Education Law Expert Preston Green III Joins UConn Faculty

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GreenPrestonStudying law and education issues side by side might not seem like an obvious combination, and that perception, says Preston C. Green III, can lead to dire consequences for how children are educated.

Green is a nationally recognized education law expert who will join the University of Connecticut faculty in the fall from Pennsylvania State University. He will be the Carla Klein Endowed Professor of Urban Education in the Neag School of Education. Green will also have a joint appointment with the UConn School of Law. He has devoted his career to studying the sometimes surprising ways in which law and education intersect, with an eye toward helping legislators and others make better decisions when it comes to developing education policies.

“What I’m trying to do is to get people to understand the legal implications of the policies they wish to adopt,” says Green, who has both a JD from the Columbia University School of Law and an Ed.D. from the Teachers College at Columbia. “In many cases, they just don’t think about those implications.”

For example, Green cites charter schools. While charter schools have become an increasingly polarizing item near the top of the national education reform agenda, all that attention has shed little light on some basic questions about how the schools operate, he says.

“It’s really unclear whether for legal purposes, charter schools are what we call ‘state actors’ in the way that traditional public schools are, meaning that they have to comply with the Constitution,” he says. “If they’re not, you might have situations where students are being suspended or expelled with no recourse to due process protections, which is something we should all be concerned about – especially persons of color, since black males in particular have been disciplined at much higher rates than white students in traditional public schools.”

Inspired by Brown v. Board of Education

Although interested in law and education since he first read about the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision as a child, Green came about his specialty through a terrible trauma: While he was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, one of his cousins was murdered by a 16-year-old working on behalf of a drug dealer.

“I remember thinking when it happened, just how did this kid take the turns that led him to this?” Green says. “And I actually wrote about that in college, when I was applying to law school: I am going to try to use my interest in education and law to help kids like him have other options.”

First at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and then at Penn State, Green has subsequently been at the forefront of research and policy on a host of crucial education issues, ranging from school vouchers and charter schools to teacher evaluation systems and school finance litigation.

“I know people take sides and get polarized, and I certainly have my own opinions, but what I really want to see is good schools,” he says.

That pragmatic approach has led to projects like the policy paper he co-wrote last year for the National Education Policy Center, “Chartering Equity: Using Charter School Legislation and Policy to Advance Equal Educational Opportunity,” which examined ways in which states can create charter schools that reduce the problems of racial inequality in education settings.

“Charter schools are here, and they’re going to stick around, and so what we pointed out in our brief is there are ways to create mechanisms that will prevent charters from adding to the problem of racially isolated schools,” he says.

A pre-eminent scholar

Green plans to continue his focus on education and law at UConn, saying he hopes to provide training for educators, administrators, and attorneys in a way similar to a summer institute he created at the Penn State Law School that brought attorneys, professors, and education professionals together to learn about legal issues in and out of the classroom.

“Dr. Preston Green is one of the pre-eminent scholars in the nation in the field of law and urban education as well as in educational policy,” said Neag School of Education Dean Thomas DeFranco. “His expertise and scholarship in the areas of equity, race, and school reform uniquely qualifies him to advance our efforts in closing the achievement gap in Connecticut and across the nation.

Another initiative he’d like to explore is creating a joint degree program in education and law, similar to the one he developed at Penn State, to allow students to pursue career paths ranging from think tanks to school administration to law practices, a multidisciplinary approach that basically didn’t exist when he was in graduate school.

“I became really attracted to UConn because I thought the University would give me the opportunity to develop those ideas,” he says.

UConn stands out nationally, Green says, because of forward-thinking initiatives like President Susan Herbst’s plan to hire roughly 300 additional tenure-track faculty members at a time when many other universities are cutting back or retrenching.

“For the kind of work I want to do, I need to be at a vibrant institution, one that’s really on the move, really willing to take bold steps and innovate,” Green says. “Those are the kinds of places where great things happen, and I really want to be a part of that.”

Neag School of Education Hosts 2013 Commencement

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The entrance procession for the Neag School of Education commencement ceremony held at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on May 12. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

The Neag School of Education recognized graduates from the Class of 2013 during two ceremonies the weekend of May 11-12. The Neag School undergraduate commencement took place at the Jorgensen Auditorium on Sunday, May 12. Commencement for Neag School graduate students, including sixth-year students, took place Saturday, May 11, at Gampel Pavilion.

The Graduate School commencement speaker was Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Corp. In additing to addressing students during the ceremony, Immelt received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Immelt was named to his current position at General Electric in 2001, following a nearly 20-year career with the company in increasingly responsible roles. Among many activities and achievements, he serves as a trustee of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library, as well as chair of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He was named Financial Times’ “Man of the Year” in 2003 and has been named one of the “World’s Best CEO’s” three times by Barron’s.

Commencement WallyThe undergraduate ceremony featured nationally acclaimed author and Neag alumnus Wally Lamb ’72 BA, ’77 MA, as commencement speaker. He also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. President Susan Herbst introduced Lamb and led the conferring of his doctorate.

“As Neag School of Education faculty and alumni well know, stories have the power to educate and inform; to entertain and engage,” said President Herbst. “Told fearlessly and honestly, stories can move us, heal us, inspire us and make us feel alive. They can teach us about others and, perhaps most importantly, teach us about ourselves.”

“For his exceptional ability to use stories as a means to spark not just learning, but understanding, we are privileged to honor author and educator Wally Lamb,” she continued.

Lamb is the heralded author of such fiction best-sellers as She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much is True. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Lamb was the director of the Writing Center at Norwich Free Academy from 1989-98 and an associate professor of creative writing in the English Department at UConn, where he also originated a student-staffed literary and arts magazine, The Long River Review. He currently resides in Mansfield.

