Book Provides Strategies for Inspiring Underachieving Students

Posted on September 24, 2013February 17, 2023 by

del's book small It takes extra time and effort for teachers to learn what subjects their students are passionate about and then create lessons that tie in to those interests. But the link between student interest and performance is undeniable, said Neag School of Education professor and teaching fellow Del Siegle, Ph.D.

“Numerous studies show the one element that’s always linked to classroom success is interest,” said Siegle, who at UConn teaches graduate courses in gifted education, creativity and research design. “Students pay better attention and work harder when they care about the topic that’s being presented and are shown how it relates to their life.”

Most educators are aware of this fact, Siegle said, yet too few consistently put it into practice. The result is many talented students not giving their all, or achieving their potential, in school.

Siegle’s book The Underachieving Gifted Child: Recognizing, Understanding, and Reversing Underachievement provides educators and parents with a comprehensive overview of why bright students may underachieve, as well as how teachers can make lessons more engaging. Written in straightforward, easy-to-understand language, the book is available in paperback and electronic form.

“It’s important to note that in the past, IQ scores were used to determine whether a child was ‘gifted,’ but now we know that ‘giftedness’ comes in many forms and involves more things than just intelligence,” said Siegle, past president of the National Association of Gifted Children and coeditor of the Journal of Advanced Academics. “Some people are gifted leaders, some people are gifted in music, some people are gifted in math or language. Everyone has talent of some kind, and I believe one of our responsibilities as educators is to help identify and bring out each child’s individual talent.”

The importance of good work habits, an explanation of the various ways children underachieve, and suggestions of how parents and teachers can help students develop their abilities are among the many topics Siegle tackles in the The Underachieving Gifted Child. Woven into recent research findings are also effective, proactive strategies that can be used at school and home, said Siegle. Advice includes:

* Find out what kids are interested in, and then link their interests to lessons at school. “This is probably the single most important step. Every piece of evidence proves that kids pay attention, work hard and do better when lessons are meaningful and tie into their lives,” he said.

* Help kids set short- and long-term goals. Establish benchmarks, give direction, document progress and celebrate success. “Success builds confidence and makes students want to achieve more,” he said.

* Avoid -est words like greatest, quickest, smartest or fastest. “If they’re the best, there’s no room for improvement,” Siegle said. Students should always feel that they can grow and achieve even more, and that they aren’t already as good as they’ll ever be.

* Model the reality that success requires effort. Rather than complain about struggles at work, parents should share their successes.

“Kids need to understand that success isn’t something that just happens—it’s something they have to make happen,” Siegle added. “For some, learning comes easy. But most people have to work at it. And everyone loses when talented isn’t nurtured. One of the kids sitting in a classroom today may have inside them the ability to cure cancer or find a world-changing alternate energy source. Not nurturing talent doesn’t just lead to personal loss, but societal loss.”

Come Home to UConn and Show Your True Husky Spirit! Go Huskies!

Posted on September 24, 2013December 8, 2021 by Shawn Kornegay

Homecoming image The UConn Alumni Association invites you to reconnect with UConn during Homecoming 2013. All alumni, families, and friends are welcome during this weeklong celebration. The festivities include such traditions as the Homecoming Parade and the Annual Student Lip Sync contest. The excitement and momentum build toward the game against University of South Florida and the HuskyTown Tailgate and BBQ on Saturday, Oct. 12.

At HuskyTown, be sure to stop the Neag School of Education tent for a free coffee at the coffee bar, enter a drawing for a Neag Swag Bag, get your free Neag drawstring sportspack (while supplies last), enjoy activities for the kids and lots of other cool stuff! We hope to see you there! Questions on the Neag School tent, contact robyn.wilgis@uconn.edu.

For more information on UConn Homecoming and to RSVP, visit here. For pictures from last year’s Neag tent, visit here.

Neag Adult Learning Expert Puts Focus on Farms

Posted on September 23, 2013February 17, 2023 by

Indian farmer in groundnut farm. Photo credit: ThinkStock

As the work of Associate Professor Sandy Bell (’94 Ph.D. in adult and vocational education) well illustrates, effective adult learning just doesn’t occur in classrooms. It occurs in barns, corn fields and even on East African groundnut farms.

The latter accomplishment— achieved by a UConn Adult Learning Program doctoral student Bell oversaw—is one of the most recent examples of how Neag School of Education faculty and students have used their expertise to make a difference not just in Connecticut and the United States, but throughout the world. It also shows how Bell is coupling her lifelong interest in farming with her expertise in adult learning to help farmers improve their practices, possibilities and profits.

