubenville ’68
Marion H. Kerr ’33
John S. Kleszy ’57
Jessie M. Linicus ’52
Lawrence V. Marinaccio ’61
John J. McGrath ’63
Garry W. Milsop ’79
Myrtle L. Morse ’70
Diane F. Neff ’74
John J. Olha ’50
Carol A. Olson ’77
Rita Pierce Powers ’84
Douglas C. Seymour ’70
Janice S. Simpson ’78
Michael W. Sokol ’51
June C. Tanner ’58
Paul W. Temple ’72
Helen P. Thomas ’59
Maurice W. Villano ’73
Robert M. Watts ’51
Gwen Wexler ’51
Civita C. Wilcox ’59
Valerie Wintsch ’60
Marcella G. Vreeland ’63
Elizabeth B. Zakowicz ’90

Faculty

UConn Mentor Connection has been approved for a $20,000 competitive grant to support the 2015 Summer Program by the Fairfield County’s Community Foundation.

The National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports has been awarded a $787,000 supplement for 2014-15 to provide technical assistance for the National School Climate Transformation Grant initiative. Under the direction of George Sugai, the Center for Behavioral Education and Research will receive $330,000 to provide technical assistance to schools, districts, and state departments of education that are increasing capacity to improve school climate, academic achievement, school safety, and behavioral and mental health challenges. In addition, CBER has received a $100,000 subcontract from the Connecticut State Department of Education to support capacity-building efforts related to PBIS training and coaching. This work contributes to the development of a PBIS network of 10 Northeast states, led by CBER researchers.

The Connecticut K-3 Literacy Initiative (CK3LI) has been funded for a third year for $2,990,000. CK3LI is an ongoing partnership between the Center for Behavioral Education and Research (CBER) in Neag, the Connecticut State Department of Education, the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in the Connecticut General Assembly, and the Connecticut Commission on Children. The goal of CK3LI is to work to close the reading achievement gap in Connecticut by supporting schools and districts in implementing effective reading practices in instruction, intervention, and assessment. A focus is to build leadership capacity as well as the school and district systems and structures necessary to implement and sustain a comprehensive, multitiered reading approach to meet the needs of all students.

Jae-Eun Joo has received a one-year research funding grant from the Connecticut State Department of Education to develop and evaluate a series of seven online modules about the Connecticut’s new Educator Evaluation System and Support Initiative. The Online Learning Modules Project aims to enhance the ability of Connecticut educators, both classroom teachers and school leaders, to develop high-quality student learning goals and objectives as well as to collect and analyze the student performance data to improve instructional and leadership practices. These seven online modules will be designed to promote inquiry-oriented and data-informed decision-making practices by applying research-proven adult learning and online learning theories to the module activities and deliverables.

James Kaufman will be speaking at the 37th Annual maaps Conference in Marlborough, Mass., in March. He will be presenting his new book, Teaching Creativity in the Common Core Classroom (Teachers College Press, 2014), alongside co-author and Associate Professor Ron Beghetto. In addition to this conference, he will speak at the 92Y Second Annual 7 Days of Genius: Venture into the Extraordinary. This festival is partnered with MSNBC and features world-class speakers and interactive online content.

Jonathan Plucker was listed on the 2015 American Enterprise Institution’s Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, which recognizes 200 university-based scholars who shape public discussions on education. He is also leading a brand-new project funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in which he and his team will help the Foundation create state-by-state profiles on the levels of support for gifted students, especially those who have been underserved.

Xaé Alicia Reyes was invited to Chile to hold a seminar at Andrés Bello University.

Sarah Woulfin presented at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Cultures and Institutions Colloquium in November 2014. She discussed Catalysts of Change: How coaches frame a district reading reform. She also facilitated a professional development session for Windsor (Conn.) Public School administrators on observing literacy instruction.

 

The International Language of Sports

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Husky Sport is a campus-community partnership based at the Clark Elementary and Middle School that has tapped the power of sport to connect Hartford and UConn since 2003. (Neag School of Education/UConn File Photo)
Husky Sport is a campus-community partnership based at the Clark Elementary and Middle School that has tapped the power of sport to connect Hartford and UConn since 2003. (Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, Neag School)

Connecticut is 12,500 miles from South Africa. But shooting hoops with fifth-graders at the Clark Elementary & Middle School gym in Hartford recently, Sikhulu Zondo was suddenly aware that playing with the American students had erased the age and cultural barriers between them.

