UConn Poll: Americans Skeptical About Common Core

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P21 pixjpgThe more Americans know about the Common Core Standards Initiative, the less likely they are to think it will achieve its goal of improving nationwide education outcomes in reading, writing, and math for K-12 students, according to a UConn Poll.

The survey found that just 39 percent of Americans have heard of the much-debated initiative, which includes 44 of 50 states, compared to 95 percent who’ve heard of No Child Left Behind, an earlier federal effort to improve education outcomes.

Those who do know about Common Core, though, are generally skeptical of the initiative’s ability to boost the quality of American education. Just 33 percent believe adopting Common Core standards will increase the quality of education in their communities, compared to 27 percent who say it will have no effect, and 30 percent who say it will actually be detrimental.

Similarly, only 29 percent of respondents who know about Common Core think it will increase the number of students who attend college, and 33 percent say the initiative will mean that more of those Americans who graduate college will be ready for a career. Overall, 38 percent believe Common Core is a good policy, compared to 44 percent who believe the opposite.

The skepticism about Common Core is generally consistent across demographic groups, except when it comes to political affiliation and ideology, notes UConn Poll director Jennifer Necci Dineen. “In general, Democrats and liberals are more likely than anyone else to regard Common Core positively, while Republicans and conservatives are far more wary,” she said. “That suggests people are seeing this issue at least partly in partisan political terms, rather than evaluating the initiative on its own merits.”

The debate over Common Core has fueled some misconceptions about what the initiative actually means, according to Casey Cobb, head of the educational leadership department at UConn’s Neag School of Education.

“Ironically, the perception of Common Core sometimes is that it’s a national curriculum that’s being forced onto states, and that’s more myth than reality,” he says. “Unlike some earlier reforms, like No Child Left Behind, there’s actually more flexibility for states when it comes to working with this set of standards.”

Fifty-four percent of Democrats, for example, say Common Core is good policy, compared to 30 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Americans who’ve heard of the initiative. The distinction is even more stark along ideological lines: 53 percent of liberals favor the policy, compared to 24 percent of conservatives. Dineen points out that Americans aren’t opposed to a set of national standards in education that should hold true from state to state, which is one of the ostensible goals of Common Core: 73 percent say national standards are a good idea, 64 percent say the expectations of students should be the same in all states, and 68 percent say it’s very important to have a consistent quality of education regardless of where students live.

“Americans like the idea of national standards to ensure a good education whether you’re in Massachusetts or Mississippi,” Dineen says. “They just don’t think Common Core is the best way to achieve that.” Some of this wariness might be a reflection of the fact that Americans are, in general, positive about their local schools. The UConn Poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe the quality of local education is either good or excellent, compared to 11 percent who think it’s poor.

Americans also believe schools are generally doing a good job despite financial hardship: from a list of 20 problems confronting local schools, budget woes were by far the most significant, according to the poll. Thirty-two percent of Americans rate that as the most significant problem, dwarfing other challenges like poverty (2 percent), lack of parental involvement (4 percent), safety (5 percent), standardized testing (2 percent), bad teachers (4 percent), and unions (1 percent). For a complete set of questions and tabulations, visit www.poll.uconn.edu.

These findings are based on The UConn Poll. The national sample of 1,007 randomly selected adults were interviewed by landline and cellular telephone between April 22 and April 30, 2014. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points for the entire sample, and larger for subgroups.

The data have been weighted by the number of adults in a household and the number of telephone numbers, land and cellular, at which adults in the household can be reached in order to equalize the chances of an individual adult being selected. The data have also been weighted by the sex, race, and level of education of the respondent, based on the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census.  

Music Educators Share Experience, Advice With Neag Music Majors

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SONY DSCNeag School music education majors recently had the opportunity to chat and network with experienced music teachers at the mini-conference “Behind the Scenes of a Successful Program: a Professional Development Day for Aspiring Music Educators.”

Organized by the UConn chapter of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the annual event attracted approximately 30 UConn students to the program, which included the following talks:

  •  “Tomorrow is Here: Technology Tools for Today’s Music Educator” by Wayne Pierce, Ph.D., director of music technology at Kingswood-Oxford School
  •  “Landing Job: Good, Keeping Job: Better” by Aaron Burgess, director of bands at Edwin O. Smith High School
  •  “Making the Program Your Own” by Ned Smith, director of instrumental music at Coventry High School

Music education junior and UConn NAfME chapter president Valerie Stickles was among those eager to take advantage of these professionals’ insights.  “We hoped all the members of the chapter would benefit from different perspectives and experience, regardless of whether they were an instrumentalist or a vocalist,” Stickles said.

Joseph Abramo, assistant clinical professor of Music Education and advisor of the UConn NAfME chapter, was particularly interested to hear Pierce’s talk, as more students use computers, apps and other new technologies to make music. “One of my strains of research is finding the ways students engage with music outside of school,” Abramo said. “How to incorporate these ideas into the classroom highly resonated with current trends.”