Recognized as a leading expert in the field, Bell’s current work includes affiliations with agricultural extension educators and researchers at UConn, the University of New Hampshire and USDA’s Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. She’s also one of 11 educators and researchers, from six New England states, collaborating to earn a federal grant that will support developing effective ways to teach local farmers how to adopt food safety practices that will allow them to expand their market to schools, hospitals and other sites that require vendors to meet certain USDA certification requirements.

“Some small-scale and organic farmers feel that certification requirements place an undue burden on them, particularly in terms of record keeping and employee training. Some may even feel that their practices and their produce are already as safe as possible,” Bell said. “Our group wants to better understand how attitudes like these may get in the way of learning and find ways to show hardworking farmers how they can conveniently incorporate USDA requirements into their practices, so it becomes a win-win for everyone.”

Her role in a research study designed to help agricultural extension providers better meet the needs of East African groundnut farmers was part of a recently published article. The piece in the Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension outlines the efforts she, doctoral student Mary Thuo, Agricultural and Resource Economics Professor Boris Bravo-Ureta, PhD, and others undertook to identify how the groundnut farmers learned about new seed varieties and design educational processes to help farmers increase productivity.

For a country like Uganda, where the majority of people depend on farming for both cash and food, learning new best practices can lead to much more than higher profits. It can lead to a significantly improved quality of life.

“We’ve had several agricultural extension professionals from Africa come to UConn to earn graduate degrees and gain the knowledge needed to go back and help farmers learn new approaches. Maybe even more importantly,” said Bell, “these students gain research and leadership skills to develop training programs for other extension educators so that they can look at the specific challenges farmers face, and then create the most effective learning processes to help them meet those challenges.”

“People generally don’t realize just how far-reaching our adult learning program can be,” continued Bell, who several years ago recognized that for growing concepts like conservation and sustainability to be put into practice, those championing the causes would need to know how to best communicate with, and teach, other adults.

Dr. Bell provides instruction to students in her adult learning class. Photo credit: UConn

As program coordinator of the Neag School’s Adult Learning Program (part of the Department of Educational Leadership), it’s Bell job to keep track of the roughly 30 students who, at any one time, are working toward a graduate certificate or degree. Students come from a variety of disciplines, including human resources, health care and technology.

Like Thuo, who worked in agricultural extension in her home land of Kenya before coming to UConn, some have agriculture service backgrounds and are eager to take advantage of Bell’s experience and the wide variety of research and outreach education opportunities offered through UConn’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension System.

“At one time, there was a huge void in agricultural education in terms of adult learning,” Bell explained. “It’s still not completely filled, but there’s now a small, solid core of us working to help agricultural and environmental experts effectively share information and support people in changing their behaviors in ways that enhance profits but also protect the environment. What’s unique about adult learning is that the general principles don’t change across disciplines—just the examples you choose to make the learning meaningful. It’s exciting to make a difference—especially in agriculture, where I have so much respect for farmers and the dedication of farmer educators.”

New Hires Unleash Opportunity for Leading Growth and Change

Posted on September 23, 2013February 17, 2023 by

DSCN7221 vertical crop copy In 2012, UConn President Susan Herbst announced an ambitious hiring plan to recruit and hire faculty who would have a significant impact on research, scholarship, and funding within and across schools and colleges at the university. As a result of this hiring initiative the Neag School of Education is now home to 17 new faculty—a mix of junior and senior faculty and recognized across the nation as top scholars in the field of education and workforce development.

Combining the Neag School ‘s outstanding new faculty hires with the school’s already nationally recognized faculty, and the possibilities of what the Neag School will accomplish with respect to meaningful, nationwide education reform are endless.

Building upon our strong reputation, the Neag School is poised to move to the next level—a level that will bring national prominence and stature to the Neag School.

“We have an incredible opportunity to re-envision how we move forward as a school as well as providing a leading voice to the national conversation about complex issues impacting the education community,” said Thomas C. DeFranco, Dean of the Neag School.

A pathway to accomplish this goal will involve administration, faculty, and staff in the development of a new trans-disciplinary academic vision that will allow Neag School faculty to work collaboratively in research teams with faculty across the school, the university and the nation. These teams will develop and study important research questions—questions that have national impact in education, and research and grant funding will coalesce around important themes such as, teacher and administrator preparation and effectiveness, evaluation, policy and advocacy, genomics, and creativity, emerging technologies and creativity and innovation in education, equity and social justice in education, STEM education and closing the achievement gap.

“Today, within the Neag School we are creating a new culture of intellectual curiosity, a culture that will value the generation of new and innovative ideas in the advancement of education and the workplace,” DeFranco explained.

It is envisioned that over time the Neag School will develop an Education Think Tank whose purpose is to become a leader in innovation and galvanize scholars across the nation to develop the next big ideas in education.