Later in the ceremony, Lamb welcomed the audience and enthusiastically started his commencement message.

“Happy Mother’s Day,” he began. “Happy Mother’s Day to my mother, Ana (pointing to the sky), and my beautiful wife, Kris, who is the mother of our two kids and with me today.”

He opened his speech comparing rock stars who trash their hotel rooms to notable authors on tour, who are more quiet, solitary souls. Recalling a book tour from two or three years ago, his most memorable moment was in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio, when he heard a question from Alex Trebek.

He was channel surfing and stumbled across the quiz show Jeopardy just at the moment when his name surfaced. “He wrote the novel, ‘She’s Come Undone’,” said Trebek.

“In the torturous pause that followed (audience laughter), the three contestants stood there lock-jawed and unable to press those thumbs to those buzzers,” said Lamb.

Lamb continued, “I uttered in a sheepish voice, ‘Who was Wally Lamb?’ ” More laughter from the audience.

Lamb went on to talk about his 40-year education and literacy career, weaving in touching and personal stories that kept audience members enthralled.

He also offered words of support and advice for the graduates as they chart their careers, concluding with “five things this teaching author and father has come to know.” To hear the five things, along with the rest of the speech, visit here.

Prior to Dr. Lamb’s speech, but before the more than 200 graduates received their diplomas, the platform party was introduced, and the Neag Alumni Society president offered a welcome. In addition, faculty member and University Teaching Fellow Dr. Alan Marcus was recognized with university-wide honors.

Commencement marcusAn associate professor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Marcus has gained high respect from both colleagues and students for his scholarship and teaching. He presents a role model for teaching excellence, creating a student-centered learning experience, collaborating with peers and colleagues here and abroad, and continuously seeking student feedback.

Marcus’ success as an instructor exemplifies his special ability to reflect deeply on his teaching, to meld research and practice, to honor the profession, and to inspire students to aspire to be effective teachers and academic leaders.

Dr. Linda Pescatello, another Neag faculty member who received university-wide honors, was recognized at the graduate ceremony with the Board of Trustees Distinguished Professorship – the highest academic award UConn bestows —for her exceptional distinction in scholarship, teaching and service. Pescatello, who holds three degrees from UConn and has taught here since 1998, is an internationally recognized scholar on blood pressure response to exercise among people with hypertension.

Commencement PescatelloA lifelong athlete, Pescatello is also studying the influence of exercise on cancer survivors, and is in the early stages of new research on the use of yoga to help manage stress and reduce substance use among veterans who attend college and methadone users.

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

For a slideshow from May 11, visit here. For a slideshow from May 12, visit here.

Well-Designed Video Games Can Enhance Problem-Solving Skills and Make Learning More Effective

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The tragic December deaths of 20 first-graders and six school staff members in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, along with the Boston Marathon tragedy and other recent attacks, have brought the decades-old debate over the behavioral effects of video games back onto legislative floors throughout the nation. Citing the fact that gunman Adam Lanza, 20, played violent video games, members of the U.S. Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force detailed their plans to address “our culture’s glorification of violence” through media, and commentary stemming from reports like Katie Couric’s May 2013 video game violence exposé has highlighted the need for greater clarification of how we should read and interpret video game research.

Clearly, it’s a complex and emotional issue further complicated by discussions that focus almost exclusively on the negative effects of gaming. The reality, however, is that there’s little research outlining whether or not violent video games beget actual violence: many existing studies, like one described in a recent edition of the UConn Today, focus on aggression without explicitly acknowledging the complex relationship between cognition, transfer, and real world behavior. This has led to two major problems, the combination of which throws a wrench in the socially and politically-charged rhetoric surrounding violence: 1) the dismissal of other, more influential factors common to violent criminals—biological predisposition to mental health issues, instability at home and/or work, lack of positive role models, having no one to confide in, access to weapons, and in-the-moment opportunity versus need; and 2) neglect for how learning in all types of games—violent or not—actually happens.

While the first problem may better fit sociologists and psychologists who have direct experience with individuals who commit violent crimes, the second is something that we as teachers, administrators, and researchers can tackle head on. There’s general consensus in the educational psychology community that the nature of environment-learner-content interactions is vital to our understanding of how people perceive and act. As a result, we can’t make broad assumptions about games as a vehicle for violent behavior without attending to how environment-learner-content interactions influence transfer—the way learning and action in one context affects learning and action in a related context.

It might help to think of transfer in terms of what we hope students will do with the information they learn in our classes. For example, you might teach geometric principles in your math class thinking that those techniques will help your students craft a birdhouse in shop. However, one of the most well-cited studies of the subject (Gick & Holyoak, 1980) showed that only one-fifth of college students were able to apply a particular problem solving strategy—using ‘divide-and-conquer’ to capture a castle—in another, almost identical context less than 24 hours after exposure to the first. Even with explicit direct instruction explaining how the same strategy could be used to solve both problems, fewer than 50% of students were able to make the connection. Though links between situations might seem self-evident to us as teachers, they usually aren’t as obvious to our students as we think they should be.

This gives us reason to believe that, regardless of subject, students—or in the case of video games, players—are rarely able to take something they’ve used in one context and independently apply it in a totally different one. Put another way, even if violent gaming raises general aggression, increased aggression doesn’t automatically translate to real world violent behavior. Gamers might use more curse words while playing Call of Duty, but they won’t learn to steal a car solely by playing Grand Theft Auto—there needs to be a mediating instructor who can provide well-guided bridging between the game and reality, especially for in-game activities that aren’t isomorphic with real world action (i.e., firing a gun).