Hoping to teach music in elementary or high school, Neag junior Allison Savage found the advice on how to land a job very helpful. “I had no idea so much goes into the interview process,” said Savage, who’s majoring in vocal performance and music education. “For example, a cover letter or even your outfit can make or break your chance at getting the job.”

Sean Sonntag, a freshman in pre-music education, said being able to hear from multiple educators in the field “allowed me to gain an understanding of different approaches to teaching, and gave me fresh ideas from people who have used and refined them.”

During his presentation, Smith said there is nothing more rewarding than encouraging students to think about the underlying reasons for teaching music. “I fear there are too many teachers who don’t have the time or support to stop and question why we are doing what we are doing,” Smith said. “We have stood on the shoulders of giants in defending music education. Just a short 25 years ago, music was not even a guarantee in public education. We must take what the generations before us did and continue having a dialogue with young people if we are going to promote music education as a viable course of study—not because of the extraneous benefits it might add to the educational environment, but because music is something worthy of studying purely because it is music.”

Abramo added: “Pre-service and practicing educators need to have exposure to a variety of ideas. In collaboration with other educators, we are able to learn best practices and new ways of conceiving what the goals and aims of music education can and should be, and find new and interesting projects to explore.”

Neag School of Education Hosts 2014 Commencement

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DSC_0035The Neag School of Education recognized graduates from the Class of 2014 during two ceremonies the weekend of May 10-11. The Neag School undergraduate commencement took place at the Jorgensen Auditorium on Sunday, May 11. Commencement for Neag School graduate students, including sixth-year students, took place Saturday, May 10, at Gampel Pavilion.

The Graduate School commencement speaker was Liza Donnelly, political and cultural cartoonist best known for her work with The New Yorker for the past 39 years. In addition, her images have appeared in numerous other national publications, includingThe New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, The Nation, Audubon, Glamour, andGood Housekeeping.

The author of 15 books, Donnelly is a celebrated and highly sought-after speaker and artist. Donnelly has also curated numerous exhibitions, among them an exhibition of cartoons about women’s rights at the annual conference of Women Deliver.

DSC_0162The Neag undergraduate ceremony featured founder and executive director of Classes 4 Classes and Neag alumnus, Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis. Roig-DeBellis was the first grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary who saved the lives of 15 young students through her heroism and courage.

In her commencement address, she talked about recently speaking to college students across the U.S., which got her thinking, “What would I say to my former student self? OR more importantly, what would I have wanted someone to say to me?”

She congratulated the new graduates, who were starting out on their own personal journey, but that “they alone will choose the course for their lives.”

Roig-DeBellis reflected on her personal story, one of an educator, “Even before college and high school, I knew my purpose was to become a teacher, and that guided me in every choice and decision I made.”

“We know that when we are passionate about anything, it guides us in every decision and choice we make,” she continued. “For myself, that passion has always been working with children.”

She talked about her life-long passion to pursue teaching, and how happy she was teaching and beginning her seventh year teaching, which was her sixth year at Sandy Hook Elementary. “I had just gotten engaged over the summer and life and its possibilities seemed truly endless. I now felt very settled and confident in my teaching. The year was passing rapidly, filled with much excitement and anticipation.”

“On December 14, everything came to a screeching halt,” she explained to an audience captivated by her story. “The fragility of life was brought to the forefront in an instant. Life changed in mere minutes.”

“What began as a beautiful, peaceful, calm day, was forever changed,” she continued.

She thoughtfully described each second up to and including the tragedy, including how she kept the bathroom door locked until a policeman proved his identity by sliding his badge under the door. She didn’t want to risk opening the door to the wrong person. The policemen then unlocked the door, and 15 frightened first-graders and one brave teacher were greeted by a swat team.

“I will never know who was more surprised by the site they saw, us, or them,” she continued. “I can only imagine they believed they were rescuing one small child, not an entire class.”

After experiencing the tragedy, instead of living her life with such profound meaning, she is now left searching for it.

“Something that grew out of that day — that the world, not just our nation, but the world was sending things to our school and to my class specifically and my kids had everything — teddy bears, cupcakes,” she said. “And I said, ‘I need to take this time to teach my students that when you get, you have to give.’ Because that’s what ultimately makes our world a better place.”

As an outcome of her experience, the first grade teacher decided to create a human lesson. She started a new organization to give back to the community, a website called Classes 4 Classes. The goal of the organization is to teach children in America to have a genuine interest in the well-being of others, by providing a platform through which to actively engage them in social curriculum. By allowing students to choose whom they want to help and how, Classes 4 Classes gives nearly every class the opportunity to help others, according to the website.

She continued the commencement speech with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish to see in our world.” Trust me when I say, that YOU can make all the difference in our world! What better day is there than today to start?”