“I’m so glad to be here,” says the Cape Town middle school teacher. Sweeping her arm in a gesture encompassing all the players – which included 10 UConn students – she added: “When I get back home, I’m going to start a program like Husky Sport.”

Husky Sport is a campus-community partnership that provides groups of UConn students as mentors who between them spend 40 hours a week engaged in sports with Clark School students. At the same time, they build friendships that, in time, allow them to also talk about nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and life skills, as well as provide tutoring and other academic support.

Zondo says her students at the Ark Ministries Christian School for homeless children where she works mostly live at the school, so after school they need something like Husky Sport.

Cultural Exchange

Through a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs SportsUnited Division, UConn, partnering with the University of Western Cape in Cape Town, hosted a 12-day Sports for Cultural Change program in October for 10 South African educators, including Zondo, who manage community or school youth sports programs that use sport as a tool for positive social change.

Developed by UConn’s Global Training and Development Institute, the two-way exchange provided the African participants – chosen by the University of Western Cape through a merit-based, competitive process – the chance to interact with Americans and experience American society, culture, and values firsthand.

As the program is reciprocal, in March 2015, 10 Americans who also work in sports-based youth development organizations, such as schools, the YMCA, and youth sports leagues, will travel to South Africa to learn more about managing and organizing youth sport in the Western Cape region. During their visit to South Africa, the American participants will also help their South African counterparts launch sport-based youth development projects in the Western Cape region that replicate some of the U.S.-based programming. UConn will support these mini-projects with funding from the grant intended to leverage resources toward sustainable capacity-building and community development.

Roy Pietro, director of the Global Training and Development Institute and architect of the program, says the focus is on “using youth sports to promote academic success, psychosocial development, tolerance, cross-cultural exchange, and conflict resolution.”

Pietro originally developed and piloted the program in Hong Kong in 2012, when Chinese and American colleagues shared their experiences administering sports programs in their respective countries. The success of that exchange led to the creation of this year’s program with South Africa.

The U.S. State Department partners with universities that have a capacity to manage programs successfully because they want the exchanges to continue, Pietro says. “The friendships and broadening of mutual understanding achieved through our pilot in Hong Kong illustrated sport’s ability to increase dialogue and cultural understanding between people worldwide.”

‘Stronger than sitting in a classroom’

A favorite feature of the program pairs the visiting participants with peers from the host country for a three-day job shadow, to help them learn about one another’s experiences and share innovative ideas and best practices in managing and organizing youth sport. Time spent watching their peers at work – as Zondo did at Hartford’s Clark School – allows visitors to observe new methods and applications that might be adapted for their communities or schools back home.

The Global Training and Development Institute worked with UConn’s Husky Sport program to include job shadowing for the South Africans.

Person-to-person exchanges play a huge role in making the program a great learning experience, says Jennifer Bruening, professor and head of the Department of Educational Leadership in UConn’s Neag School of Education. “It’s so much stronger than sitting in a classroom. It’s so much more meaningful and inspirational.”

Zondo’s American shadow partner was Justin Evanovich ’04 (CLAS), ’06 MA, ’11 Ph.D., assistant clinical professor of educational leadership and managing director of Husky Sport, who was a walk-on UConn undergrad on the men’s basketball team and also earned his Ph.D. from UConn. He says the time spent with Zondo validated his zeal for using sports as a tool for positive change.

“It’s very cool to see that we’re on the same page with some of the concepts and approaches that we’re taking,” he says. “It’s like we’re using a board with X’s and O’s, asking whether this works for your team, or how would this work at your school.”

What Can Come From Sport

Using sport as a tool is at the heart of the Husky Sport model and guides how the UConn student mentors approach their engagement with Clark School students, their curriculum planning, and lesson delivery, he says.

“Having been involved in sport my entire life,” he says, “and how it took me to different places, helped me learn and interact with different people, be in mutual relationships, develop communication skills, a respect for sacrifice, and a work ethic – all that came from sport.”

