Neag Alumni Society Hosts Holiday Celebration

Posted on November 13, 2014December 9, 2016 by

Neag Holiday Photo 2 Begin the holiday season with fellow alumni and friends hosted by the Neag Alumni Society. Enjoy seasonal desserts and a holiday performance at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Complimentary dessert reception, with cash bar, will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. at the UConn Alumni Center. After the reception, guests will head over to the Jorgensen Center to enjoy a holiday concert performed by Seraphic Fire.

To purchase tickets to the show, contact the Jorgensen Box Office at 860-486-4226 by Tuesday, November 25, 2014. A block of tickets have been reserved in section F, rows G-N. When purchasing tickets, be sure to mention the ‘Neag Alumni Society Holiday Celebration.’ Tickets for the performance are $32 each. Discounts for UCAA members.

Contact Robyn Wilgis, director of alumni relations for the Neag School of Education, with any questions (robyn.wilgis@uconn.edu or phone 860-486-6044).

UConn’s Neag School of Education Celebrates 15th Anniversary

Posted on November 12, 2014November 27, 2018 by

Guests at the Neag 15th Anniversary Celebration gathered at Laurel Hall after the Faculty Talks.

More than 250 students, faculty, and alumni recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of the naming of the Neag School of Education. The name honors Ray and Carole Neag, who in 1999 generously donated $21 million to the school–the largest gift ever given to a U.S. school of education at that time. Since then, the Neag School has grown to become a nationally ranked school, with additional recognition for teacher preparation, educational research, and educational leadership.

The event began with remarks from Dean Richard L. Schwab, who noted he has witnessed “tremendous growth” at the school and expects to watch much more be achieved in the years ahead.

Since becoming the Neag School of Education, the school has awarded more than $1.5 million in scholarships, expanded its teacher education program by 60 percent, risen from an unranked public school of education to a highly ranked school of education in the U.S., expanded and renovated the Gentry building, grown its faculty from 50 to over 80 professors, increased the number of endowed professorships from one to seven, and expanded both its donor base and endowment fund. Schwab estimates that during the last 15 years, Neag graduates have gone on to teach as many as 266,000 schoolchildren.

“This number only represents our teacher preparation program. It does not include those who’ve graduated from our doctoral, psychology, school counseling, principal or superintendent programs,” Schwab continued. “Add those graduates into the mix, and that 266,000 increases exponentially. The Neag School is significantly shaping the way teachers teach and students learn. It’s a job we tackle with enthusiasm, excellence and expertise.”

Among other notable graduates, he cited Neag Scholars–those who received scholarships to attend the school–who have gone on to receive recognition for accomplishments in their fields. Among them are 22 teachers of the year, three assistant principals of the year, two superintendents of the year, two counselors of the year, and 58 others who have received a variety of similar education awards, Schwab said.

Just last month, Neag alumnus Desi Nesmith, principal of Metacomet Elementary School in Bloomfield, was presented with a 2014 Milken Educator Award, which is nicknamed the “Oscars of Teaching.” He was the only Connecticut educator to receive the honor.

Guests at the Neag Neag Investiture and Medals Ceremony thank Ray and Carole Neag for their generous support.

Schwab said the $21 million given by the Neags–which was matched with $3 million in state funds–has provided countless opportunities for students, as well as has allowed the Neag School to become one of the top research institutions in the nation and the world.

“Our faculty consists of a healthy blend of new talent, and established scholars, who are all distinguished in their areas of expertise,” Schwab said. “I believe a great faculty is like a great symphony. You can’t have all who play the same instrument. Our school cannot prosper without people who make partnerships work, provide service to a broad range of committees, carefully advise and support students, and who excel in the classroom.”

Among other faculty members, he cited educational pioneers Don Leu, the John and Maria Neag Endowed Chair of Literacy and Technology; George Sugai, the Carole J. Neag Endowed Chair in Special Education; Joseph Renzulli, the Ray and Lynn Neag Chair of Gifted Education and Talent Development; and Sally Reis, the Letitia Neag Morgan Chair in Educational Psychology. The hiring of these four faculty members alone has resulted in more than $150 million in grant support for the Neag School, UConn and the state overall, Schwab said.

After Dean Schwab’s opening remarks, 2006 Neag alumna Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis gave the keynote presentation, which addressed the “incredible impact” teachers have on the world.

“I was recently asked, ‘What would the world be like without teachers?’ I replied, ‘It wouldn’t work.’ Everyone starts with school,” Roig-DeBellis said.

A first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School when the tragic December 2012 shooting occurred, Roig-DeBellis is the founder of the non-profit Classes 4 Classes, an organization that uses engaging projects to connect students from different classes across the country. Through these projects, young people discover ways to learn from, and care for, each other.