She concluded with sharing that it was an honor and she was truly grateful to share her story. “Your lives commence right now. From the bottom of my heart, I say to you: always know your own purpose, choose to have a positive perspective, overcome your hard times and choose hope, you can BE the change in our world,” Roig-DeBellis ended.

DSC_0104Prior to Rog-DeBellis’ speech, but before the close to 175 graduates received their diplomas, the platform party was introduced, and the Neag Alumni Society president offered a welcome. In addition, for the first time, a student speaker provided remarks.

Justis Lopez, who is studying to be a secondary history teacher, was selected through a committee to provide remarks.

Lopez began by welcoming honored guests and recognizing all the mothers on Mother’s Day, including his own proud mother.

“Our years at UConn can be likened to the seasons of life,” he reflected over his four years at UConn. “Each year brought about a change of new beginnings, as we transitioned from youth into young adults.

Lopez continued on to thank those who supported him along the way, “There are many things that we do not have control over in our lives, much of our past has been shaped by the hands of individuals who are here in this room supporting us today, and I would like to thank every one of them.”

The student teaching experience was a “beautiful struggle” for him and he poured his everything into that classroom and into those students, whom he will truly miss seeing everyday.

He finished by offering insights to his fellow graduates, “Be a person that enters into someone’s life for a reason, to help them better understand the seasons.”

“And as we graduate to begin a new, I wish the same to all of you,” he concluded.

In addition to the student remarks, faculty member and University Teaching Fellow Dr. Jaci VanHeest was recognized with university-wide honors.

VanHeest is a UConn Teaching Fellow who, this year, was recognized by her students as an outstanding educator within the First Year Experience program. According to those whom she teaches, she is one of those inspiring role models that live every day to improve the lives of others. They highlight her level of dedication, determination, and concern that she has for all her students, she cheers those that are down, plans effective activities for learning, and finds time to let her students talk about their issues.

Her scholarship has been recognized by her other awards, but this one, nominated from the students themselves, focuses on the one major thing that our undergraduates expect. A dedication to achieve their success and growth. In that she wins hands down.

Dr. Mary Truxaw, another Neag faculty member who received university-wide honors, was recognized with a University Teaching Fellow award.

Truxaw’s teaching responsibilities include courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels and focuses predominantly on teacher education with an emphasis on mathematics education. In her teaching philosophy she states that “she is committed to instruction that challenges students while being sensitive to different learning needs and styles, as well as to cultural and linguistic diversity.”

Her departmental head comments that Truxaw’s accomplishments reflect her sincere commitment to excellence in teaching and research. She is a superb university instructor who consistently receives outstanding ratings from her students. One of whom writes “having her as a professor was truly an enjoyable experience. Her obvious passion and excitement for teaching made learning that much more exciting.”

Truxaw maintains a current research-based perspective of math education and instruction and her research findings appear in highly respected journals. She is a scholar of national importance in mathematics education and is held in high esteem by her peers.

Dr. Scott Brown was also recognized at Neag’s Commencement, by receiving the Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor award.

The Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor is the highest honor that the University bestows on faculty who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and service. Dr. Scott Brown is a professor of educational psychology and co-director of the GlobalEd 2 project, which has provided web-based STEM simulations to more than 3,000 middle school students.

He is recognized as an expert in learning and cognitive processing, specifically in the area of problem-based learning. His work in this area has addressed issues in Lyme disease education, scientific literacy in deaf and hearing impaired students, and promoting STEM education in students through international negotiations on the web through the GlobalEd 2 project.

His research has resulted in more than 120 scientific papers, book chapters, abstracts, and proceedings, in addition to two books, a monograph, and more than 250 conference presentations and addresses to professional groups. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education have funded his work for more than $12 million during his career at UConn.

Dr. Brown’s previous awards include the 2008 Outstanding Research Award from the Neag School of Education, the 2006 UConn Public Service and Engagement Program Award for the GlobalEd program, and the 2006 Thomas F. Donlon Award for Distinguished Mentoring from the Northeastern Educational Research Association.

A former head of the educational psychology department, he has also served as director of the Teachers for a New Era project and director of the Bureau of Educational Research and Service. He is also a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and the Association for Psychological Science.

After both ceremonies, graduates, family and friends were treated to receptions at the Gentry Building, offering a time for celebration and reflection.

To view slideshows from both days, visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/neagschool.

 

Innovative Exhibits Provide Insights Into Museum Curating, Weather’s Impact on WWII

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Recent Neag graduate, Joe Williamson, shares his insights on how he developed the historic content for the museum display.
Recent Neag graduate, Joe Williamson, shares his insights on how he developed the historic content for the exhibit display at UConn’s Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. (Photo: Shawn Kornegay, Neag School)

Neag School of Education history education faculty and students are responsible for two innovative exhibits currently on display in two parts of the state: “Behind the Scenes: Museum Footnotes” at the Fairfield Museum and History Center and “Snow, Sand, & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII” at the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History on UConn’s Storrs campus.