The Neag School team’s growth and efforts also have the potential to bring even greater national prominence and stature to the Neag School and UConn. Currently, the Neag School is nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report as 17th among all public education graduate schools, and 28th among all private and public graduate schools of education. Further, specialty programs such as Elementary and Secondary Teacher Preparation, and Special Education, are ranked 18th and 12th respectively among over 1000 teacher preparation programs in the nation. Also, the Neag School’s Kinesiology Doctoral Program is leading the nation, currently ranked at No. 1.

“As a school we’re poised to move to the next level,” DeFranco said. “We believe that through our broad vision, our investment in faculty and a new research infrastructure system, we will provide a leading voice to the national conversation about complex issues impacting the education community.”

“Our goal will be to partner with leading experts from various backgrounds and from universities across the nation to study large research questions and ultimately make a positive difference in the lives of child and adults in Connecticut and throughout the nation.”

$3.5 Million Grant Allows UConn’s GlobalEd2 to Expand Learning and its Reach

Posted on September 23, 2013February 17, 2023 by

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

A $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences will allow more than 8,000 Connecticut and Illinois middle schoolers to experience the same kind of significant improvements in writing abilities, critical and scientific thinking, leadership, and problem solving that the 5,000 students who’ve already participated in UConn’s GlobalEd2 (GE2) program have achieved.

“We’re thrilled because one of the many results of the pilot program was the elimination of the academic gap that, at the start, existed between African-American and Latino students from low-income, urban schools and their Caucasian, suburban counterparts,” said Scott Brown, Ph.D., professor of Educational Psychology at UConn’s Neag School of Education, who co-facilitates GE2 in partnership with Kimberly Lawless, Ph.D. A graduate of the Neag School’s Educational Psychology doctoral program, Lawless teaches and serves as chair of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois – Chicago. “If we have the same kind of amazing response during this next phase, there’s a real possibility we can take GE2 nationwide.

Using technology available in most schools, GE2 is a computerized, interdisciplinary, problem-based social studies game that requires classrooms to represent assigned countries and—via secure online simulations, monitored emails and other internet-based interactions—work with other “countries” to find solutions for water shortages, climate change, the spread of dangerous and contagious illnesses and other contemporary, real-world science-based problems.

Monitored by Neag doctoral students experienced in international relations, GE2 students are assigned writing tasks, questions and problems designed to educate them about their country’s geography, government, economics, culture, health challenges and human rights issues. They then need to not just come up with a solution for the science-based crisis they’ve been assigned, but develop a multi-national agreement.

“One of the best parts is that most of the kids want to do it because it’s fun,” Brown added. “In many respects, it’s like video gaming—and when you’re able to come up with a hard-to-find solution or negotiate a deal with another country, it’s exciting. For educators, it’s an empowering and innovative way to transfer knowledge, engage students in meaningful learning, and meet demands for improved literacy, math and science skills.”

Funds from the federal grant will be used to conduct an efficacy study over the next four years to track the academic growth of seventh- and eighth-graders who take part in the 14-week GE2 program, versus those taught in a more traditional classroom setting. In early July, 20 Connecticut and Illinois teachers took part in the online training required for classrooms to participate in GE2. Next year, 36 more will do the same. Over the next four years, more than 6,000 students from Connecticut and Illinois will participate in GE2 simulations.

“The electronics and technology available today mean that we don’t need more than a handful of people to keep GE2 up and running for 56 classrooms or even more,” Brown said. “All the content is created in advance with the help of UConn and U of Illinois faculty, so students are making real decisions based on real data, and all our communications with them are virtual.”

Since its creation by Brown and UConn Political Science head Mark Boyer, Ph.D., in 1998, GE2 has been used by public school teachers in 14 states, two foreign countries and 35 Connecticut towns. Results from pre- and post-program evaluations of students include not just improved critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, but:

Increased interest in science and global issues
Greater ability to work collaboratively
Improved oral communications
Better understanding of technology for educational purposes

Perhaps most significant, Brown said, was the notable improvement of students’ “scientific literacy” and persuasive writing skills. Writing quality and self-efficacy scores of low-income, urban student participants in many cases doubled because they wrote for GE2 every week.

“The difference GlobalEd2 can make in writing is huge,” Brown said. “In most instances, by the end of the program, we can no longer use writing scores to tell which students are from low-income urban schools, and which are from affluent suburban ones, because we’ve closed the achievement gap, and their writing abilities are nearly the same. That’s pretty incredible and one of the many things we’re excited about.”

Also significant, Brown said, is that as students use GE2 to become decision makers, negotiators, researchers, inventors and community leaders, they learn about real countries, real governments and “some of the very real problems our world faces today.”