This relationship between environment-learner-content interaction and transfer puts teachers in the unique position to capitalize on game engagement to promote reflection that positively shapes how students tackle real-world challenges. To some, this may seem like a shocking concept, but it’s definitely not a new one—roleplay as instruction, for example, was very popular among the ancient Greeks and, in many ways, served as the backbone for Plato’s renowned Allegory of the Cave. The same is true of Shakespeare’s works, 18th and 19th century opera, and many of the novels, movies, and other media that define our culture. More recently, NASA has applied game-like simulations to teach astronauts how to maneuver through space, medical schools have used them to teach robotic surgery, and the Federal Aviation Administration has employed them to test pilots.

To be clear, this is not a call for K12 educators to drop everything and immediately incorporate violent games like Doom or Mortal Kombat into their classrooms. Instead, it’s a call to consider how we can take advantage of game affordances (including those of violent games) to extend beyond predictable multiple-choice materials that leave students wishing they could pull out their smartphones. It’s a call for legislators to give greater consideration to the role of transfer before passing sweeping bans on violent video game play. It’s a call for all of us to use games as a vehicle to talk about racial, social, gender, and other inequities that are very much a part of the world we live in.

It’s a bold idea that can feel scary, but the potential benefits are beyond exciting. Research generated by people like Kurt Squire, Sasha Barab, and James Paul Gee suggests that interactive games can be used to teach children about history, increase vocabulary, challenge them to set and achieve goals, and enhance their ability to work in teams. They expose students to culturally diverse casts of characters in addition to providing instant feedback about goal-oriented progress. Most importantly, perhaps, they can be powerfully engaging, giving students a reason to pursue learning beyond the classroom.

To maintain a positive trajectory, teachers looking to make the most of the instructional affordances of video games should keep an eye out for games they feel comfortable playing alongside and discussing with their students, take advantage of opportunities to participate in university game-based learning research studies, and remain open to modifying their instructional approaches. Parents should connect with teachers for up-to-date research coming from organizations like Games+Learning+Society and have their children reflect on material they’ve been exposed to during play—for example, social and cultural stereotypes, gender roles, and ways of thinking presented in each game. Legislators should consult university researchers in both communications and educational psychology to get a wider perspective on how play and learning merge to generate behavior in the real world.

Our collective understanding of game-based learning is evolving at lightning speed, and we need to dispel false information that ignores how games actually affect player thinking and action. More work, involving teachers, administrators, researchers, designers, parents, and politicians, is needed. The next step is to enhance our collaboration by working to create multi-disciplinary games that incorporate not just academic content but educational practices that lead to broader critical thinking and problem solving. Though far from complete, our combined effort has the potential to move beyond the swamp of video game violence and excite kids about school before they say “game over.”

Stephen Slota is doctoral candidate in educational psychology at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education as well as an unashamed gamer. An educational technology specialist and  former urban high school teacher, he has a bachelor’s in molecular and cellular biology and Master’s in curriculum and instruction. His research interests include the situated cognition underlying play, the effects of gaming on student achievement, and prosocial learning through massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

 

 

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

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

Students

Husky Sport was first runner-up for the Ignite Challenge among UConn organizations participating in the fundraising competition and received an award for $2500. A total of 394 donations helped them raise $8,484.15 to UConn. They were also recognized with the “Best Social Media Marketing” award. Thanks to everyone for their support.

Students from the Sport Management Program organized and hosted a tailgating event before the UConn football spring game for alumni and students (grad and undergrad) to mingle and network.

The Neag Graduate Student Association is pleased to announce the recipients
of the Spring 2013 Travel Awards, each receiving $140 towards their travel:

  • Rachel E. K. Larson
  • Jon J. Rizzo
  • Yan Wei
  • Amy Gaesser

  • Craig Marroquin

  • Janice Kooken

  • Riana Pryor

  • William Adams

  • Lesley Willis

  • Ji Yeon Jung

  • Michael Mudrick

  • Raymond Cotrufo

  • Kelly Pagnotta

  • Jessica Martinez

  • J. Luke Pryor

  • Douglas Jensen

  • Garret Ash



Students from the Renzulli Academy earned some outstanding honors:

Hartford’s Creative Youth Essay Award Contestants & Teachers

Grades 7th & 8th

  • 1st Place ­ Kay Clark (Teacher, Ms. Albro)
  •  2nd Place ­ Chadd James (Teacher, Ms. Albro)
  • 3rd Place ­ Larry Starks (Teacher, Ms. Lyons)

Grades 9th &­ 10th

  • 1st Place ­ Shaila Murdock (Teacher, Ms. Plaganis)

National History Day State Competition — Natiel, Xaniyah, Dezia & Tiara took 1st place in the Junior Division for their Group Website on the Little Rock Nine’s influence on education and the Civil Rights Movement.  This group has qualified for the National Competition in June at the University of Maryland!

Adam Apicella, a fifth-year secondary math education student, proposed and organized a class trip to the Museum of Math in NYC. Around 23 students – including a mix of elementary and secondary math – visited the newly opened museum and enjoyed numerous mathematics exhibits.

Luke Belval was recently awarded a 2013 Undergraduate Research Excellence Fellow from the American Physiological Society. He’s one of six students selected nation-wide to receive this honor. He will spend the 10-week fellowship conducting a research study at the Falmouth Road Race in August 2013, looking at the effects of fitness on body temperature changes during intense exercise in the heat.

Tanesia Beverly has been chosen to receive one of the Outstanding Multicultural Scholar Awards from the Graduate School for the 2013-2014 academic year. The award consists of a service free fellowship equivalent to a half-time graduate assistantship plus a half-time graduate assistantship for three years provided by the Graduate School. She will have professional, social and mentoring opportunities throughout her academic career.