“It was something that grew out of the Sandy Hook shooting, when students from not just throughout our nation, but from throughout the world, were sending things to our school. Teddy bears, cupcakes–so many things were sent to us,” Roig-DeBellis said. “And I said, ‘I need to take this moment to teach my students that when you get, you have to give.’ Because that’s what ultimately makes our world a better place.”

The work led to her being named one of Glamour Magazine‘s 2013 Women of the Year and sitting next to first lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union address. During the Neag School’s celebratory weekend, she received the UConn Alumni Association’s Humanitarian of the Year Award.

“Being surrounded by this group of educators, and listening to the speakers, reminded me even more of how much I want to be a teacher,” said current fourth-year elementary education student Krista Hespeler. “The message from Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis was one of so much power because, as teachers, we do more than what people think we do. I’m so lucky to be part of the Neag School of Education, and I’m so excited to continue my teaching journey.”

The evening prior to the Oct. 25 celebration event, Dean Richard Schwab and Provost Mun Choi hosted an Investiture and Medals Ceremony recognizing Preston Green III as the John and Carla Klein Professor of Urban Education, and Jonathan Plucker and Suzanne Wilson as Neag Endowed Professors. Scott Brown was also recognized as a new Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, the highest recognition UConn bestows.

“Our students get to work on some of the most critical issues facing our nation, with some of the most accomplished faculty in the world,” Schwab said. “Faculty get the support they need to conduct groundbreaking research. It’s a win-win situation with incredible benefits.”

Among other activities during the celebratory event, breakout sessions were held for students, faculty, alumni and friends. Sessions led by Neag faculty members Preston Green, Suzanne Wilson, Sally Reis, Joseph Renzulli, George Sugai, Scott Brown and Jonathan Plucker addressed issues as varied as charter school funding, the achievement gap, student behavior and educational creativity.

“The anniversary celebration was a great event in which I was able to personally connect with professors and leading researchers one to one,” said past scholarship recipient, Justis Lopez. “It was also heartwarming to meet Mr. and Mrs. Neag, and thank them for all they have done, through a meaningful conversation.”

To view videos from the Keynote and Faculty talks, click here.

To view pictures from the Investiture & Medals Ceremony event, click here. To view pictures from the Keynote and Faculty Talks, click here.

Neag Professor’s Gifted and Talented Project SPARKS U.S. Ed Officials to Award $2.5M Grant

Posted on October 22, 2014February 17, 2023 by

Fourth-graders perform an electromagnetic experiment with the help of teacher Freddie DeJesus at the Renzulli Academy, a school for gifted and talented students in Hartford. (Peter Morenus/UConn File Photo)

Neag School of Education faculty member Catherine Little received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s revitalized Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program to better serve gifted and talented students being stymied by extreme poverty, race, disabilities or other barriers.

It was the largest Javits award given to a single researcher this year.

“When we talk about the achievement gap, our focus is generally on the lowest-performing students. But there’s also an excellence gap showing differences based on student demographics at high-performing levels, indicating barriers to high performance for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Little, an associate professor in Educational Psychology. “The potential for excellence exists among all populations. But to date, we haven’t done a very good job finding and serving them.”

Guided by the successful Young Scholars Model used in Fairfax County, Va., researchers in Little’s study–called Project SPARK (Supporting and Promoting Advanced Readiness in Kids)–will help teachers screen and support kindergarten, first- and second-graders in 24 diverse schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

They’ll pay particular attention to Latino and African-American students, who represent just 26 percent of students currently enrolled in U.S. public school gifted and talented programs.

Other federal statistics show similar gaps for children with disabilities, who represent just 1 percent of students in gifted and talented programs.

Through Project SPARK, students who teachers and researchers identify as showing high potential will be invited to take part in specialized gifted and talented programs during the summer, where staff will provide a challenging academic curriculum designed to push students’ abilities.

Researchers will also work to provide teachers with ongoing classroom support and to promote students’ continuous growth.

The project, which could become a national model, is expected to involve up to 4,000 students and 300 teachers, who will receive ongoing professional support from researchers on Little’s team, as well as Dr. Carol Horn, who directs Fairfax’s Advanced Academic Programs. Another key partner in the research effort, Dr. Jill Adelson of the University of Louisville, received her Ph.D. from UConn with emphases in Gifted and Talented Education and in Measurement, Evaluation, and Assessment.

“For all we know, the next Steve Jobs or person able to discover the cure for Ebola is sitting in a public school classroom right now,” Little said, “but is being overlooked because he or she is performing at grade level and seems to be doing just fine. But what if that student could do more than fine? What if, with the proper supports, that student could become a high achiever and exceed everyone’s expectations?”