Designed to encourage viewers to explore and critically consider how items are chosen by museums to tell a story, “Behind the Scenes: Museum Footnotes” provides embedded footnotes for 14 of the items featured in the Fairfield Museum’s “Creating Community: Exploring 375 Years of Our Past.” Accessed through a QR code scanned with a smartphone, the footnotes include not just an explanation of how and why the objects were chosen, but a series of interactive questions. For those who don’t have smartphones, paper copies of the footnotes and questions are available.

Neag Associate Professor Alan Marcus, author of “Teaching History with Museums: Strategies for K-12 Social Studies” among other similar works, believes the exhibit represents the first partnership of its kind between museum staff and educators in the U.S.

“One of the many important skills we need to teach students is how to evaluate sources and the trustworthiness of the information they’re receiving,” said Marcus, who spearheaded the project with Fairfield Museum Education Director Christine Jewell. “Like historic films, museum exhibits provide a view into the past, but we need to remember that when we view these works, we’re seeing not ‘the’ view of the past, but ‘a’ view of the past. Like moviemakers make decisions on how to best to bring historic events like slavery and the Civil War to life on the screen, museum curators make decisions about what items to include, what items to put up front and highlight, and what items to not include at all.”

The Museum Footnotes project makes this process transparent, Marcus continued, encouraging students, especially, to consider how curators constructed the past they’re viewing. The interactive questions also encourage and allow students to take a more active role in their learning.

Data captured will allow Marcus and the Neag students who’ve been working with him on this project to examine—and, ideally, better understand—how students used their smartphones as part of the learning process. These Neag students include Department of Educational Psychology doctoral student Jennifer Kowitt and master’s student Michael Stroneski, who’s training to teach social studies.

An addition benefit is that teachers who bring classes to visit can receive a follow-up email from the museum that shows students’ responses to the smartphone questions.

Neag alumnus Ashley Sullivan, who teaches history at Ridgefield HS, used her smartphone to review the footnotes while attending a special preview with fellow Neag history education majors at the Fairfield Museum.
Neag alumnus Ashley Sullivan, who teaches history at Ridgefield HS, used her smartphone to review the footnotes while attending a special preview with fellow Neag history education alums at the Fairfield Museum. (Photo: Shawn Kornegay, Neag School)

Having students use their phones as part of the school day requires, in most school systems, advance parent permission slips and instructions on how to download free QR code scanning apps. But the potential results, Marcus believes, is well worth the effort.

“Kids love their phones, so why not use them as part of learning, when they can be used so effectively?” Marcus said. “Smartphones use will allow us to capture students’ real-time reactions to what they’re taking in. Teachers can then use that collected data have rich follow-up conversations in the classroom.”

Jewell continued:”This kind of critical thinking and inquiry is at the heart of common core standards and makes this exhibit a real learning opportunity. The footnotes provide an important, added dimension, showing how finances, politics, societal pressure, personal preference and other factors influenced the final product. They show that an educational exhibit may not necessarily be an objective one.”

Marcus said he hopes the success of the Neag-Fairfield Museum partnership will encourage similar collaborations.

“Snow, Sand & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII” also includes footnotes.

Created by students in the Neag School’s history teacher education program in collaboration with staff from the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, the exhibit explores the role weather and geography played in World War II military strategy and battle outcomes, as well as how it impacted civilians. Military leaders worked hard not just to limit the challenges geography and weather caused, but to take advantage of them.

“The exhibition is the culmination of three years of effort by the students to explore WWII from multiple perspectives and to study museum education,” said Marcus, who served as faculty advisor for the project. “The students visited WWII sites and museums in Europe, participated in workshops with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and took related coursework. This exhibit is an expression of their growth and development as historians and teachers.”

Divided into seven display panels, each section is anchored by a guiding question detailing a specific aspect of the war. Students worked with museum staff member Collin Harty, who oversees exhibit and communication design. “Collaboration with Connecticut State Museum of Natural History staff provided a wonderful learning experience for the students,” Marcus added. “They received hands-on training that enhanced their understanding of how museum staff create exhibitions and helped them think about how to use, and collaborate with, museums in their future roles as history teachers.”

The Connecticut Museum of Natural History also helped fund the Fairfield “Behind the Scenes: Museum Footnotes” project.

“We’re hoping that one of the results of these efforts is that they change the way people approach museums and make them part of their curriculums,” Marcus said.

For more information about “Snow, Sand, & Strategy: The Impact of Weather & Geography on WWII,” visit http://ww2weathergeography.weebly.com or call (860) 486-4460. The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.

For more information about “Behind the Scenes: Museum Footnotes” and “Creating Community: Exploring 375 Years of Our Past,” visit http://www.fairfieldhistory.org or call (203) 259-1598. The Fairfield Museum and History Center is open daily from 10 am to 4 pm.