“We know that not all students will leave the program with an interest in science,” Brown continued. “But all of them will leave as better global citizens than they entered. Hopefully they’ll realize that and learn from GE2 the importance of being a good citizen. Issues like climate change and the need for alternative fuel sources don’t just affect some people, but all people, including them.”

Teacher Education Expert Suzanne Wilson Joins UConn Faculty

Posted on September 23, 2013December 2, 2019 by Tom Breen

Few topics in the world of education have as much resonance in the national conversation as the quality of the people entrusted with teaching American children: New standards, preparation, and evaluation methods for teachers are being discussed on an almost daily basis.

But Suzanne Wilson, a nationally renowned expert on teacher preparation and professional development who joined UConnʼs Neag School of Education as the Neag Endowed Professorship from Michigan State University, says thatʼs not an entirely novel development.

“Historically, weʼve gone through a number of periods where the public was concerned about the preparation of teachers,” she says. “You had it in the 1920s, in the 1930s, in the 1960s.”

Whatʼs new at this time, however, is the number of new institutions offering teacher preparation; the changes in school districts themselves, as models like charter schools become more common; and the unprecedented national pressure on schools. The result, Wilson says, is that the people under the microscope can start to feel overburdened.

“The accountability movement has hit education particularly hard, and has raised serious questions about what schools are actually for,” she says. “Itʼs one thing to say we want to hold everyone accountable, but itʼs another to decide what your standards and measurements are going to be. I think teachers have felt really besieged in holding onto what they feel is right for students.”

As the debate over schools and teacher evaluations continues, Wilson says itʼs important not to lose sight of whatʼs been proven successful in the best teacher preparation programs.

“Close, intimate, two-way relationships with the schools,” she says. “Schools are busy places, and so when somebody is becoming a teacher they really need to do it in a structured, protected way, and thatʼs what a good teacher preparation program will help you do. You donʼt want to throw a prospective teacher into a classroom and say, ʻSink or swim.ʼ But universities canʼt do a good job preparing teachers unless theyʼre working hand-in-hand with the people in the schools who see all the issues in education on a daily basis, including how quickly things change.”

Wilson comes to UConn from Michigan State University, where she was a University Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Teacher Education. She received her undergraduate degree in history and American Studies from Brown University, and also has a masterʼs degree in statistics and Ph.D. in education from Stanford University. Before joining MSU, she was the first director of the Teacher Assessment Project, which created prototypes used for assessments by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

“One of the things about UConn that struck me as really promising and exciting is that you have healthy collaboration and relationships with the disciplines outside the school of education,” she says. “The whole university is involved in teacher education, and thatʼs one hallmark of a high quality environment.”

Wilson comes to UConn at an auspicious time, shortly after the passage of landmark education legislation that created a role for the Neag School in helping to develop teacher evaluation models in the state. Wilson, whoʼs done research in Connecticut previously, says sheʼs looking forward to seeing how the state moves forward in the constantly changing realm of education policy.

“First, I just want to get to know UConnʼs programs and people, and I want to hang out in the schools of Connecticut, in the schools where new teachers are learning to teach,” she says. “Itʼs really going to be an interesting time in education not just in Connecticut, but around the country.”

For more information about professorships and supporting the Neag School of Education, contact Heather McDonald at (869) 486-4530 or hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu.

Neag School of Education’s Professor to Examine Teacher Evaluation in New Haven

Posted on September 22, 2013November 25, 2024 by

Morgaen Donaldson, an assistant professor of educational leadership at UConn’s Neag School of Education, has been awarded a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Education (NAEd) to study how incorporating student academic achievement in teachers’ performance evaluations affects teachers’ motivation and work behaviors.

Donaldson will focus her research and data gathering on New Haven’s large and diverse public school system, which according to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and others has as developed a “model” teacher evaluation system.

The study will be one of the first of its kind in the nation.

“Because of federal policies like Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind waiver requirements that target teacher performance as a primary lever for improving schools, more than 40 states have changed their laws in recent years to incorporate student achievement in teacher evaluations. Yet little published research examines the effects of doing this,” Donaldson explained. “My study will provide early findings about how those at the center of this reform – teachers – are responding to such changes, and how linking student achievement and teacher evaluation is influencing teachers’ attitudes, behaviors and effectiveness.”

Donaldson was one of just 20 educational fellows selected from a competitive pool of more than 200 applications, said NAEd Senior Program Officer Phillip Perin.

Now in its 27^th year, the NAEd fellowship program is designed to support early-career scholars whose research has the potential to make “significant” contributions to the fields of education and educational research.

“We believe the fellowships enhance the future of education research by developing new talent in the many disciplines and fields”, said Perin added.

A research associate at the Neag School’s Center for Policy Analysis, Donaldson has also studied the implementation of Connecticut’s new educator evaluation system, the effects of school organization and leadership on science achievement, and the trade-offs associated with different teacher evaluation instruments, among other areas. Her findings have been published in American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record, Educational Leadership, and other scholarly and practitioner journals.