“Kids are missing out on opportunities to discover what they’re capable of achieving, and our country is missing out on opportunities to tap into its people’s abilities,” she continued.

Projects like this that encourage students from underrepresented groups to excel in core subjects, and prepare for advanced coursework, are directly in line with U.S. Department of Education goals. According to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a U.S. Department of Education release on Javits funding, “This grant program will help these schools replicate success and challenge the opportunity gap for students who far too often are not given a fair shot at success in college, careers and life.”

In additional to the Javits award, the Neag School recently received a two-year, $2 million grant to establish the National Center for Research on Gifted Education at UConn. If the center meets all performance benchmarks, it will receive an additional $3 million over three years.

The Neag School has served as the nation’s gifted and talented education research center since 1990, when it was established by field pioneer and UConn Distinguished Professor Joseph Renzulli. The new Center is headed by Gifted and Talented Education Professor Del Siegle, head of the Neag School’s Department of Educational Psychology.

“So many things can limit a child and keep a child from achieving maximum growth,” Siegle said. “Our commitment is to finding ways to help ensure every child, from every background and circumstance, is able to go as far as he or she possibly can.”

How to Expand Who Gets Gifted Services

Posted on October 22, 2014December 8, 2016 by Brian Dunnigan

There were more than 140 comments on my last Local Living column, where I said gifted education programs were too selective and did not appear to educate bright children any better than challenging courses we offer everyone in this region.

This is a sensitive topic, particularly with parents of gifted children. I expected the worst of those comments, but instead, they were intelligent and unthreatening. Many shared my yearning for more research on the issue. I did some more reading and reacquainted myself with the work of Joseph Renzulli, a University of Connecticut scholar who has much to say about how gifted programs can work for all students.

Like me, Renzulli thinks gifted programs in public schools have admission rules that are too restrictive. Many designate only 5 percent or less of the student population for gifted services. Renzulli’s research has convinced him that 10 to 15 percent of students could benefit from the gifted services we have now. Even a few students below that level who have demonstrated unusual motivation and performance in certain areas should be included, he said. “That’s how we find the Edisons and the Helen Kellers,” he said.

How does he propose finding that untapped reservoir? He says schools should consider not only students who score high on achievement or intelligence tests — the most-used method — but also those who show unusual intelligence, perseverance and creativity at home or school and are nominated by their teachers, parents or themselves.

He calls this the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. He has been working on it since the mid-1970s. The idea is to identify and enhance not only academic giftedness but what Renzulli calls “creative-productive” giftedness. He and his wife, Sally M. Reis, like him an educational psychologist, defined this in a recent report as human activity that places a premium “on the development of original material and products.”

They say giftedness is a combination of “above average ability, high levels of task commitment, and high levels of creativity.” They want to move from deciding who is gifted and who isn’t to developing academic talent and creative behavior in students who have a great potential

Their program, used in about 2,000 schools, including six D.C. public middle schools, focuses on three kinds of enrichment: (1) exposing students to a wide variety of disciplines, occupations, hobbies and people to stimulate new interests, (2) training in creative thinking and problem-solving and learning research and communication skills and (3) creating individual or small- group projects inspired and nurtured by the first two types of enrichment or regular curriculum experiences.

As an example, they cite a Massachusetts fifth-grader who turned her interest in Louisa May Alcott and cooking into “The Louisa May Alcott Cookbook” — the first contract its publisher ever signed with a child author.

Renzulli and Reis have research indicating that their method has benefited nearly all teachers and students at some schools. They say it helps educators identify talents in students who were not designated as gifted. Its projects enhance learning. It accelerates instruction for many so there is more time for enrichment.

But there is a problem. Many schools that welcome their system are often motivated by what they call “mistaken beliefs,” such as the notion that the Renzulli method will let the school do away with teachers trained to teach advanced and creative students and eliminate grouping of some students by ability, achievement or interests.

When budgets are cut, enrichment specialists and gifted teacher slots are often the first to go. Money has always been the issue with helping our brightest kids. Many legislators and taxpayers think that if those students are smart, they don’t need extra help. In the next and final column in this series, I will suggest ways to deal with that.

Jay Mathews is an education columnist and blogger for the Washington Post.