Evanovich says that understanding a community is foundational when trying to implement new programs and establish credibility with students so they will trust adults – such as the UConn Husky Sport mentors.

“But you can’t teach lessons to someone you don’t know,” he adds, noting that Husky Sport purposefully partners with the community in an eight-block radius around Clark School, going to the same location, working with the same kids and their families, and working with the same teachers day in and day out. “We think this makes a difference in the relationships we build. … Sport is a way to begin that process.”

Zondo says the emphasis on building trust through relationships was the most outstanding thing she learned.

“In our country, we don’t get to that stage of talking about relationships,” she says. “We are going to embrace this because … I think our children will benefit.”

 

Experience, Enthusiasm, and a History of Results Make Chafouleas Ideal for New Associate Dean for Research Position

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Associate Dean of Research Sandra Chafouleas meets with Neag’s Center for Behavior Education and Research graduate students to discuss their research projects.
Associate Dean of Research Sandra Chafouleas meets with Neag’s Center for Behavior Education and Research graduate students to discuss their research projects. (Photo credit: Shawn Kornegay, Neag School)

Set smart goals, divvy up the work, and then attack it. It’s an oversimplified, but accurate description of how new Neag School of Education Associate Dean for Research Sandra M. Chafouleas is working to support Neag faculty. Her commitment is not just to help colleagues advance their own individual research projects, but to advance the Neag School, UConn, and the field of education overall.

“It’s such an important time in education,” says Chafouleas who, with along with Neag Dean Richard Schwab and Associate Dean Casey D. Cobb, assumed her new role in July. “There’s so much in education we need to change and better understand. But to find the best solutions, we need to effectively study the problems. My job in a nutshell is to help identify research opportunities that match our faculty’s amazing expertise, shepherd our researchers through the proposal and grant management process, and work to increase the Neag School’s total research portfolio. It’s exciting because it’s a field I love, and the opportunities of what we can do are endless.”

“Sandy is among the top school psychology professors in the nation.”

—Dean Richard Schwab, Neag School of Education

Chafouleas’ “visible passion” for research is part of what made her Dean Schwab’s top choice for this newly created position. Also apparent was her desire to use the Neag School’s ambitious academic vision to take both the School and University to new heights, Dean Schwab says. But most impressive were her accomplishments: the awards and fellowships she received from organizations like the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, and UConn Alumni Association; the more than 100 articles, book chapters, and titles she authored; her work as both an educational psychology professor and school psychologist; and the research she’s conducted in the areas of children’s and school-based behavioral, social, and emotional health.

Her previous role as associate dean of UConn’s Graduate School also provided her with the leadership experience needed for what Dean Schwab calls “the most important new position we have created in many years in our School.” Also invaluable is her experience as chair of the University-wide Research Dean’s Council, which was created last year by UConn Vice President for Research Jeff Seemann to develop projects in major existing and emerging research areas, as well as facilitate increased interschool and interdisciplinary collaboration.

“We have recruited some of the top researchers in the field of education and have established a faculty of internationally recognized scholars,” Dean Schwab says, “and growing the Neag School’s research portfolio is one of our top priorities. Sandy is an outstanding scholar and researcher who will help make all of them more productive by supporting their grant writing, submissions, post-award implementations and, later, communicating results to the educators, alums, policymakers, and practitioners who will benefit from the new knowledge.

“Sandy is also among the top school psychology professors in the nation and has established an outstanding record of receiving large federal grants,” Schwab continues. “She’s worked with faculty across departments and has established a reputation as a collaborative person who delivers.”

A Vital Partner

Kent Holsinger, vice provost for UConn Graduate Education, credits Chafouleas with building the Graduate School’s Student and Postdoctoral Affairs division “from scratch.” It’s thanks her, Holsinger says, that graduate students are able to receive support and guidance in finding and applying for jobs and fellowships, among other services. He called her a “vital partner.”

“Sandy is an advocate and model of success for new and experienced researchers.”