 

Reflections From a Recent Graduate

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DSC_3471Melody Li graduated last month with a master’s degree in Sport Management from the Neag School of Education. She recently reflected on her time as a student at UConn.

Why did you decide to attend graduate school at UConn?

I wanted to go to a top-level U.S. university with a solid academic sport management program and strong NCAA Division I athletics. New England is also at the similar latitude of my hometown area in northeastern China, so I thought the weather and the landscape would be similar. Connecticut is also close to cities like New York City and Boston with rich sports cultures, which I wanted to experience.

Why did you want to study sport management?

I grew up in a community where academic achievements surpassed everything and playing sports was only for boys. With huge academic pressure and limited access to athletics, I never played a sport growing up. Pursuing a career in sports wasn’t anything I even imagined. Then in 2008, as a junior broadcast journalism major at the Communications University of China, Beijing Olympics Broadcasting, the company that produced live radio and television coverage for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, came to my school to recruit students for the games.

I became the broadcast liaison officer for tennis and was kept to work as a broadcast liaison officer for track and field for the Paralympics. The experience opened my eyes to a brand new world and made me fall in love with working in sports. After graduation, I started to think about combining my journalism background with sports. This led me to opportunities in China with the Asian Games, China Open professional tennis tournament and Harlem Globetrotters tours. After three years, I thought it was time for me to pursue a secondary degree in sport management. I decided to come to the U.S., where professional and amateur sports markets are well developed, so I could incorporate what I learned back into China’s growing sports market.

What was the biggest challenge attending school in the U.S.?

The biggest challenge at first was juggling a completely different academic life as a graduate student, while adjusting to new living environments. There was some culture shock. The second biggest thing I’m about to experience will happen when I move back to China. I will need to readjust my way of thinking and lifestyle. I also need to find ways to translate the knowledge and experience I gained in the U.S. to a different business approach in China. Life is all about change and how you handle it. My time in the U.S. has made me mentally stronger to face any changes and challenges.

I recently read an article that said recognition in adult learning occurs when the new knowledge or skills are applied, which might occur hours, days, months or even years after a learning event. I totally agree. For now, I cannot truly measure what ways my experiences in the U.S. have changed me. I’ll discover them in the coming months and years.

What did you like most about attending a university in the U.S.?

Experiencing an established higher education system that encourages freedom, creativity and independence; provides easy access to resources, services and opportunities; and is dedicated to creating an engaging and enriching campus life.

Who has been your favorite professor here and why?

My favorite class in my major was Dr. Jennifer Bruening’s “Sport in Society,” which focused on sports as a social and cultural phenomena. My favorite elective course was Dr. Richard Dino’s “Opportunity Generation, Assessment and Promotion.” It’s about how to identify, evaluate, and shape new business opportunities through a comprehensive assessment framework. The most important thing I took away is to not only have an entrepreneurship spirit in business, but also in life.

What was the adjustment like when you first arrived?

In China, I lived in cities with millions of people. Living here in a small town was far different. Not having sufficient public transportation was definitely a challenge the first few months. Though speaking English was never a challenge, I still felt it difficult to fully embrace conversations, especially when phrases, jokes, movies and other American cultural icons were mentioned. It was also challenging to change my diet.

You worked a few internships while attending school here. Where did you work and what was your role?

My first internship was shadowing Event Services staff at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. It was a fantastic experience to see how different events in a state-of-the-art arena were staged, such as going from a basketball arena, to a reggae concert, and then to a WWE ring.

My second internship was working in Marketing/Communications at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Tennis Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, RI. I had the opportunity to see how a professional tennis tournament was organized in the U.S., as well as how the new class of hall of famers was celebrated. I got to see my childhood idol Martina Hingis being inducted, which was a memorable moment.

My third internship was working as a graduate intern with Event Operations at UConn Athletics. It was great to see how Division I college sports home games were operated. There is not a well-established college sport system in China, so it was a great opportunity for me to experience that.

What will you miss most when you leave UConn?

I will certainly miss the beautiful Storrs campus, the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion where I spent many nights working on basketball home games, and all the other sports fields that I worked on. I will also miss the BodyWise fitness studio and Diary Bar ice cream.

What have been some of your favorite memories?

I’ve loved the UConn pride, especially when the men’s and women’s basketball teams won the double national championships this year. It was something beyond words to describe.

What were your favorite foods while living here?

I’m glad I found guacamole. We don’t have avocados in China. I’m proud that I make great guacamole now, at least according to my friends. I found anything with avocado in it, even in sushi, makes it more delicious.

What are your plans after graduation?

I’m actively looking for sports marketing communications opportunities in U.S. and Asian countries. With the aim to become a global player in the sports industry, I hope to work for an international sports organization in which I can fully incorporate my bilingual communications skills, my China/U.S. work experience and the sport management knowledge and skill set I gained from UConn.