Educator and Neag alumnus is Connecticut’s Teacher of the Year

Posted on October 10, 2014December 7, 2021 by

"One teacher, one pen, one book can change the world," reads teacher Cara Quinn from the book "I Am Malala" to her sixth-grade class at Sunset Ridge School in East Hartford. Quinn has been named the 2015 Connecticut teacher of the year. (Patrick Raycraft -- Courant) — “One teacher, one pen, one book can change the world,” reads teacher Cara Quinn from the book “I Am Malala” to her sixth-grade class at Sunset Ridge School in East Hartford. Quinn has been named the 2015 Connecticut teacher of the year. (Patrick Raycraft — Courant)

Sometimes Cara Quinn’s sixth grade students at Sunset Ridge School like to call her “crazy.” But they mean it in a good way, that she stands out, said Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman to the sixth- and fifth-graders from Sunset Ridge who gathered in the gym Wednesday afternoon.

“That means she’s kind of neat, right?” She’s a special lady,” Wyman said.

Quinn is not only a standout for her students, but also for the Connecticut Teacher of the Year Council, which chose Quinn as the state’s teacher of the year for 2015.

Her selection was formally announced during the assembly Wednesday. The students, who were kept in the dark about the honor, burst into cheers and applause when State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor broke the news.

“I get the sense that you agree with our selection,” Pryor said.

Quinn was chosen from among four finalists, 15 semifinalists and more than 100 district-level teachers of year. The council is made up of educators who have won the honor in the past and representatives from educational organizations, businesses and the community.

“She makes an incredible difference in the classroom every single day,” Pryor said, “but Mrs. Quinn also goes above and beyond and helps young people learn about their place in the world and how they can contribute to the world.”

As the state’s teacher of the year, Quinn will be part of an advisory council that works with the state Department of Education on policies, he said.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to shine a positive light on the great work of our schools here in East Hartford,” Quinn said.

She told positive stories of students who she saw grow academically. She talked about one who had tested below grade

level in math but is currently taking honors-level algebra in 7th grade and another who advanced four levels in reading assessment.

“The heart of these positive stories are the extraordinary teachers that I’m so fortunate to surround myself with. I am so honored to work alongside people who are so invested here and are so committed to bring about positive change for our students and the community of East Hartford,” Quinn said.

Quinn received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in education from the University of Connecticut. She taught first grade at Silver Lane Elementary School for five years before transferring to Sunset Ridge in 2011.

Kim Knapp, a friend and colleague at Sunset Ridge, said she knew when they first met that Quinn cared deeply about children and the school.

“She cared about East Hartford. She was so sensitive about the issues affecting our world,” said Knapp. “Working alongside her has solidified my initial views about her.”

Quinn instills a passion for learning in her students and she makes and a challenging profession look easy, she said.

“Whenever you walk into Mrs. Quinn’s classroom you see actively engaged students who are constantly being encouraged to give more, to think deeply, to care about their learning and to challenge themselves daily to be their personal best,” Knapp said.

Several of speakers at the assembly noted that Quinn’s lessons go beyond the classroom and her dedication to developing her students’ character.

During a math lesson on ratios and proportions, she had her students start a business of selling lollipops. The money they raised paid the tuition for a student in Haiti.

She got students and staff to commit to doing 26 acts of kindness last year in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She started an annual trip for sixth-graders to the University of Connecticut.

Mya Mason, a former student of Quinn’s, said Quinn made learning fun with real-life situations and encourages students to set goals for their futures.

“She always tries to tell us that we should go to college, get better jobs,” Mason said. “She wants us to do what we want to do, she wants us to go to work for fun. Mrs. Quinn has helped me and other student a lot. She’s changed many lives for the better.”

Neag Alumnus Receives Milken Educator Award

Posted on October 10, 2014December 7, 2021 by

Desi Nesmith, center, is overcome with emotion as Milken Family Foundation representative Jane Foley, left and Connecticut Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor right congratulate Nesmith on winning the Miulken Family Foundation 2014 Educator Award. Nesmith is principal of the Metacomet... (MICHAEL McANDREWS / Hartford Courant) — Desi Nesmith, center, is overcome with emotion as Milken Family Foundation representative Jane Foley, left and Connecticut Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor right congratulate Nesmith on winning the Miulken Family Foundation 2014 Educator Award. Nesmith is principal of the Metacomet… (MICHAEL McANDREWS / Hartford Courant).

In the midst of what Metacomet Elementary School Principal Desi Nesmith believed was an assembly to congratulate students on their reading and writing scores, Nesmith was surprised to learn that he was the reason school staff, community and state officials had gathered.

Thursday afternoon, Nesmith was recognized as the 2014 recipient of the Milken Educator Award and awarded $25,000. Nesmith is the only educator in Connecticut to receive the award this year.

State education department Commissioner Stefan Pryor credited Nesmith, who is in his fourth year as Metacomet Elementary School principal, as the reason the third-grade achievement gap has been eliminated, and the reason why the third grade reading, writing and math scores exceed the state average by 8.1 percent.