—Scott Brown, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor
of Educational Psychology, Neag School of Education

During her two years at the Graduate School, Chafouleas also served as a Neag educational psychology faculty member and researcher. As Neag associate dean, she will continue her research, including her current work examining the relationship between students’ mental, emotional, and behavioral health and their educational outcomes. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s prominent Institute of Education Sciences, it is the first national study that has ever compared the kinds of behavioral screening practices schools have in place, or that has examined whether students being screened are meeting benchmarks. Over the course of the project, data will be collected from 2,000 U.S. public school districts. Chafouleas is principal investigator.

“Sandy is an exceptional leader who did more than suggest needed changes,” Holsinger says. “She implemented them, demanding evidence that the changes made sense every step of the way. Her knowledge, and the skills she acquired as the Graduate School associate dean, will only serve the Neag School.”

‘Model of success’

Educational psychology Professor Scott Brown – whose research using a computerized, problem-based GlobalEd 2 social studies game has led to middle and high school students experiencing improved critical and scientific thinking, along with increased leadership and problem-solving abilities – agrees with Holsinger and is nothing but excited to see Chafouleas in this role. He also considers her appointment a statement of the Neag School’s commitment to research and scholarship.

“Sandy is an advocate and model of success for new and experienced researchers because of her own research success. She understands the research enterprise inside and out and is as ideal to mentor emerging scholars, as she is to guide experienced ones,” Brown says.

Meeting with Neag faculty and creating a catalog of their researcher experiences, interests, and assets is part of Chafouleas’ current focus. She’s also eager to facilitate connections between those working in different disciplines: “Traditionally, researchers work in silos, focused on their own field and not always aware of how their research or expertise might benefit others. So looking for opportunities for crossover is also first and foremost for me.”

Chris Riley-Tillman, professor and associate director of the University of Missouri Department of Education’s School and Counseling Psychology division, has no doubt Chafouleas will achieve whatever she sets her mind to pursuing. Former classmates at Syracuse University, he’s known her for 20 years.

“I have never seen Sandy taken on any job and not excel,” Riley-Tillman says. “She is a born leader and, most importantly, I don’t know anyone who cares more about actually helping children. While it is easy in modern-day academia to get caught up in grants, publications, and awards, Sandy never forgets that it is all a waste of time if lives of children in need are not impacted in a positive manner. She is quite simply an amazing scholar, colleague, and person.”

The latter is something Dean Schwab repeats: “Between Sandy and Casey Cobb, I have the best leadership team any dean could ask for to help move the Neag School forward.”

 

 

Accolades: Read About the News and Accomplishments from our Students, Alumni and Faculty/Staff

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104516017-hands-clapping1-300x2001Accolades – below are news and notes from our alumni, faculty, staff, and students. We are proud of all the amazing accomplishments by our Neag family. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items (and story ideas) to shawn.kornegay@uconn.edu

Students

Caroline Thompson, an IB/M student, presented at this year’s Northeastern Educational Research Association conference, held in Trumbull, Connecticut in late October.

Nick Ahmed, former Neag student and baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks shared his experiences and personal stories of being a student-athlete and professional MLB player at an event sponsored by the UConn Alumni Association.

 

Alumni

Christie Attansaio, ‘14, was named the Fairfax County First Year Teacher of the Year. She teaches first grade at Dogwood School.

Gara Field, PhD ‘07, is headed to Washington, DC for the White House Future Ready Superintendent’s Summit. The US Department of Education is recognizing outstanding examples of how to transform an urban public school by leveraging technology, full service, and family engagement to make overall improvements.

Holly Hagemen, principal of Nayaug Elementary School, is leaving to become assistant superintendent in Regional School District 17. She served as director of curriculum and instruction in Region 12 prior to coming to Glastonbury. She earned her doctoral degree in educational leadership from UConn.

Michael Louis ’05 (ED), ’07 MA a four-year letter winner for the UConn men’s tennis team and a six-year assistant coach for the Huskies, is the UConn men’s tennis head coach. He previously served as head coach of the men’s and women’s teams at the University of Hartford.

Kevin McLaughlin, secondary teaching ‘93, director of diversity and outreach for UConn’s School of Engineering, was recognized with a Public Engagement Award from the Office of Public Engagement for outstanding staff member.

Cara Quinn, ‘03, ‘04, was awarded the 2015 Connecticut Teacher of the Year. She currently teaches sixth grade at Sunset Ridge School in East Hartford. She majored in Elementary Education and spent the fall semester of her 5th year in London.