Neag Professor Scott Brown Named UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor

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Scott Brown, professor of educational psychology, co-founder of the international social studies simulation for middle school students, Global Ed2. (Al Ferreira for UConn)
Scott Brown, professor of educational psychology, co-founder of the international social studies simulation for middle school students, Global Ed2. (Al Ferreira for UConn)

He’s been described by former students and colleagues as “a presence that truly inspires,” “king of the teachable moment” and among the top scholars in his field. Now, Educational Psychology Professor Scott W. Brown is also known as a UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor.

Internationally known, Dr. Brown was one of three professors to recently receive this award, the highest honor given to a UConn faculty member. Economics professor Kathleen Segerson and sociology professor Nancy A. Naples were the other recipients.

Designed to recognize exceptional distinction in scholarship, teaching and service to both the university and community, the award to Brown represents “a body of 34 years of work” at UConn’s Neag School Education, which he could not have done alone.

“It’s an award I’ve always thought was far out of reach, because so much of the work I do is behind the scenes,” said Brown, who among other degrees holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Syracuse University. “I came to UConn as an assistant professor fresh out of grad school and never left, because every year I watched the university get better and better, until today it’s an international powerhouse. My colleagues and students are great, and over the years, UConn has allowed me to take advantage of opportunities and grow right along with it.”

A leader in learning and cognitive processing, Brown’s most recent accomplishments include work as one of the creators of the web-based GlobalEd2 (GE2) simulation program, which since 1998 has led to significant improvements in writing abilities, critical and scientific thinking, leadership and problem solving in the more than 13,000 middle schoolers from 14 states who’ve taken part in this interdisciplinary social studies game.

Also know for his work in Lyme disease education and scientific literacy in deaf and hearing impaired students, Brown’s research has led to him to write more than 120 scientific papers, three books and numerous abstracts and book chapters. He’s also presented at 250-plus conferences, advised 80 graduate students and, throughout his career, received more than $12 million in grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education and other agencies.

However, to former Neag School of Education doctoral student Kimberly Lawless, why Brown has devoted his life to education is what’s most noteworthy.

“Everything he does is motivated by his desire and unwavering commitment to make the lives of students better,” said Lawless, co-facilitator of GE2 and chair of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois – Chicago.

When Brown received tenure in 1986, he was praised for his enthusiasm, subject knowledge, communication skills and compassion, and described as a “gifted teacher.” To current Neag School Educational Psychology Department Head Del Siegle, all of these qualities are still true today.

“Dr. Brown doesn’t just teach how to effectively engage students, he does it. He walks the talk and practices what he preaches,” Siegle added. “And if he sees a better way for the university to do something, he’s willing to take risks and change practices. He has supervised innumerable independent studies to fill academic voids in students’ plans of study and, when a need arose, created new courses. His service to his field and UConn are unparalleled.”

A fellow of the American Educational Research Association and Association for Psychological Science, Brown’s service to UConn includes positions as director of the Teachers for a New Era project, director of the Bureau of Educational Research and Service and department head for Educational Psychology.

“When I look back and see the things that have helped make me successful, so many are linked to collaborations with colleagues in the Neag School and throughout the university,” said Brown. “What I’m most proud of, however, are the accomplishments of the students I’ve taught and worked with, particularly the exceptional graduate students I’ve watched grow into colleagues and established professors. I could work alone to move the field of educational psychology forward. But when all of us are working together, we can do so much more.”

Renowned Retired Math Professor Continues to Support Neag School

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Kathy Gavin, a former researcher in the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, will led a team of national experts to develop a new math curriculum for schools.
Kathy Gavin, a retired researcher in the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, still contributes her time and energy to the Neag School of Education.

“I’ve always loved seeing my students solve a problem. That ‘a-ha!’ moment is such a wonderful triumph for them and for me, too,” said Dr. M. Katherine Gavin, who dedicated her career to teaching and researching mathematics.

“To have students tell me that they were afraid to take my course, but fell in love with mathematics in the end, was wonderful, especially when those students will be future teachers who will influence their own students’ attitudes toward mathematics,” added Gavin, who in 2013 retired from UConn’s Neag School of Education. There, she served as an associate professor in residence in mathematics and math specialist at the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.

Gavin said she was inspired to enter education by her high school math teachers. Later, at UConn, she turned her determination to “ignite a love of mathematics” into two nationally renowned projects—Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds and Project M2: Mentoring Young Mathematicians.

Serving as the projects’ principal investigator and project director, she led a team of mathematics education experts from throughout the U.S. to develop new mathematics materials focused on advanced thinking skills and student-centered learning for talented math students in grades K-5, especially those from low-income and minority backgrounds.