A former urban public school teacher, Donaldson was a founding faculty member of the Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s public high school for the arts. She holds an Ed.D. and Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education and an A.B. from Princeton University.

Suzanne Saunders Taylor: A Leader and Advocate for Women

Posted on September 16, 2013December 27, 2016 by Shawn Kornegay

Forty years ago, Suzanne Taylor was one of the key players in getting the Commission on the Status of Women launched in Connecticut. Just a few years prior, in the summer of 1970, she completed a Ph.D. at UConn and at the same time became divorced and responsible for two children, ages 10 and 12. On Oct. 1, 2013, the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women will receive the prestigious award “One Woman Makes a Difference” to mark their four decades as the state’s leading force for women’s equality.

Along the way, she became involved in the women’s movement as she researched women’s history in education and studied attitudes toward women in leadership through her doctorate program. Taylor met and interacted with many women leaders who were—or would become—superintendents, law professors, university provosts, and other selected officials.

While experiencing personal discrimination in trying to gain access to credit and employment, she worked with women leaders who collectively believed that in order to gain equal rights for women, legislative action was required. They began to publish ALERT, Women’s Legislative Review, and lobbied to create the Commission on the Status of Women.

Her dissertation “Attitudes of Superintendents and Board Members in Connecticut Toward Employment and Effectiveness of Women as Public School Administrators” would serve as a grounded focus and inspiration for her and women around her. A fellow Ph.D. student, Mary Lou Bargnesi,’71, ‘75, replicated her research and went on to become a Connecticut schools superintendent. Taylor’s thesis did not gather library dust but was replicated in many other states over the ensuing years and reposes in Harvard yard by being included in the archives of Radcliffe College’s Murray Research Center.

Bargnesi, who at the time was one of just a few women on a career path in education administration, found Taylor’s work both instructive and dismaying learning that attitudes at the time (especially among women board members) were a little shy of Neanderthal.”

Bargnesi also found Taylor to be not just a good friend, but a source of support and knowledge: “She shared her expertise and experience generously, especially during early years when I basically knew nothing.”

Taylor considers herself fortunate to have worked in the College of Education Dean’s office with a noted school finance colleague, Harry Hartley, who later became president of UConn. She also found valuable inspiration from Professors Pritzkau and Gruhn as well as working with the former US Commissioner of Education, Sam Brownell. Taylor was the first woman to receive the Ph.D. in educational leadership.

Taylor’s professional career began at UConn where she received a BA with a major in English and a minor in Industrial Relations along with several courses in Landscape Architecture.

“Not allowed to be fully employed after she and her first husband adopted their two children she did go back to school and studied English at the University of Scranton and then moving back to Connecticut pursued an MS degree at Southern Connecticut State University. After graduating in 1965, she taught English and drama at a high school, where she also helped start a theater program. Then she left to become the director of the Lower School at Williams in New London which led her to starting the UConn Ph.D. program.

In 1972 with doctorate in hand, Taylor was hired as the first professional woman on the staff of the Connecticut Education Association (CEA). While directing the CEA’s research and retirement planning department, she became involved with providing educational data to state legislators as well as to members for use in collective bargaining. She also focused on women’s issues for teachers and sponsored a major conference on the status of women called the 51% Majority which was published by the National Education Association and headlined by Matina Horner, president of Radcliffe College.

She also focused on retirement issues and was granted a sabbatical where she spent a year at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania under the sponsorship of the Pension Research Council where she conducted major research on teacher retirement systems across the entire United States. Her work was subsequently published by Cornell University, ILR Press.

Following her career with CEA Taylor was hired as the executive director of the University of Rhode Island American Association of University Professors in 1992. She was familiar with the campus as she had been hired in 1988 as a full professor to teach a class on pensions and health insurance for the Labor Research Center. She continues teaching graduate students in the center and also continues doing research on pensions, health insurance, and retirement issues. She also practices what she preaches as she has chaired the town of Old Saybrook’s Pension and Benefits Board for more than the past 10 years. She is the author of a book on Health Insurance as well as a study of how faculty retire in the UK and US. She is invited to speak on these topics at various national conferences.

Taylor’s interest in equality for women continued throughout her various careers. Before retiring from her position as executive director at URI AAUP she was instrumental in resolving a major sex discrimination complaint against the URI College of Engineering. The settlement resulted in improved working conditions and support for female faculty and students. She continues her interest in women in higher education by serving on the national AAUP Committee for Women in the Academic Profession.