The Connecticut Association of Reading Research (CARR) has awarded Elena Forzani and Cheryl Maykel the $1,000 Wirth-Santoro Award for Outstanding Literacy Research for their study, “Evaluating A Representative State Sample of Seventh-grade Students Ability to Critically Evaluate Online Information.”  They are doctoral students who work in the New Literacies Research Lab.

Jennifer Kowitt, a special education doctoral, was elected secretary of the CT Subdivision of the Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT). DCDT is a division of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Margaret Seclen was recently honored as a 2013 Alma Exley Scholar at a reception in West Hartford. According to Dr. Santosha Oliver, assistant principal of O’Brien STEM Academy, “This outstanding future teacher had some compelling things to say about culturally responsive teaching practices and her experience in applying these practices in her student teaching in Hartford. I know she has a bright future ahead of her as a dedicated teacher.”

Alumni

Wiley Blackwell, the online publisher for the International Reading Association, reports that an article by our New Literacies Research Center was the most downloaded article in 2012 from the IRA publication, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. The journal had 492,810 full-text downloads in 2012. The article is: “The new literacies of online reading comprehension: Expanding the literacy and learning curriculum” featuring work of the following:

Greg McVerry is a doctoral graduate in Cognition and Instruction and assistant professor of education at Southern Connecticut State University; Ian O’Byrne is a doctoral graduate in Cognition and Instruction and assistant professor of education at the University of New Haven; Carita Kiili was a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab and is currently assistant professor of education at the University of Jyvaskyla in Jyvaskyla, Finland; Lisa Zawilinski is a doctoral graduate in EDCI and assistant professor of education at the University of Hartford; Heidi Everett-Cacopardo is a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab and masters student in Cognition and Instruction; Clint Kennedy is a doctoral student in CILT (EPSY) and a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab; and Elena Forzani is a doctoral student in CILT (EPSY) and a Neag Fellow in the New Literacies Research Lab.

UCAPP alumni organized (led by Hannah Ruede) and hosted a scholarship reception to honor Earle Bidwell, their clinical instructor and mentor, and to expand their newly established scholarship in his honor.

Laurel Brandon, Three Summers 2013, uses origami to teach geometry.

Plato Karafelis, who led Wolcott Elementary School in West Hartford for 25 years, is retiring this year. “For 25 years, the people of the Wolcott community have delivered a bounty of love to my family and me,” Karafelis wrote in a letter to parents. “We feel so blessed to have known each and every one of you.” He earned a MA and Ph.D. from the Neag School in the 1980s.

Jennifer Klimis, Three Summers 2014, was one of six finalists for the Outstanding Educator Award in Pinellas County, Florida. She uses Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model, which was included in her nomination packet. Klimis reports that although she didn’t win the Outstanding Educator award, it was fun and she felt honored to be in the top six.

Karen List, superintendent of West Hartford and past Neag Alumni Outstanding School Administrator, was our recipient for the 2013 UCEA Educational Leadership Award. The UCEA Educational Leadership Award is in recognition of practicing school administrators who have made significant contributions to the improvement of administrator preparation. This is a much-deserved honor and merely a small token of appreciation for her substantial service to UCAPP over the years.

Two alumni, Deborah Riebe and Carol Ewing Garber, were elected to national offices with American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Garber, who is president-elect of ACSM, is director of the graduate program in applied physiology at Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Riebe, a trustee of education and allied health with ACSM, is professor and chair of the URI’s department of kinesiology.

Kathleen K. Reardon, ’71, has been selected to receive the Humanitarian Award from the UConn Alumni Association. She will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony in October. She’s a professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.

Kaitlin Roig, ’06, a first grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, launched a new initiative, Classes 4 Classes. Its purpose is to connect students in classrooms across the country by offering them an online space where they can help one another in a variety of ways, teaching them care and compassion along the way.  After the horrific tragedy, Roig is taking action in the most positive way imaginable.

Barry Spiering, PhD, recently started as director of physiology at Nike in Oregon. Prior to that, he was a scientist at the US Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) in Natick, MA. As a doctoral student, he was honored as an “Outstanding Doctoral Student Research Award” by the Neag School.

Carol R. Virostek, PhD and former adjunct, is getting recognized by American Association of University Women (AAUW) with a national award at their convention June.

Faculty/Staff

Service awards to the University were recently hosted by HR. Congratulations and thank you to the following individuals for their length of service and dedication.

  • Wendy Glenn – 10 years
  • Tutita Casa – 10 years
  • Betsy McCoach – 10 years
  • Jennifer Bruening – 10 years
  • Lisa Muller – 10 years
  • Christine North – 15 years
  • Richard Schwab – 15 years
  • Richard Bohannon – 25 years
  • Thomas Kehle – 25 years
  • James O’Neil – 30 years
  • Kathy Ivey – 35 years

Close to Home Campaign – we are currently at $58,296 with almost 50 Neag faculty/staff members supporting various causes across the university. Last year we collectively donated a little over $64k through your generous support. We have two months left to beat last year’s donations. Thanks to everyone who has donated thus far.

Husky Sport has received generous support of $100k from Emeka Okafar (former UConn center). This is in addition to $250k he gave in 2007 to support the program.

EDLR is establishing formal partnerships with the Hartford Public Schools and the Queen Rania Teacher Academy in Jordan to create and deliver context-specific leadership development programs. Richard Gonzales is overseeing the HPS-Neag Preparing Leaders for Urban Schools (PLUS) initiative. Diane Ullman is leading the Jordan project. More information to follow.

The leading journal in the educational leadership field, Educational Administration Quarterly, will make its official transition to Neag and EDLR in May 2013. Casey Cobb will serve as editor with Morgaen Donaldson, Anysia Mayer, Richard Gonzales, Sarah Woulfin, Richard Schwab, Kim LeChasseur and others from Neag and across the country will serve as associate editors.