Today, the educational materials produced from the projects are widely used in all 50 states and internationally, with Gavin and her team receiving the National Association for Gifted Children’s Distinguished Curriculum Award for nine consecutive years.

“Kathy has distinguished herself by compiling a remarkable record of both scholarly publications and national and international presentations,” said former Neag colleague  Joseph S. Renzulli, director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. “Kathy’s work has both the scholarly respect and the practical applications for influencing real and lasting changes, and in this regard her contributions are recognized as the ‘gold standard’ in mathematics education.”

A Neag alumna with a Ph.D. in educational psychology focused on gifted and talented education, Gavin has been actively involved in philanthropic support for the Neag School since her retirement.

“It is a wonderful and exciting time for the school as we try to expand our programs and research agendas in a wide variety of field,” Gavin said. “The Neag School is fully dedicated and engaged in helping students learn, and in making our students the best teachers they could possibly be. I’m glad to contribute to the effort in extending our research into all areas of the state and becoming even better.”

Besides providing philanthropic support, Gavin has been collaborating with current faculty in continued research on mathematics education for gifted and talented students. Her paper “Examining the Effects of Gifted Programming in Mathematics and Reading Using the ECLS-K,” co-written with Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment associate professor Betsy McCoach and former UConn doctoral student Jill Adelson, won the 2013 Gifted Child Quarterly Research Paper of the Year. Adelson is now an assistant professor at the University of Louisville.

Continuing to work with colleagues on Project M3 and Project M2, Gavin recently published “Nurturing Young Student Mathematicians” with Neag School Assistant Professor Tutita M. Casa. The paper outlines the philosophy, literature and best practices in the fields of gifted and mathematics education. She and her team are also creating and field testing three new mathematics education units.

“In order to thrive in our increasingly technological and global society, we need to develop creative leaders who are able to grapple with complex problems and figure out innovative ways to solve them,” Gavin said. “We need to continue to recognize and develop mathematical talent, as well as to challenge and engage students in every mathematics class, as they will be the future innovators and problem solvers of the world.”

Gavin continues to teach at UConn’s Confratute – Summer Institute for Enrichment Teaching and Learning, as well as provides professional development for teachers in districts around the country. She believes that raising both the expectations and capabilities of teachers will “have a more lasting effect on students for years to come.” A member of the state Department of Education Committee charged with helping develop standards for early childhood math education, Gavin is the author of Identifying and Nurturing Math Talent (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education) and co-author of the middle school textbook series Math Innovations. She is the recipient of the Neag School of Education’s 2012 Distinguished Researcher Award. When not working, Gavin enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially her four grandchildren.

“Being able to work with teachers and help them see that young students can do so much more in mathematics meant a great deal to me. I’m glad to hear from so many teachers that they will never go back to their old way of teaching.” Gavin said.

To learn more about Gavin and her work, visit this video.

International Creativity Expert Views Move to UConn as ‘Too Good to be True’

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James Kaufman, professor of educational psychology and an internationally recognized expert on creativity. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
James Kaufman, professor of educational psychology and an internationally recognized expert on creativity. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Creative people don’t just become best-selling novelists, Tony Award-winning composers, or world-renowned painters. Some become inspiring leaders, innovative entrepreneurs, and students’ favorite teachers.

Neag professor of educational psychology Dr. James C. Kaufman is an internationally recognized expert on how each individual’s creativity can be tapped in a multitude of settings. One of his primary focuses is on breaking down the preconception that creativity belongs only in the arts.

“Creative people tend to be happier, funnier, sexier, and more successful, and use their creativity to cope with stress and even heal themselves after a trauma,” says Kaufman, who last fall left California State University to join the Neag School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology as part of UConn’s faculty hiring initiative.

Prior to his move to Storrs, Kaufman spent 11 years at California State’s San Bernardino campus, serving as founding director of its Learning Research Institute, and earning tenure within the Department of Psychology. He is a well known and much sought-after expert in all areas of creativity, including its assessment, fairness, and link to mental health.

Despite his ties to California, Kaufman says the opportunity to work with fellow creativity scholars and Neag professors Jonathan Plucker in the Department of Educational Leadership and Ronald Beghetto in Educational Psychology was too good to miss. Already co-collaborators on several books, journal articles, and other projects, the “three amigos,” as Kaufman describes them, had often imagined what they might accomplish if they were ever on the same campus.

“There is no real ego when the three of us work together,” Kaufman says.

Creativity across disciplines

One of the first areas they plan to look at is how creativity as a field can reach across disciplines with the goal of shared knowledge.

“Scholars tend to work in silos. In psychology, education, business, neuroscience, humanities, computer science – all of us speak our own jargon, and publish in our own journals, but too often we don’t know how to speak to each other,” says Kaufman, outgoing president of the American Psychological Association’s Division 10, which is devoted to creativity and art. “Part of our research will focus on creating a framework – to develop a domain and culture – that allows us to see how each discipline uses creativity, and then how to use it to best speak each other’s languages.”