Her professional life is blessed with her marriage on March 17, 2001 to George R. Brown, a former UConn alum and trustee. They live in Old Saybrook, and are staunch supporters of both the athletic and art programs of UConn. Taylor is also a URI and a Connecticut Master Gardener. Taylor’s children continue to live in Storrs and her granddaughter will be married on the campus this fall.

Over the years, she’s been inspired by many women, and has had numerous women mentors, including Gail Shea (past UConn assistant provost), Sheila Tobias (past provost at Wesleyan), Audrey Beck (past state representative from Mansfield, CT), She is also listed in Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, edited by Barbara J. Love, University of Illinois Press, 2006.

Taylor’s mother, who was a nurse, was also inspirational, though she passed away when Taylor was only 30. Taylor became close to her aunt, Edna May Sole, who started her career as a teacher in 1921 in a rural school in Monroe, CT. Her aunt taught for 48 ½ years at Central Connecticut State University and held numerous leadership positions in local and statewide organizations.

Taylor’s aunt also fought throughout her life to protect the rights of women and children. Although she passed away in 1996, she and Taylor had a close relationship, and Taylor saw her as “not only inspirational, but a role model.” Forthcoming is a new book, edited by Taylor, about Edna May Sole and her late husband’s Williams College roommate, who became an Episcopalian monk.

Edna Mae Sole’s life was an extraordinary one as she married for the first time at the age of 45 and when her husband died 25 years later she renewed a friendship with his college roommate for the next 20 years. Their correspondence, letters to her from him and from her to him, is to be published as Love Letters to a Monk. The letters reveal their thoughts and friendship as they often met near and far in such places as: Santa Barbara, London, and even New York City as well as in Connecticut and at Williams College reunions. When Rev. Spencer was sent to Ghana in his 80s to teach seminarians the discussions are most intriguing. Taylor noted that she did not read the letters until after Aunt’s death, as she had been asked to keep track of them during her aunt’s later years. The book is well over 200 pages.

UConn, the Neag School of Education and women across Connecticut and Rhode Island are better due to the efforts of Taylor, sentiments that Taylor’s colleague and friend Bargnesi has repeated several times: “Suzanne is a genuine ‘true believer’ who’s never waivered from her efforts to do right by people for whom she was responsible. She was focused on her tireless work for women and for educators.”

Neag School of Education Unleashes Leadership with New Hires

Posted on September 9, 2013July 19, 2017 by Shawn Kornegay

In 2012, UConn announced plans to embark on an ambitious, multi-year hiring initiative. Seeking to strategically expand its faculty in key research and teaching areas, UConn is hiring 500 tenure-track faculty members over the next four years. The Neag School of Education is proud to be part of this effort, adding 17 new faculty members.

“The focus of our faculty hires is researching causes and consequences of the achievement gap, along with analyzing policy and researching solutions designed to close it,” said Dean Thomas C. DeFranco. “Additional faculty will help fulfill the school’s goal to promote program growth and stability.

New faculty members at the Neag School will help transform education.

Dorothea Anagnostopoulos – Associate Professor and Executive Director of Teacher Education

Anagnostopoulos brings proven leadership and experience working with students and educators in culturally and linguistically complex school systems. Extensively published, she comes to UConn from Michigan State University, where among other roles she directed the Chicago-based urban teacher preparation program. She taught high school English for several years in Chicago and California. A leading scholar on school reform, Anagnostopoulos holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Chicago.

Ronald Beghett0 – Associate Professor of Educational Psychology

Beghetto currently serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Education Studies at University of Oregon’s College of Education. He is an expert on classroom creativity, having authored two books and published numerous articles and chapters on the topic. He is the incoming Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Creative Behavior and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and has been recognized with several outstanding research and teaching awards. Beghetto holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from Indiana University.

David “Todd” Campbell – Associate Professor of Science Education

A researcher on the factors that influence science education reform, Campbell comes to UConn from the STEM Education Department at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he was an associate professor. He is the principal investigator for a five-year National Science Foundation $2.5M project focused on integrating technology into science instruction. A former junior high and high school science teacher, he’s also served as a science education professor at Utah State University. He holds a doctorate from the University of Iowa in Science Education Curriculum and Instruction.