Irving “Irv” Schein ’55 (ED), president and director of publisher International Consulting & Trade Associates, Inc., in West Hartford, Conn., is the co-author of The Thinking Academy: A School Which Embraces Cognitive Education Across the Curriculum: A Proposal to Redesign America’s Schools, published in December 2013 by International Consulting and Trade Associates.

Suzanne Taylor just published “Love Letters to and from a Monk, My Aunts Letters and His Responses.” An unlikely story and romance between a widow and a monk, Taylor’s book is an exchange of letters than exposes an “unyielding romance between two unlikely people.” She is currently a professor at the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. Nivea L. Torres, ‘06, was named the 2014 Connecticut Latina Citizen of the Year. Torres currently is the superintendent of the Connecticut Technical High School System.

 

Passings – The following Neag alums have passed away:

Carol Roche Virostek, PhD, a former Connecticut Teacher of the Year in 1989 and Milken Award Winner in 1991. She taught English at Berlin High School. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) established an endowment in her name.

Gertrude E. Austra ‘59

Victoria A. Baird ‘75

Frank Bucci

Paul R. Burch PhD ‘64

Evan E. Confrey PhD ‘67

Mona L. Cunningham ‘78

Alan O. Dann PhD ‘98

Stephanie E. Dunshee ‘01

Judith A. Glassenberg ‘71

William Z. Goldstein ‘79

John P. Griffin Jr. ‘71

Kenneth F. Hardick ‘75

Peter A. Mahler ‘77

Harold A. Pinkham ‘56

Paul C. Porter ‘81

Lewis E. Randall PhD ‘73

Delores B. Roderick ‘94

Judith A. Roy-Dobeck PhD ‘95

Rosalie H. Savarese ‘60

Richard E. Sheehan ‘69

Catherine A. Wade PhD ‘75

 

Faculty

The National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support has awarded $787,000 supplement for 2014-2015 to provide technical assistance for the National School Climate Transformation Grant Initiative. Under the direction of George Sugai, the Center for Behavioral Education and Research in Neag will receive $330,000 to provide technical assistance to schools, districts, and state departments of education who are increasing capacity to improve school climate, academic achievement, school safety, and behavioral and mental health challenges.

The Connecticut K-3 Literacy Initiative (CK3LI) has been funded for a third year for $2,990,000. CK3LI is an ongoing partnership between CBER, the CT State Department of Education, the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in the CT General Assembly, and the CT Commission on children. The goal of this initiative is to close the reading achievement gap in CT by supporting schools and districts who implement effective reading practices in instruction, intervention, and assessment.

Casey Cobb was inducted into the Orono High School Hall of Fame for sports including football, baseball and basketball.

Shaun Dougherty authored a report for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Department. Dougherty has released a new research brief on the academic impact of career and technical education in Massachusetts. The report finds that enrolling in and attending an oversubscribed regional vocational-technical school increases the probability of on-time graduation to nearly 100 percent. That compares to a rate of roughly 60 percent for those students who just barely missed gaining admission and did not attend one of these schools.

Erik Hines, was invited as a panelist for two presentations at the International Conference on Urban Education in Montego Bay, Jamaica. His presentation entitled “African American Male Students in Pre-K12 Schools: Informing Research, Policy, and Practice” in which he discussed the school counselor’s role in creating college-going culture for African American males at the middle school level. The second panel was, “African American Students in Urban Schools: Critical Issues and Solutions for Achievement. He spoke about the solutions for helping African American students become academically successful.

David Kerns is an experienced educator, having taught as an elementary school teacher, reading specialist, and literacy coach. He has authored many books including: Modeling polymorphemicword recognition: Exploring differences among children with early-emerging and late-emerging word reading difficulty, How elementary-age children read polysyllabic polymorphemic words, How to use Reading PALS: Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies to improve students’ word recognition and reading comprehension, and press). Orthographic, phonological, and morphological predictors of children’s word reading skills in Arabic: A literature review. Recently, he gave a presentation at the Virginia Council of Administrators of Special Education.

Don Leu’s research on online literacy tied to income levels was highlighted by President Herbst at the State of the University presentation. He was only one of a few professors featured.