EDLR will be a main player in the forthcoming State Leadership Academy. Bob Villanova will be the head of the Leadership Academy, which is a major State Department of Education initiative designed to enhance the preparation of school leaders in the Commissioner Network Schools and Priority Districts.

Congratulations to our Department of Kinesiology for winning the ACSM College Bowl this year.

The Korey Stringer Institute (KSI) has honored three individuals with KSI Lifesaving Awards for their outstanding work in helping prevent sudden death in sport. The honorees received their awards during the KSI’s annual fundraiser, hosted this year by the NFL Players Association in New York City. This year, the KSI honored Kevin Guskiewicz, a national leader in sports-related concussion research; David Csillan, a high school athletic trainer whose leadership helped enact the nation’s first statewide heat acclimatization guidelines for secondary school athletics;  and Beth Mallon, founder of Advocates for Injured Athletes. The event raised $30K to benefit KSI’s work.

Sandy Bell co-authored “Newcomer adjustment among recent college graduates: An integrative literature review” for Human Resource Development Review. She also co-authored “Social network structures among groundnut farmers” Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension. She hosted a professional development session for agricultural educators at the 2013 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference in Denver. The title of her session was “Learning that Leads to Change: Best Practices in Farmer Education.”

Jennifer Bruening has in press “Early Adolescent Male Development: A Study of a Sport-Based After-School Program in an Urban Environment” for Research Quarterly in Exercise and Sport. She also co-authored “Are your values mine?:  Exploring the influence of value congruence on responses to organizational change in a Division I intercollegiate athletics department” for Journal of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Laura Burton served as a reviewer for the University’s large faculty grant competition – for social science grant applications. She was also selected as a co-editor along with Jon Welty Peachey (Texas A&M) for a special issue – “Ethical Leadership in Intercollegiate Sport” for the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport to be published in 2014.

Maryclaire Capetta has completed her Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from the University of St. Augustine.

Doug Casa was elected as a trustee for “Basic & Applied Science” with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Tutita Casa was recently invited to be a member of CT’s Smarter Balanced State Leadership Team. Smarter Balanced is one of the two Common Core related assessment consortia. The eight-member team is guided by the belief that the effective use of a balanced assessment system can improve teaching and learning.  She also published “Capturing thinking on the talk frame” in Teaching Children Mathematics.

Sandra Chafouleaus was invited by the National Association of School Psychologists for a Congressional Briefing on how schools can improve student outcomes by implementing evidence-based effective discipline that results in safe and supportive conditions for learning. She provided expert testimony about the research regarding effective behavioral practices.

Casey Cobb has been elected as a member of the University Senate’s Constituency Relations (education constituency). It’s a three-year term.

Cristina Colon-Semenza gave a presentation at the Watermark (assisted living facility) Parkinson’s Support Group. She also talked about a research project that she is conducting at the university and invited individuals to participate.

Cristina Colon-Semenza and Susan Sullivan Glenney have been accepted as UConn Service-Learning Faculty Fellows for 2013-2014. They will participate in faculty development activities and events and collaborate with ITL in designing a new course or embedding service-learning into an existing course.

Morgaen Donaldson and CEPA team members presented preliminary findings from the educator evaluation study to Connecticut’s Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC). She also published and presented two reports at the Center for American Progress: Teachers’ Perspectives on Teacher Evaluation Reform.  Washington, DC: Center for American Progress and Reforming Teacher Evaluation: One District’s Story.  Washington, DC: Center for American Progress. Donaldson interviewed for the following articles and radio news show: Where We Live. WNPR.  Interviewed by host John Dankosky for Connecticut’s National Public Radio station for segment on teacher evaluation; The Hartford Courant.  Interviewed for “State Board of Education May Slow Roll-out of New Evaluation System” and The Huffington Post, “Once Upon a Time, a Judge, a Pastor and a Writer…”

Morgaen Donaldson, Casey Cobb, Sarah Woulfin, Kimberly LeChasseur, Rachael Gabriel, A. Makuch and D. Goodwin presented to PEAC at CSDE on the first found of findings for the research project on SEED. Their findings were well received and the state has revised SEED based on them.

Michele Femc-Bagwell presented at the 20th Annual International Conference on Parent Education and Parenting. She presented a session entitled: “The A.S.P.I.R.E. Survey: Six Factors for Engaging Parents in Schools.” The session focused on the use of a web based application to identify the “parent capital” associated within a school’s community.  The conference was held at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. She also presented a session at the ASCD 68th Annual Conference in Chicago entitled:  “Taking Back Bassick: The Collaborative Transformation of a Failing Urban High School.” The presentation focused on the changes at Bassick High School based on the implementation of the CommPACT process.

Rachael Gabriel has had two books published this year, Reading’s Non-Negotiables: Elements of Effective Reading Instruction and Performances of Research: Critical Issues in K-12 Education (Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education)

Katherine Gavin and Tutita Casa co-published with two other academics “The impact of advanced geometry and measurement curriculum units on the mathematics achievement of first-grade students” in Gifted Child Quarterly.

Richard Gonzales co-authored “Activist teacher leadership: A case study of a Programa CRIAR bilingual teacher cohort” for Journal of School Leadership. He also gave a presentation “A Conversation about the Future Principal in CT” for the Connecticut Association of Schools.

Robin Grenier was named a Fulbright Scholar to the University of Iceland in Reykjavik for spring 2014.

Liz Howard is coordinating a new policy/advocacy group for higher education faculty across the state interested in ELLs, as they are some of CT’s lowest performing students. More information coming soon on the CEPA website.  She also participated in a panel discussion about creating a dual language magnet school in Hartford.

Jason Irizarry gave the keynote address for the University of Massachusetts Language, Literacy, and Culture Graduate Student Conference. The presentation was based on his book, The Latinization of U.S. Schools.  