Milagros Castillo-Montoya – Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs

Castillo-Montoya’s research focuses on teaching and learning in urban colleges and universities with particular attention to the learning and development experiences of first-generation African American and Latino students during their undergraduate years. Author of the book Cubans in New Jersey: Migrants Tell Their Stories (2012), she most recently served as an instructor for Teachers College, Columbia University Department of Organization and Leadership’s Higher and Postsecondary Education Program. Bilingual and a presenter at several national conferences, she holds a doctorate in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Joseph Cooper – Assistant Professor of Sport Management

Cooper’s research focuses on Black male student athletes’ experiences and outcomes at institutions of higher education in the US. Cooper comes to UConn from the University of Georgia, where he recently earned a doctorate in Kinesiology (Sport Management and Policy) and served for three years as a graduate teaching assistant and undergraduate instructor, a position he also held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hannah Dostal – Assistant Professor of Literacy

Dostal bring extensive leadership experience as a professor, writing intervention coordinator, and special education consultant. Her research focuses on writing instruction of linguistically diverse students and the impact of interactive instruction on language development. Dostal served as a special education and reading assistant professor at Southern Connecticut State University, instructional consultant for the American School for the Deaf and teacher at the Tennessee School for the Deaf, among other positions. She earned a doctorate in Education with a concentration in Literacy Studies, and a cognate in deafness, from the University of Tennessee. She also has a degree in American Sign Language interpreting.

Shaun Dougherty – Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy

A fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Center for Education Policy Research for the past four years, Dougherty’s research focuses on the impact of educational policies and curricular interventions in middle and high school. He previously served as an instructor in Brown University’s Urban Education Policy Master’s Program, among other teaching positions. Dougherty recently earned a doctorate in Quantitative Policy Analysis in Education from Harvard and also served as an editor and editorial board member of the Harvard Educational Review.

Jennifer Freeman – Assistant Professor of Special Education

With research expertise on dropout prevention and positive behavior supports, among other areas, Freeman recently earned a doctorate in Special Education from the Neag School of Education. Widely published and a presenter at several national conferences, she’s served as an elementary and middle school special education teacher and instructional consultant in Maine and Michigan. She is a member of the Association for Positive Behavior Supports, among other professional organizations.

Preston C. Green III – John and Carla Klein Professorship for Urban Education

A leading scholar in the fields of law and urban education, and educational policy, Green comes to the Neag School from Pennsylvania State University, where he was Harry L. Baschelet II Chair of Educational Administration and professor-in-charge of Educational Leadership. Before that, he was an education professor and assistant dean of Pre-Major Advising Services at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He will teach at both the Neag School and UConn School of Law. The author of four books and numerous articles and book chapters, he earned a juris doctor degree from the Columbia University School of Law and a doctorate in Educational Administration from the Teachers College at Columbia.

James Kaufman – Professor of Educational Psychology

Kaufman comes to the Neag School from California State University at San Bernardino, where he was a professor and directed the Learning Research Institute. The author or editor of 24 books, much of his work and research has focused on creativity, for which he’s considered an international expert. President of Division 10 of the American Psychological Association’s Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts division, his doctorate is in Cognitive Psychology from Yale University.

Justin LaFerrier – Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy

Board-certified in orthopedics, sports, and assistive technology, LaFerrier has focused much of his work on improving the health and lives of military service members and veterans living with paralysis, limb loss and polytrauma injuries. He comes to the Neag School from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Science, where he served as an adjunct faculty member. Laferrier is a veteran of both the US Marines and the US Army. His clinical experience includes serving as a VA physical therapist/research scientist at Human Engineering Research Laboratories, and serving as officer in charge of Walter Reed’s and Brooke Army Medical Center’s amputee sections. He earned a doctorate in Rehabilitation Science and Technology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Tamika La Salle – Assistant Professor of School Psychology

La Salle’s research efforts have focused on the effects of culture and school climate. She comes to the Neag School with a recently earned doctorate from Georgia State University’s Department of Counseling and Psychological Services. A former educational consultant for the Mississippi and University of Pittsburgh departments of Education, her work experience includes serving as a clinical psychometrician, school psychologist, and special education teacher.

Stephanie Mazerolle – Assistant Professor of Athletic Training

Mazerolle has served as director of the Neag School’s Undergraduate Athletic Training Program since 2006, as well as an assistant clinical professor teaching classes related to athletic injury assessment and rehabilitation and counseling related to athletic injuries. She researches the barriers that keep athletic trainers from living a balanced life as well as factors that influence job retention and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Athletic Training and the Athletic Training Education Journal. She has a doctorate in Sports Management from the University of Connecticut.

Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead – Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology

Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead’s research agenda seeks to advance knowledge on the impact of K-12 policies, practices, and programs in chronically under-performing and under-served schools; to provide credible, relevant, and useful evidence to the policy community; and to contribute to the development of stronger evidence-based evaluation practices, models, and theories. She previously served as an assistant professor of educational research at Western Carolina University and as a research and evaluation specialist at the Southeast Regional Educational Laboratory. The author of numerous articles and a presenter at several national conferences, she has a doctorate in Psychology from Claremont Graduate University.