Alan Marcus participated in a public hearing at the CT State Board of Education on new elementary and secondary social studies frameworks for the state. Marcus helped write the new standards.

Alan Marcus and Wendy Glenn, co-hosted a workshop on “Teaching The Holocaust: Exploring Pedagogical Dilemmas.” The workshop included a presentation from Holocaust survivor Henny Simon. The event was supported by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC as a way to provide pre-service history and English Neag students strategies on teaching about the Holocaust and other historic events.

James O’Neil has a new book out Men’s Gender Role Conflict: Psychological Costs, Consequences, and an Agenda for Change. he combines numerous studies from renowned scholars in men’s psychology with over 30 years of his own clinical and research experience to promote activism and challenge the status quo.

Rachelle Pérusse formed a team from Connecticut that will represent at the San Diego White House Convening in November. this was a highly competitive endeavor, but the team was selected in its entirety. Eric Hones is also part of the team.

Sue Saunders co-authored a book with colleagues from Virginia Tech and the University of Georgia. The book, Learning through Supervised Practice in Student Affairs assists students in applying leadership, advising, conflict management, and planning skills to their practice. This book explores the theories that foster learning and understanding of higher education organizations while exercises, reflection activities, and case studies illuminate the skill areas that students must develop to become successful practitioners.

Achievement Gap Exists in Online Reading Skills

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students-at-computer-smallStudents in lower income school districts have a significantly harder time analyzing and understanding information on the Internet than their peers, according to a new University of Connecticut study that indicates a troubling online reading achievement gap may exist in the nation’s schools.

Online reading skills are considered vital to students’ future academic and professional success. The achievement gap found in the UConn study is separate from the widely recognized gap in traditional, offline reading ability.

“The results of this study show a new, separate, and independent achievement gap for online reading,” says Professor Donald Leu, Neag Endowed Chair in Literacy and Technology and the study’s lead author. “This type of reading is not adequately recognized by schools in most states, and yet it will define our students’ future.”

Leu points out that the words ‘online’ or ‘Internet’ never appear in the Common Core State Reading Standards, and online reading comprehension is currently not included in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered ‘the gold standard’ of achievement tests.

‘The study was led by a research team in UConn’s Neag School of Education. The findings appear in the September online edition of Reading Research Quarterly, the flagship journal for reading research published by the International Reading Association.

In the study, researchers with UConn’s New Literacies Research Lab asked seventh-grade students in two Connecticut districts to complete online reading tasks in science and write short reports of their findings in an email message and on a classroom wiki. The districts were identical in the number of computers available for instruction and connected to the Internet. The two school districts were substantially different in three areas related to income inequality: median family income, the percentage of families below the poverty line, and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Students in the economically advantaged district, on average, performed twice as well as students in the economically challenged district in online reading. After controlling for pretest differences on the state reading test, the state writing test, and a test of prior knowledge, a large and significant difference for online reading ability still remained between students in the two school districts.

“Recent research has helped us to understand achievement gaps in the context of the usual amount of learning that occurs across the school year,” says Chris Rhoads, assistant professor in the Neag School of Education and a member of the research team. “Based on this work, the achievement gap that we found is approximately equivalent to a year of learning in the middle school years.”

Unprepared for a lifetime of online information

Nicole Timbrell, one of the study’s co-authors and a UConn graduate student working in the New Literacies Research Lab, says, “Students from both schools appeared particularly underprepared to read online and learn new information in science.”

Overall, students responded correctly to fewer than 50 percent of items. Students in the economically disadvantaged district, however, responded correctly to fewer than 25 percent of items.

“For a generation raised in an online world, these results surprised us,” says Elena Forzani, an advanced UConn doctoral student involved in the study. “Student performance in both districts was especially low in two areas: the ability to evaluate the reliability of scientific information on a web page, and the ability to communicate results in an email message and on a classroom wiki.”

The performance-based assessment asked students to complete two online reading and research tasks. The reading tasks were conducted within a simulation of the Internet with a social network, email, text messaging, web pages, a search engine based on Google, and a wiki. A student avatar guided students through each activity with text messages.