“It’s fantastic when a home-grown hero-educator receives the recognition they deserve,” Pryor said. “He’s the superb kind of leader we need to foster in Connecticut … he sets a precedent for his peers and we are so proud.”

Superintendent James Thompson said the award “speaks volumes” about Nesmith’s leadership skills – particularly for his work in closing the third-grade achievement gap.

Before becoming Metacomet’s principal, Nesmith was the principal of the SAND Elementary School in Hartford. Nesmith, 35, who is married with two young children, has deep roots in Bloomfield, and attended Metacomet Elementary School for first and second grade.

“I remember my older brothers walking me across the street to school every day before they’d run off to the middle school – we lived right across the street,” Nesmith said. “Being able to be a principal here is what it means to me to come full circle – this award, this is just so much more.”

Nesmith said when he was younger he would go to school with his father, a former teacher at the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Hartford, and help him hand out papers – “I thought it was the coolest thing ever… I knew in high school and in college exactly what I wanted to do, I’ve been surrounded by educators my whole life.”

Nesmith said he credits his teachers, staff and a “very strong community of some of the best kids and parents” for their dedication to learning.

“When you have those components, you can only succeed, we can only succeed,” Nesmith said. Milken award recipients are not notified ahead of time about their selection.

Jane Foley, the program’s senior vice president and a former recipient, said the program aims to award the “unsung heroes” – educators.

Since Connecticut joined the Milken Family Foundation in 1988, 92 Connecticut educators have been recognized as Milken Educator Award recipients.

Founded in 1987 as an initiative of the Milken Family Foundation, the program honors early to mid-career educators around the country with unrestricted $25,000 awards. This year, up to 40 educators will join a group of over 2,600 total recipients.

Neag Celebration and Faculty Talks

Posted on October 8, 2014June 16, 2021 by

Please join Dean Richard L. Schwab at the Neag School of Education’s 15th Anniversary Celebration of the naming of the School by Ray and Carole Neag on Saturday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at UConn. Listen to a powerful keynote speaker, learn from a faculty member talk on an important education issue, and then enjoy lunch. The event is free to attend.

Keynote Speaker:

Kaitlin M. Roig-DeBellis ’05, ’06, an honors student at the Neag School of Education, began her teaching career as a reading specialist in Westport, CT, in 2006. While there, she worked with first- and second-grade struggling readers and worked closely with teachers and administrators to implement strategies and action plans for these readers.

In 2007, Kaitlin began teaching first grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School. There, she served on numerous academic committees and she began Marathon Mondays, a running club for third and fourth grade students. Kaitlin was granted a year leave from her first-grade position at Sandy Hook in 2013.

Kaitlin founded Classes 4 Classes, providing the opportunity for every student in the US to learn: compassion, caring, kindness, empathy, and consideration through active engagement.

Praised as a hero by President Obama and Former First Lady Laura Bush, Roig-DeBellis was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year and a “L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth” as one of “10 Inspiring Women Making Beautiful Differences in their Communities.” Roig-DeBellis also spoke at the 2014 Neag School of Education Commencement Ceremony.

Faculty Talks:

Dr. Scott Brown – UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor

Building Problems to Promote Learning in an Interdisciplinary World.

Dr. Preston Green III – John and Carla Klein Professor of Urban Education

Having it Both Ways: How Charter Schools Try to Obtain the Funding of Public Schools and the Autonomy of Private Schools.

Dr. Jonathan Plucker – Neag Endowed Professorship

Exploring the Frontiers: The Role of Creativity and Innovation in Education and Society. Dr. James Kaufman and Dr. Ron Beghetto will be on this panel discussion.

Dr. Sally Reis – Letitia Neag Morgan Chair for Educational Psychology

Lessons Learned from 30 Years of Research About Academically Talented Students.

Dr. Joseph Renzulli – Lynn and Ray Neag Chair for Gifted Education and Talent Development

Addressing the Achievement Gap from the Other End of The Instructional Pipeline: Using a Strength Based Rather Than Deficit Based Approach to Learning.

Dr. George Sugai – Carole J. Neag Chair in Special Education

What do School Climate, Culture, and Behavior have to do with Academic Achievement?

Dr. Suzanne Wilson – Neag Endowed Professorship

The Good Teacher? Are Current Policies and Practices Changing the Nature of Teaching in U.S. Schools? A conversation between Suzanne Wilson, Dorothea Anagnostopoulus, Morgaen Donaldson, Rachael Gabriel, and Sarah Woulfin.