Orville Karan has been invited to lead an implementation project with the Turkish government to help transition citizens who have intellectual disabilities into the community. In the past, these individuals would have their IQ tested and then based on the results, be sent to straight an institution. Turkey has new laws and policies that emphasizes better alternatives than just being institutionalized. They want a better environment for their citizens and have turned to Karan for the solution. He just returned from speaking at a national conference in Turkey on “Children During Transition from Institutions to Community.”

Alan Marcus has been recognized by UConn’s Institute for Teaching and Learning as a Teaching Fellow.

Anysia Mayer was recently awarded funds from the University of Connecticut’s Faculty Small Grant Program to support her work with the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. Dr. Mayer is currently conducting a study of 12 International Baccalaureate Programs across the U.S. that serve a large proportion of Hispanic students to learn how these programs encourage students to maintain their cultural and linguistic heritage while supporting high academic achievement.

Linda Pescatello gave a presentation on “Obesity from Bench to Bedside: Potential for Cross-Campus Research Collaborations” at the UConn Health Center.

Eliana Rojas participated in a professional development program at Berkley that focused on Hispanics in higher education and leadership roles for Latino women.

Sue Saunders was the keynote speaker at the New York College Student Affairs Association in Syracuse, NY. She was also a professional development speaker: Northeast Regional Conference; National Association of Campus Activities.

Richard Schwab was elected to the UConn Committee of Three for a three-year term.  The Committee of Three is the final hearing level on PTR and reports to the president. He was appointed to the Review Committee for Dean Raheim of the School of Social Work and chair of the committee to write the standards for selection and appoint the next Philip Austin Chaired Professorship. Rich was one of two invited national experts to critique the draft CAEP standards before the National Task Force that is designing the new CAEP Standards for Accreditation (which is replacing NCATE and TEAC) and he was appointed to NCTAF Board Task Force to design the framework for next NCTAF Major Report on the Future of Education. In addition, he was appointed chair of UConn’s Academic Vision Committee.

Sarah Woulfin was accepted to participate in the William L. Boyd National Educational Politics Workshop for emerging scholars. The workshop was held prior to AERA. Her mentors were Professor Knapp from the University of Washington and Professor Sipple of Cornell University. The Boyd Workshop consisted of two sessions. The first of two breakout sessions matched mentors and emerging scholars on the basis of research interests. The second provided an opportunity for mentors and emerging scholars to discuss a specific topic. She also won the Organizational Theory SIG’s best paper award at AERA.

Come Reconnect with UConn Alumni!!!

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alumni weekend

Neag School of Education alumni, family, friends, and community members are invited to attend “A Taste of UConn,” part of Alumni Weekend 2013 on Saturday, June 8 from 12pm-3pm on the South Campus lawn and patio.

Stop by the extra-large Fun House Bouncer for FREE Neag School of Education Give-Aways!!! Participate in some fun Husky Sport activities!!!

Free UConn Event: Live music by The Cartells, Jonathan the dog, t-shirts with the new Husky dog from Webster Bank, a photo booth, and a balloon artist. Kids (and adults) can climb on fire trucks, emergency vehicles, tractors, and more at the Touch-a-Truck event. Additional activities include inflatables, animals, a fossil exhibit, a climbing wall, additional school and college displays and activities, and door prizes to round out this family-friendly festival-style event.

Food tent: Enjoy delicious edibles at the food tent from the new Storrs Center restaurants and other local favorites including Lizzie’s, Dog Lane Cafe, Baja Cafe, Hosmer Mountain Soda, Sweet Emotions, Faddy’s Donuts, Insomnia Cookies, Dairy Bar Ice Cream, and more!

Also, judge our pulled pork slider cook-off hosted by UConn Catering Services. Four units will go head to head, and attendees can try them all and vote for the winner!

UConn Farmers Market will also be on-site. Please note that they are accepting cash only for their products.

Admission for the food tent: adults: $20, kids: $10, 5 & under free. Visit the link below for additional information and show your Husky pride by registering today for the “Taste Of UConn!”

www.uconnalumni.com/alumniweekend

 

Teaching History With Museums

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“When you see it, you’ll become a believer. It’s almost impossible not to feel that way.” Those are the words of Meaghan Davis, a social studies teacher at Conard High School in West Hartford and disciple of UConn Professor Dr. Alan Marcus’ approach to teaching history.

Marcus, associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the Neag School of Education, has written a book called Teaching History with Museums: Strategies for K-12 Social Studies. He and co-author Walter Woodward, Connecticut state historian and associate professor of history at UConn, presented a workshop on the book at one of the museums featured in it: The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford.

The book outlines strategies for making history come alive through visits to museums and interaction with primary sources and artifacts. It shows teachers how to plan effective educational experiences at the following kinds of museums:

  • Artifact and display museums
  • State history museums
  • Historic forts
  • Historic house museums
  • Living history museums
  • Memorials and monuments

Each category of museum gets its own chapter, complete with information on the relevance and focus of that type of museum, opportunities for learning specific skills outlined in the Common Core State Standards, case histories of actual class field trips, and resources. The book shares examples of previsit, during-visit, and postvisit activities and offers advice for how to develop your own activities. The information can be applied to any museum that fits into the category covered in that chapter. Museums offer experiences kids can’t get in books or in the classroom.

“Museums can do things we can’t do in the classroom. They can do things books alone can’t do,” Woodward told the teachers gathered at the Twain Museum.

He pointed out that museums offer authentic pedagogy, connect the present with the past, and help students develop historical empathy—the ability to recognize that people who lived in another time thought about and felt differently about issues than we do today.