“The students in our study appeared to be unprepared for a lifetime of reading and learning with online information,” says Leu, an international authority on the new literacies of online reading comprehension. “They may be digital natives with video, texting, and gaming but with online information use, they appear to be digital dilettantes.”

The two districts in the study did not represent the most extreme economic levels of the U.S. The economically challenged district had a median family income of nearly $60,000, whereas the poverty threshold is $24,028 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Our results are perhaps best construed as an exploration of the achievement gap between the privileged and the middle class,” Leu says. “Had schools from greater extremes in income been evaluated, the differences might have been greater.”

The study used performance-based, Online Research and Comprehension Assessments developed as part of a federal research grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Educational Sciences. Other members of the project included Jonna Kulikowich (Pennsylvania State University), Nell Sedransk (The National Institute of Statistical Science), Julie Coiro (University of Rhode Island), and Michael Hillinger (Lexicon Systems).

As part of the research project, team members developed valid, reliable, and practical assessments of online research and comprehension. These assessments and the results of this research project are now being adapted for use in ePIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), an international assessment of reading ability among 10-year olds.

New York Teacher, Jewelry Designer Donates $150K to Create ‘Fuller Scholarship for Social Justice in Education’ at UConn’s Neag School

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Katie FullerTen years working as a teacher in Los Angeles, London and New York City led to Kathryn Fuller experiencing many realizations, including the limited role “smarts” or intelligence can play in classroom learning.

“When kids live in poverty, don’t have family support, or don’t receive the kind of early childhood education needed to effectively prepare them for elementary school and beyond, how are they supposed to ever catch up and succeed like more privileged peers?” said Fuller. Her anger and frustration at the effects of discrimination and other forms of social injustice caused her to take action, and for UConn Neag School of Education students to benefit.

Using money from her family’s railroad business, Fuller recently presented $150,000 to the Neag School to establish the Fuller Scholarship for Social Justice in Education. The first three $10,000 scholarships from the fund were presented at the start of the fall 2014 semester.

Like future awardees, the undergraduates chosen to receive the funds showed what Fuller called an eagerness and “spark” to confront inequalities and take part in the kind of long-term conversations needed for significant change to occur.

“At 18, you may not yet know exactly how you want to focus your life, but you do have an idea of what’s important to you,” said Fuller, who currently works as a museum educator at the New York Historical Society Museum & Library, as well as creates jewelryfrom leather, metal and semi-precious stones as owner of Palomino Jewelry NY. “The scholarship is for future educators who want to talk about race and discrimination, and who believe, as I do, that we can’t move forward until we confront our past. Real change doesn’t come from a quick fix. It comes from discovering the root of the problem, and then focusing our ideas and energy on ways to make it right.”

“Teachers also play such an enormously important role in educating young people about the need for social change, and showing their students how we all can all help create a more socially just world,” she added.

According to Neag School Dean Richard Schwab, a gift as large as Fuller’s is always note worthy. But the fact that Fuller is not a UConn alumnus, nor has any ties to the school, makes it especially so.

Simmons College in Boston is where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, followed by a master’s in English Education from New York University.

“But when she was looking for a non-profit, public school of education that shared her vision and belief in the dire need for future teachers to be well-versed in social justice issues, she chose the Neag School,” said Schwab. “And for that, we are grateful. We’re also proud she recognized our commitment to eradicating inequalities.”

Indeed, addressing educational inequalities like poverty and racial discrimination is part of the focus of the Neag School’s “Our Time: UConn’s Path to Excellence” strategic plan. Released this summer, the plan outlines how UConn is uniquely positioned to use its expertise and knowledge base to address state and federal efforts to reinvent public education for the 21st century, which includes addressing the educational inequalities that President Barack Obama calls “the civil rights issue of our time.”

Fuller said it took just one visit to UConn for its commitment to become clear. “Everything about the Neag School was so impressive. I left there knowing I’d found a school that shared my vision for the need for more social justice in education, plus the willingness and ability to act on what they believed.

“Children have no control over what families and communities they’re born in to,” Fuller continued. “Yet they enter school carrying the burden of their economic situation, as well as having to handle discrimination cased by their religious background or skin color. To stop the ways these children are being discriminated against, we need to get messy. We need to have conversations and seek out lasting solutions. It’s a huge task, but not an impossible one.”