Neag Faculty Breaking New Ground with Support of IES Grants

Posted on September 22, 2014February 17, 2023 by

This year, the U.S. Department of Education’s prominent Institute of Education Sciences (IES) awarded just 48 research grants to United States scholars. Neag School of Education faculty members received three of them.

“The huge number of proposals submitted, combined with the shrinking amount of federal research dollars, made this year’s process highly competitive, so of course we’re thrilled,” said Neag Associate Dean for Research Sandra M. Chafouleas. “Each of these diverse projects also received a significant amount of money.”

Totaling $4.5 million, the three grants will fund:

Exploring the Status and Impact of School-Based Behavior Screening Practices in a National Sample: Implications for Systems, Policy, and Research. The project will examine the relationship between students’ mental, emotional and behavioral health and their education outcomes. Chafouleas, also a professor in Neag’s school psychology program, is principal investigator. Co-principal investigators are two fellow UConn faculty members and a former Neag doctoral student: Betsy McCoach, professor and coordinator of the Neag School’s Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment Program; Jennifer Dineen, director of the Graduate Program in Survey Research for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Department of Public Policy; and Amy Briesch, an assistant professor of counseling and applied psychology at Northeastern University, who in 2009 earned a PhD in Educational Psychology from the Neag School. Over the course of the project, data will be collected from 2,000 U.S. public school districts.

“There’s never been a national study that’s compared the kinds of behavioral screening practices schools have in place, examined whether kids being screened are meeting benchmarks and, if they’re not, looked at what kinds of services these students are receiving,” Chafouleas said. “Our goal is to identify the screening practices that can help identify the kinds of social, emotional and behavioral supports students need for academic success, which we hope will lead to further research and the development of best practices of how to get these supports in place.”

Teaching the Vocabulary of Comprehension: A Technology-Enhanced System to Enhance At-Risk 3rd Graders’ Acquisition and Application of Essential Vocabulary. The study will allow Neag Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Education Michael Coyne to continue his work to improve students’ language and literacy achievement. This new study will develop and evaluate a computerized, interactive vocabulary intervention system that will be responsive to students’ individual needs. Coyne will collaborate with principal investigator Deborah Simmons, professor of Special Education at Texas A&M University, and fellow co-principal investigator Melissa Fogarty, assistant research scientist in Educational Psychology at Texas A&M. They’ll begin their work in Connecticut, partnering with third-grade teachers in the Windsor School District.

“Third grade is a critical time, when students are transitioning from learning to read, to reading to learn–in other words, using their reading skills and vocabulary knowledge to construct meaning from texts across all content areas,” Coyne explained. “Common Core standards also outline rigorous reading comprehension expectations, which means third-graders at risk for reading difficulties need intensive, individualized and responsive support. We believe this system can help these students develop the ‘vocabulary of comprehension’ needed to close the achievement gap and ensure reading success.”

Writing for English Language Learners: Exploring the Relationship Between Writing Instruction and Student Outcomes. With colleagues she met while earning her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Neag Associate Professor of Bilingual Education Elizabeth Howard will explore both the quality of writing instruction and the quality of writing outcomes among Latino, Spanish-speaking students. “The ability to write well is so important for all of our students, but our emergent bilingual students are particularly in need of high-quality instruction, as such a high percentage are currently performing below basic threshold levels on standardized assessments,” said Howard, who will serve as co-principal investigator along with Linda Caswell, a literacy and education expert at the nonprofit, Massachusetts-based Abt Associates; Mary Avalos, an assistant research professor at the University of Miami; and Maria Brisk, a professor of teacher education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. Principal investigator is Mileidis Gort, a former assistant professor at the Neag School, who’s now an associate professor of bilingualism and biliteracy in early childhood at Ohio State University.

They’ll perform their field work in fourth-grade classrooms in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, the fourth-largest school district in the U.S., where almost 20 percent of students are ELLs. “The location allows for a large-scale exploratory study that we hope will lead to the development of new writing instructional interventions designed specifically for emergent bilingual students,” Howard added.

All three projects address areas where information is needed to inform national policies and practices, Chafouleas said. They also serve as excellent examples of how the Neag School is using its strengths and expertise to put its strategic plan into action.

Being a state, national and global leader in how educational policies and teaching methods are developed and implemented is part of that plan. Faculty have also been charged to use their expertise to conceptualize groundbreaking research opportunities, collaborate with other leading scholars, and pursue external funding sources like IES.

The creation of the new position of Associate Dean for Research, which Chafouleas assumed in July, is also key to the advancement of the Neag School. “We have a driven, enthusiastic team at the Neag School, and our investigators represent so many wonderful areas of expertise,” Chafouleas said. “These awards represent examples as to how Neag scholars put our collective expertise together and make important differences in the lives of child.”