He and Beghetto, who came to the Neag School last year from the University of Oregon, along with Plucker, have also begun to outline a series of studies for grant proposals that would allow them to take advantage of UConn’s extensive research resources.

“We have so many top-notch people at UConn, and the range of available experts means we can look at sides of creativity that haven’t been explored before, involving people in disciplines like business and engineering, who are excited to see how we can use creativity to help them move their field forward,” Kaufman said. “We’ll also be focused on how to inspire teachers to be creative, as well as how teachers can inspire their students to be creative, too.”

His responsibilities this semester include teaching doctoral students in the Neag School’s Gifted and Talented Education program. Breaking the stereotype that being creative is something only those drawn to the fine or performing arts can do is also something he is tackling both inside and outside the classroom: “Everybody has the ability to be creative. If you take a critical look at creative performance, no difference can be attached to race, culture, privilege, or background. The capacity to be creative is universal, though those who have positive views of their ability to be creative tend to be more so.”

A graduate of the University of Southern California and Yale University, Kaufman will continue his work as editor of the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture. He and Beghetto are also writing a book on ways elementary, middle school, and secondary teachers can use creativity to better teach Common Core requirements.

“One of the things I want to show in all my work is how creativity is related to many of the things we care about, like success and happiness,” Kaufman says. “One of the many wonderful aspects of it is that everybody has the same potential to be creative, and if we can successfully identify specific elements associated with being creative in different domains, we can begin to help and guide people toward better tapping into their own. There’s so much to this field.”

 

Neag School Expands Global Outreach to Jordan with New Educational Leadership Program

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Diane Ullman (pictured on the left) welcomed Mary Tadros to UConn as part of the program's facilitation.
Diane Ullman (pictured on the left) welcomed Mary Tadros to UConn as part of the program’s facilitation.

Schools in Jordan and throughout the Middle East will soon be led by administrators as confident and knowledgeable as those who have graduated from the Neag School of Education’s highly rated University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP).

As part of a recently announced partnership with the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) in Jordan, Neag Educational Leadership faculty will help develop a program and training materials for QRTA staff to use to teach administrators from local and international schools. Led by UCAPP Director Diane D. Ullman, the effort will focus on putting “UCAPP’s best content and concepts into Arabic and a Middle Eastern context.”

“One of the primary commonalities I see in education throughout the world is that successful schools have successful principals,” said Dr. Ullman. “Good principals encourage teachers and unleash their full potential. They create a community where teachers learn from one another.”

In addition to developing the curriculum, Neag faculty will train QRTA staff how to best present the materials. This process will begin in July 2014 when Neag faculty will begin teaching the curriculum to private schools in the region. In the near future the QRTA staff will be prepared to bring the curriculum to the public schools in Jordan

Recognized as one of the top educational leadership programs in the U.S., UCAPP provides courses in educational policy, curriculum leadership and program evaluation for school improvement, supervision and evaluation among other areas.

The Neag School- QRTA collaboration was announced in September, when Ullman presented a “School Leaders Promoting Excellence in Teaching” workshop to 100 school administrators from Jordan and several other Middle Eastern countries.

“Dr. Ullman shows the undeniable connection between good leadership and good teaching, and that coaching goes hand in hand with successful classroom instruction,” said Muna Fityani, communications officer for QRTA. The school was founded in 2009 with the help of Jordan’s Queen Rania to provide training and networking opportunities, professional development, and information about the latest educational research and policies to Middle Eastern school leaders.

As part of her visit to Jordan, Ullman outlined UCAPP courses and introduced several new and proven leadership techniques, including the need for teachers to be observed by principals and receive construction feedback on classroom performance. She also stressed the essentialness of schools establishing an environment of trust.  The latter, Ullman said, is a concept that’s rarely been explored by educational leaders in the region.

“Principals need to know how teaching and learning occur, as well as have the ability to inspire and lead,” Ullman said. “It’s a much broader role than many people think, but we’re fortunate at the Neag School to have outstanding instructors that are among the best practitioners anywhere. It’s exciting to know they’ll now be sharing their knowledge and passion for educational leadership to help principals, and other school leaders, from around the world. Through this partnership, the Neag School becomes an even stronger global presence.”

Talks of a collaboration began in 2011, when Ullman—a commissioner for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges—met QRTA Academic Program Advisor Mary Tadros on a trip to evaluate an international school in Germany.

“After we work with Dr. Ullman to create a wholesome leadership program that we can develop to suit local needs, we hope to roll out the program to countries throughout the region,” Tadros said.

Added an equally thrilled Ullman: “This partnership will provide an opportunity for Neag faculty to broaden their international perspective on issues, strategies and practices. And who knows where it may lead. This work could be a doorway into an even more robust cross-cultural educational leadership exchange between our two organizations.”