Studies have shown that Americans trust museums as authoritative sources of knowledge. But it’s important, Woodward cautioned, for students to understand that museums also interpret history. They have their own agendas and make subjective decisions about what to include in their exhibits—and what to leave out. Those decisions are influenced by the times in which we live.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Aside from providing an overview of the benefits of teaching history with museums, the Twain House workshop took participants through case studies from actual field trips to two types of museums. The first was a trip to an artifact and display museum—The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Previsit activities included exploring personal stories and creating parallel timelines for World War II and the Holocaust. Students could choose only six events for each timeline. Their teacher compared this to the way museums must choose which artifacts and events to include in their exhibits.

During the visit, small groups of students were given a particular perspective and focus on (1) perpetrators and liberators, (2) survivors and rescuers, (3) bystanders and resisters, and (4) collaborators and victims. Postvisit activities included discussing what students learned about these perspectives and having survivors come in and speak to the class.

9/11 memorials The second case study involved visits to 9/11 memorials. According to Marcus, monuments and memorials offer many benefits for teachers, including the fact that they are widely available and free. Monuments reflect the time and place in which they were built, as well as the viewpoint of the organization that erected them. Many have generated controversy, which can be educational for students to investigate.

As part of his presentation, Marcus divided workshop participants into groups and had them perform the same postvisit activity the students in the 9/11 case study did. They were told that they had been selected to participate in a National Park Service competition to create a monument/memorial to commemorate the events of 9/11. Each group had to choose a location, write the text, and describe the design aesthetics for its monument while representing one of the following perspectives:

  • Women
  • First responders
  • Officials from the Saudi Arabian embassy in New York
  • Wall Street bankers
  • U.S. government officials

The process was as engaging for the workshop participants as it was for the students. One teacher’s commitment to teaching with museums Meaghan Davis studied under Marcus at UConn. In a class taught by him, Davis traveled to Europe and studied at various historic sites. “That experience literally changed my life,” she said. As part of her studies at UConn, she also interned at The Mark Twain House and Museum, where she served as a guide and helped develop curriculum and outreach activities. There she witnessed firsthand how powerfully students can respond to museum exhibits and is now committed to using museums in her own teaching.

“To see how powerful it can be has changed my whole educational philosophy,” she said. “Sometimes when you give the kids an opportunity, it’s amazing how they can impress you.”

Davis plans to take her students to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.

Reprinted with permission. CEA Advisor, April 2013

Assessment Activities at Neag – What’s in the Works and on the Horizon

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Novel initiatives, along with the usual assessment-related activities, are underway at the Neag School.  With diverse projects such as the first time administration of school-wide exit survey and second Alumni in Connecticut Public Schools report, the Office of Assessment is pleased to report that the culture of assessment is thriving.  Here is a summary of what to expect as the semester comes to close, and a few things on the horizon for fall.

End-of-Semester Student Evaluations for Field Experiences.  End-of-semester evaluations will soon be completed and reported for Teacher Education students now completing their student teaching experiences. Students from the UCAPP, School Counseling, and School Psychology programs will also be receiving end-of-semester evaluations for their practicum and/or internship experiences.

Clinic/Cooperating Teacher Surveys.   Every two years, we solicit feedback regarding the school-based clinic experiences offered to Teacher Education students from the perspectives of the both the students themselves and those they work alongside in the schools. These will be issued this year to all IB/M and TCGCP students, and their clinic teachers, cooperating teachers, and school supervisors.  The surveys are not intended for evaluation; rather, they have allowed faculty to assess the strengths and needs and adjust accordingly to make the clinic, student teaching, and internship experiences more meaningful for Neag students.

School-wide Exit Surveys are Coming!  For the first time, a common exit survey will be extended to students school-wide.  While a few programs have developed and used their own exit surveys for some time, the new Neag School-wide Exit Survey is aligned across all programs, departments and the Teacher Education unit.  Common items will be related to students’ general educational experiences and the survey then branches into more department or program-specific sections that will only be presented to students from the respective program and/or department.  The purpose of this survey is threefold, as it provides the following:

  • An up-to-date database of contact information for all students.
  • Immediate feedback regarding students’ educational experiences at Neag.
  • Immediate feedback regarding department-related issues.

Alumni in Connecticut Public Schools. The first report on Neag alumni working for Connecticut public schools, “Where Are Our Alumni?” was produced in 2010-11.  The updated report, Alumni in the Connecticut Public Schools, is now in production. It captures employment data of all 3,412 Neag alumni graduating since 1984 who are now working among Connecticut’s 166 districts. Colored maps generated using ArcGIS software from UConn’s Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC) are included to aid in visualizing this information.

Staying on PAR.  Faculty from each program and concentration area are in the process of working on Program/Concentration Assessment Reports (PARs).  Included in the report are the mission, goals, and objectives developed by each program; measures chosen to assess progress and data tied to the measures; and a summary of the information provided.

Assessment Colloquia Series: Open for Suggestions! If you have a great idea for a fall 2013 session, topic, or presenter, please contact mary.yakimowski@uconn.edu

Below is a list of the sessions that were offered in the spring.  Additional information about each of these sessions and the presenters is available on the Neag Office of Assessment website.

Popular Music and Informal Pedagogy in Music Education

Presenter: Dr. Joseph Abramo

Adolescent Literacy Assessment: Observing and Coaching Evidence-Based Instruction in Discipline Specific Classrooms

Presenters: Dr. Faggella-Luby. Mr. Joshua Wilson, and Ms. Yan Wei

How New Core Arts Standards Will Impact Common Core, Assessment & Evaluation

Presenter: Dr. Scott Schuler

Grant Writing for School Leaders: How to Select a Fundable Idea, Conceptualize a Proposal and Write a Competitive Grant Narrative

Presenter: Dr. Stan Shaw

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

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

Students

Kathy Andrade and Mike Lynch had the opportunity to present at this year’s National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Northeast Regional Conference in Hartford, CT. The 2nd year HESA students presented “Engaging Students Through Social Media” to students and student affairs professionals.