Neag School Launches Dean’s Doctoral Scholar Program, Four Years of Full Funding Available

Posted on September 22, 2014November 26, 2024 by

In response to UConn’s university-wide academic plan, the Neag School of Education has established a competitive Dean’s Doctoral Scholar program that will provide fully-funded scholarships to outstanding doctoral students joining Neag in the Fall 2015 semester. In addition to full tuition remission, the students will receive a generous stipend and the opportunity to work shoulder-to-shoulder with proven visionaries and leaders in their field.

The idea for the program was sparked by the Neag School’s academic plan. Named Our Time: UConn’s Neag School of Education Path to Excellence, 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 and address the educational inequalities President Barack Obama calls “the civil rights issue of our time.” It outlines the school’s momentous push to expand its teaching, research, and outreach missions, all of which are aligned with UConn’s university-wide strategic plan.

The Neag School’s academic vision also stresses areas of expertise ideal for continued growth, including equity and social justice, STEM education, creativity and innovation, and educator quality and effectiveness in K-12 public education. The Dean’s Doctoral Scholar program was founded by Neag School Dean Richard Schwab as a way to provide scholarships to the most talented and competitive doctoral students in these areas.The program is being supported by the Dean’s fund, the Neag School endowment, and by reallocating internal resources.

“One of my top priorities as dean is to raise money for endowment funds that support graduate education,” Dean Schwab said, “and this effort was driven by a need to become more proactive in recruiting and supporting graduate education at UConn and in the Neag School–one of our top priorities.”

“The Dean’s Doctoral Scholar awards will connect graduate students with faculty working on critical research projects in our key growth areas,” said Schwab.

“We are very fortunate to have a visionary Dean who has challenged our Dean’s Scholar Steering Committee to recruit the next generation of educational leaders to come to the Neag School to join a team of researchers addressing the educational needs of the nation and the globe,” said Dr. Scott Brown, chair of the Steering Committee.

“We have dedicated ourselves to recruiting outstanding doctoral candidates to our pool of applicants and to select the very best to be our inaugural cohort of Doctoral Scholars and, most important of all, to prepare them for leadership roles in education,” continued Brown.

Adding to the excitement of the Doctoral Scholar program is that it comes at a time when faculty and students are more invested than ever in pursing expanded research initiatives, program development, and classroom experiences.

“When I was a student here in the late 1970s and early ’80s, I was fortunate to have a graduate assistantship in Educational Leadership that engaged me in research on teacher evaluation and teacher support with my major advisor Edward Iwanicki,” Dean Schwab said. “That experience changed my life and set me on the course of becoming a professor and eventually dean of my alma mater. The blend of mentorship, experience and knowledge-generation that occurs during this aspect of graduate study is, in my mind, the most important aspect of the experience.”

Increased graduate applications and a greater number of matriculated graduate students at the Neag School are among the envisioned results of these efforts. Through external funding, which supports full-time research assistantships in all areas of education, Neag School graduate students are able to receive the highest quality of instruction from world-class professors.

Achieving expanded excellence in research, education, service, and engagement will put UConn on the map as a top flagship university in the nation, Dean Schwab said. It will also provide more opportunities for graduate students in all areas of study, making it a school of choice for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

As chairperson of UConn’s overall Academic Vision Committee, Dean Schwab worked closely with respected UConn faculty members from throughout the university to ensure all measures in the plan could be achieved.

“This initiative will elevate our outstanding doctoral preparation programs to even greater heights because of the interdisciplinary nature of the Dean’s Doctoral Scholars program and the many opportunities both within the Neag School and across our campuses,” said Brown.

The Neag School of Education hopes to attract to the Dean’s Doctoral Scholar program dynamic, intuitive, and passionate individuals who wish to continue their education at one of the nation’s leading institutions. Prospective students interested in applying should submit their applications by December 1, 2014. A select group of students will be invited to take part in a hosted visit to UConn shortly thereafter. Acceptances will be awarded in January, with scholars beginning their Neag School journey during the Fall 2015 semester.

For more information, visit the Dean’s Doctoral Scholar program website.

New Faculty Members Join the Neag School

Posted on September 22, 2014December 13, 2021 by

The Neag School of Education recently welcomed new faculty members through its continued effort to elevate the academic and research focus and help transform education.