Jonathan Plucker – Neag Endowed Professorship

Widely recognized as an expert in evaluation and educational policy, Plucker is a UConn alumnus who most recently served as a professor and director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University, where he also directed the Consortium for Education and Social Science Research. The author of more than 100 papers and the editor of two books, he is a former president of the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. At UConn, Plucker earned a bachelor’s in Chemistry and master’s in Educational Psychology. He earned a doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Jennie Weiner – Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership

With a doctorate in Educational Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Weiner comes to the Neag School from the Boston University School of Education, where she served as an adjunct, and Prescott College, where she served as a doctoral mentor. A former teacher, senior research associate for the Teacher Advancement Program at the Milken Family Foundation, and consultant at the Rhode Island Department of Education she has extensive experience in school improvement including building leadership and collaboration among teachers. Her recent work has focused on developing effective leadership teams and entrepreneurship in education. In 2012, she was named a Fordham Foundation Emerging Education Policy Scholar.

Suzanne Wilson – Neag Endowed Professorship, Teacher Education

Wilson was most recently a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, where she also served on the faculty in the Department of Teacher Education for 26 years and as chair for the last six. Her research interests focus on teacher quality and she has written extensively about teacher learning, professionalism, and education policy. She also started MSU’s Center for the Scholarship of Teaching, and has served as a visiting scholar at the American Museum of Natural History and Hebrew University. She holds a doctorate in Education from Stanford University.

What Matters in Teacher Preparation?

Posted on July 30, 2013March 23, 2021 by

In recent years, concerns have emerged regarding the preparation of new teachers and their ability to work effectively in today’s complex classrooms. Some entities have criticized traditional teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities particularly, focused on perceived weaknesses in content courses and field experiences.

The Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut has been preparing teachers for almost 75 years and is a recognized leader in teacher preparation by organizations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, particularly in the areas of program innovation and school placements. We conduct world-class research and collect extensive data from our students, graduates, and school districts that keep us focused on what works about our program and where we need to improve. Based on the evidence we have gathered, we can say unequivocally that high quality teacher education programs include the following elements.

First, it is our firm belief that not all can be teachers. Teacher preparation programs must be selective in admissions. They should not only examine the applicants’ GPA but also their academic course work to ensure extensive subject knowledge. They should evaluate applicants’ emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, require experiences in working with educators and students, and establish their commitment to education, social justice, and equity.

Second, effective teacher preparation programs must combine strong content preparation with pedagogical knowledge and skills. Professors in education must work closely with professors in arts and sciences and school partners to ensure what is being taught reflects the reality of the schools and is aligned with standards. This means, for example, that students in mathematics teacher preparation programs have a solid grasp not only of mathematics, but also how to teach math effectively in real-world classrooms.

Third, teacher preparation programs must instill in their students the dispositions required to be effective teachers. Future teachers must become reflective practitioners so that they have the ability to ask critical questions about their own practice. They must possess a high commitment to teaching as a profession; and to equity, fairness, and diversity.

Fourth, according to national experts, a key element for successful learning is the opportunity to apply what is being learned and refine it; teacher preparation is learning about practice in schools. Professor Linda Darling-Hammond at Stanford University suggests that strong teacher preparation programs have “a common clear vision of good teaching that permeates all course work and clinical experiences…” and they have “extended clinical experiences … that are carefully chosen to support the ideas presented in simultaneous, closely interwoven course work.” Such meaningful field experience must be extensive and involve experiences working with learners from diverse socio-economic, ethnic, cultural, religious backgrounds, and those who have special learning needs including English as a second language.

Finally, it is imperative that teacher preparation programs establish a systemic mechanism to gauge the learning of their students. Through a series of key assessments from the beginning to the end of the preparation programs, students must demonstrate how well they have learned the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required to be good initial teachers. Strong programs collect, analyze, and report student performance data so that they cannot only help individual students, but also make overall program improvements. Teacher preparation programs should also track their graduates and understand how they perform in schools after they become teachers.

Selectivity, strong content and pedagogical knowledge, dispositional training, field experiences throughout the program, along with systemic assessment mechanisms matter the most to a successful teacher preparation program. This spring, the Connecticut Educator Preparation Advisory Council has reaffirmed the value of these elements in their guidelines. Such guidelines reflect knowledge and evidence from teacher preparation educators, school leaders, and policy makers. The Neag School of Education at UCONN is committed to supporting this work and is looking forward to discussing the specifics with the Council in the coming year. While we are always open for feedback, we are confident that we have a strong and effective teacher education program. We are confident that our efforts to assess our program are comprehensive and valid. Our confidence is evidence-based and in the University’s long tradition of service to the State.

At the Neag School of Education of the University of Connecticut, Dr. Yuhang Rong serves as the Assistant Dean, Dr. Marijke Kehrhahn serves as the Associate Dean and Dr. David M. Moss serves as the Interim Director of Teacher Education and as an associate professor for elementary education. All three contributed to this article.