 

For more information about scholarships like this one, please contact Heather McDonald at hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu or (860) 486-4530. 

Neag Faculty Member Recognized with Promising New Evaluator Award

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Dr. Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead, an assistant professor in Measurement, Evaluation, and Assessment at the Neag School of Education, was named the 2014 Marcia Guttentag Promising New Evaluator Award winner from the American Evaluation Association (AEA).

The AEA is the leading international evaluation association. This award is presented to a promising new evaluator during the first five years after completion of a graduate degree and whose work is consistent with the AEA ethical code of conduct.

“This is the association’s only early-career award, so it’s hard to overstate how much the award means to me. Needless to say, I’m very grateful,” Montrosse-Moorhead said.

Montrosse-Moorhead attributes her achievements to the “supportive environment and outstanding colleagues” at Neag.

“When I interviewed here, it was clear that this school, which already had an outstanding reputation, was continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible in education. I feel very fortunate to be able to contribute to such a legacy,” Montrosse-Moorhead said.

Early in her career, Montrosse-Moorhead noticed that there was still a lot of work to be done on the topic of evaluation quality. She began working in this area when she realized she could help the field of education move forward. Since then, her research has allowed her to examine this particular area, specifically how validity plays a role in the context of evaluation practice.

Since joining the Neag School of Education last fall, Montrosse-Moorhead has collaborated extensively with colleagues on evaluation and research proposals. She co-authored proposals that resulted in four projects awarded to Neag, totaling over $4 million in all. These projects span from the state level to the national level, and evaluate various teaching practices and programs across all ages and all subjects.

With financial support from the State of Connecticut, she is leading a statewide evaluation of Connecticut’s Pre-Kindergarten program, Montrosse-Moorhead said. Her team is comprised of five other faculty members from Neag: Tamika La Salle, Hannah Dostal, Shaun Dougherty, Jennie Weiner, and Jennifer Freeman.

On a national level, Montrosse-Moorhead and Suzanne Wilson, a Neag Endowed Professor of Teacher Education, received a grant from the National Science Foundation. Using this grant, Montrosse-Moorhead and Wilson hope to develop teacher and student measures, which are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards, for a middle school ecology unit,

“A portion of our work will also be centered on how best to capture how this unit differs from ‘business-as-usual’ in terms of how middle school ecology is commonly taught,” Montrosse-Moorhead said.

She is working with Del Siegle, Neag Professor in Gifted and Talented Education, and other professionals involved in the National Center for Research on Gifted Education at UConn to help identify components within gifted programs that are most related to positive outcomes among traditionally underserved students in terms of identification, persistence in gifted and talented programs, and improving academic achievement. She also works for Vanderbilt University as an external evaluator for one of its centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Certainly, it’s an honor to be trusted with evaluation responsibilities for significant federal investments,” Montrosse-Moorhead said.

With Neag assistant professor Jennie Weiner, Montrosse-Moorhead’s fourth and final project proposal provides evaluation services for a small non-profit that provides professional development training for veteran teacher leaders.

“My research has three main goals: to contribute new knowledge to the field of evaluation as a means to develop stronger evidence-based evaluation practices and theories, to advance knowledge of importance to the education policy community, and to contribute to help education move forward through the application of innovative evaluation methodologies,” she said. “My applied research includes assessing preschool through high school interventions, practices, and programs which are designed to promote social betterment and educational equity.”

“My hope is that this award allows me to contribute new knowledge to the field of evaluation, to continue to generate accurate, credible, and actionable knowledge to the national conversation about educational evaluation,” Montrosse-Moorhead said.

In addition to receiving the prestigious honor, Montrosse-Moorhead was recently asked to serve on the AEA Membership Survey Working Group, which is responsible for crafting and disseminating an association-wide survey instrument. Every couple of years, this survey instrument will provide information for decision making for association management and the AEA Board of Directors, Montrosse-Moorhead said.

This award recognizes individuals who demonstrate early career promise. As another nominee for the award said of Montrosse-Moorhead, “she has emerged as one of the new generation of leading evaluation scholars.”

“Those are the goals that have defined my past, and at least for the foreseeable future, will continue to guide the research I do,” Montrosse-Moorhead said.