Dr. Noel Card is an associate professor in the Measurement, Evaluation, and Assessment (MEA) Program of Educational Psychology at the Neag School. His methodological interests include meta-analysis, longitudinal data, and dyadic data. His substantive interests center around social development during childhood and adolescence, especially peer relations, aggressive behaviors, and peer victimization. Card’s work has been funded by NIH, NSF, and other agencies, and it has been published in Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Structural Equation Modeling, and in several edited and authored books (e.g., Applied meta-analysis for social science research; Handbook of developmental research methods).

Prior to joining the MEA faculty in 2014, Noel received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from St. John’s University, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Quantitative Psychology at the University of Kansas, and spent eight years on the faculty of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Erica Fernández is an assistant professor in Educational Leadership at the Neag School. She holds four degrees from Indiana University – Bloomington, including a doctorate in Educational Policy Studies. Her primary research is focused on centering, listening to and sharing the educational engagement experiences of Latin@ immigrant parents, particularly for those living amid threatening and hostile anti-immigrant environments. Critical Race Theory, Latin@ Critical Race Theory, Latin@ Cultural Citizenship and Chicana feminist epistemology theoretically ground her work, while also helping to center the narratives of Latin@ immigrant parents. She hopes that the narratives of Latin@ immigrant parents will help highlight how oppressive institutional policies create barriers for authentic engagement within schools.

Dr. Erik M. Hines is an assistant professor in Educational Psychology at the Neag School. Dr. Hines teaches in the counseling program and prepares graduate students to be professional school counselors. Dr. Hines’s research agenda centers around: (a) African American male academic achievement and college readiness; (b) parental involvement and its impact on academic achievement for students of color; and (c) improving and increasing postsecondary opportunities for first generation, low-income, and students of color (particularly African American males). Additionally, his research interests include career exploration in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) for students of color in K-12.

Hines has secured research funding to study the college readiness and persistence of African American males to improve their academic and career outcomes. Further, Dr. Hines has worked on several grants aimed at increasing awareness of STEM careers for students of color and rural students. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Counseling and Development, Professional School Counseling, and The High School Journal. Dr. Hines received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park in Counselor Education with a concentration in Urban School Counseling. Finally, he has worked as a counselor in various K-12 settings and for the Ronald E McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.

Dr. Devin Kearns is an assistant professor of Special Education in the Neag School and a research scientist for the Center for Behavioral Education & Research (CBER) at the Neag School. He received his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Kearns has seven years of classroom experience, working in elementary education as a general-education teacher, literacy coach, and reading specialist. He has also provided professional development and done curriculum design for the National Center on Intensive Intervention, the University of California, Los Angeles, Vanderbilt University, the University of Oregon, the University of Texas, the national teacher program Teach For America, and independent charter school networks. Devin has worked with large and small school districts in urban and rural areas in all regions of the United States and with multiple school boards in Canada.

Kearns’ research focuses on the development of word recognition in children with or at-risk for reading disability. His latest research has focused on how children read polysyllabic words, that is, words with more than one syllable. Older struggling readers have a particularly difficult time with these words, and it is not clear why or how best to help these students. He has conducted research to understand what these words are so difficult and to test interventions to address these issues. In his previous work at Vanderbilt, he worked on large-scale implementation of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies and developed a beginning reading intervention for first graders.

Dr. Mark Kohan is a teacher educator and assistant clinical professor in the Neag School. Before coming to UConn, Dr. Kohan helped create the Center for Hope & Justice Education at the University of Cincinnati where he served as its director. His work there included grassroots youth and community organizing to support improved schooling, teaching, and teacher education. He worked closely with area schools as well as community and cultural organizations, such as The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education, and the Cincinnati Reds Urban Youth Academy, to create new educational supports for students and teachers in the region.

His teaching career began as a high school English language arts teacher at a public alternative school in West Virginia. Those experiences, coupled with transformative professional development fellowships with Freedom Writers Institute and the National Writing Project, drive him to develop more inquiry-based and culturally-responsive educational partnerships that support community development and educational change.

Jennifer “Jen” Michno is the clinical instructor and coordinator of the University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) Residency in the Neag School of Education. In that role, she’s overseeing the design and coordination of a residency model Principal Preparation Program to train emerging leaders to assume leadership roles in lower-performing “Alliance Districts” in CT. This work is the cumulative effort of the CT State Department of Education, Neag School of Education and LEAD CT partners, with a focus on strengthening the instruction in all CT schools.

Prior to joining UConn, she was a principal at Elizabeth Green Elementary School in Newington and both an educational administrator and psychologist at the Capital Region Education Council. Jen Michno is currently in the Ed.D. program at the Neag School of Education. She also has a CT 093 Superintendent Certificate, from UConn; a CT 092, Educational Leadership Certificate from UConn; and a Sixth-Year Certificate in school psychology from the University of Hartford.