Shannon Bostiga, Michelle Cantin, and Cristina Fontana are implemented the math journals at their internships, and are working on publishing this work.

Micah Bruce-Davis, Cindy Massicotte, Lisa DaVia Rubenstein, Lisa DaVia and Merzilli Villanueva co-presented with E. Jean Gubbins “STEM Schools of Excellence: Students’ perceptions of STEM-focused high schools” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference, Denver, CO.

Jaclyn Chancey and Melissa S. Mitchell co-presented “Fostering creativity through technology: Creative and collaborative tools for student products” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference. She also co-presented “Following the STEM pipeline through college” at the same conference.

Janine M. Firmender co-presented with Katherine Gavin and Tutita Casa “The impact of advanced math curriculum on kindergarten, first, and second-grade students” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference.

Jeremy DiGorio and alumnus Krista Muise, ’12, coordinator for leadership programs at UConn presented at the Leadership Educator’s Institute (LEI) in Columbus, Ohio in December 2012. The duo co-presented with colleagues from Baylor University on Leading, Living, and Learning: Effective Leadership Learning Communities on campus. The presentation provided attendees with a myriad of strengths and challenges for leadership educators nationwide.

Doctoral student Elena Forzani so wrote with Don Leu “New literacies in a Web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, …∞ world” in Research in the Schools.

Doctoral students Elena Forzani, Cheryl Burlingame, and Clint Kennedy co-wrote with alumnus Julie Coiro and Don Leu “The new literacies of online research and comprehension: Assessing and preparing students for the 21st century with common core state standards,” in Reading instruction in the age of common core standards, International Reading Association.

Kelly Kearney, Cindy M. Massicotte and Ashley Ruegg co-presented with Catherine Little “Higher-level questioning: Closing the citation gap” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference.

Jennifer Klimis, Three Summers 2014, was one of six finalists for the Outstanding Educator Award in Pinellas County, Florida. She uses Joe Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model, which was included in her nomination packet.  Jennifer reports that although she didn’t win the Outstanding Educator award, it was fun and she felt honored to be in the top six.

Kara LaMonica and Juliana (Julie) MacSwan are working together on a project looking at the Grade 3 curricula; they are honors students looking to publish this work.

Graduate assistants, Ashley S. MacSuga and Lindsay Fallon, worked with Brandi Simonsen and George Sugai on “The Effects of Self-Monitoring on Teachers’ Use of Specific Praise” which was published in the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions.

Katherine Mattioli and Megan Mazzini investigated Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport. Mercy Learning Center educates 700 illiterate women per year and tries to provide meals and other essentials when they have enough to go around.  Katie and Megan are conducting a food drive to collect food to bring to the Center and are trying to enlist others to become tutors and volunteers.

Kelly O’Shea co-presented with Betsy D. McCoach and E. Jean Gubbins “Impact of different gifted identification rules and cut scores on population size and composition” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference.

Lisa DaVia Rubenstein, Micah Bruce-Davis, Cindy Massicotte and Merzilli Villanueva co-presented with E. Jean Gubbins “What can we learn from STEM schools of excellence?” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference.

Merzilli Villanueva presented “Communities creating change: Teaching active democratic citizenship through service-learning” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference.

Colin Walter, a junior education major, is a member of Funky Dawgz Brass Band. The band was featured as in a holiday message video from President Herbst has performs frequently.

Alumni

HESA recently welcomed back three alumni Patrick Duffy, ‘09, Westchester Community College; Billy Dunn, ’08, Westfield State University; Adam Frank, ’09, Westchester Community College; and Rachel Jones, ’10, Springfield Technical College to garner their feedback and insight on the program.

Timothy Candy was appointed assistant superintendent of Darien Public Schools. He earned a BS in elementary education in 1980.

Julie Coiro, Ph.D., Jill Castek, Ph.D., and Laurie Henry, Ph.D. co-wrote with Don Leu “New literacies: A dual level theory of the changing nature of literacy, instruction, and assessment” in the Theoretical models and processes of reading.

Congratulations to Eric Crumrine, ’10, for winning the Outstanding New Professional Award at NASPA Region 1.

Darcy Fiano, Ph.D. ’12, received a special honor from the International Reading Association: An Outstanding Dissertation Award. She is now invited to participate in the national conference in April 2013 where she will be recognized along with nine other winners.

Kate Gibney, ’97, ’98, was recently named Northern Valley District Teacher of the Year and will go on to compete at the county level in March.

Jason E. Maziarz, ’00, was named principal of Stevens Elementary School.

Janet Robinson, ’06 Ph.D., currently superintendent of Newtown schools, will be heading up Stratford schools starting in July. She was also honored at the Neag Alumni Awards Dinner as outstanding superintendent (she was nominated prior to the Newtown tragedy).

Kaitlin Roig, a first grader teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was at the White House for First Lady Michelle Obama’s State of the Union guest list. She was invited due to her bravery during the tragedy.

Ashley Vrabely, ’13, was selected as one of the 2013 ASCA Annual Conference Raymond Goldstone ASCA Foundation Scholarship recipients.

 

Faculty/Staff

A big thanks to the staff for all their hard work on the cluster hires and searches:

Valerie Pichette 

Katrease Sharavolli

Kathy Ivey

Dianna Geissert

Donalyn Maneggia

Mary Rinaldo-Ducat – special thanks to Mary for overseeing ALL the searches

Nayden Clinic is starting a step down program for clients who have been receiving PT at Nayden and have ‘graduated’ from PT but would still benefit from supervised exercise to enhance their recovery. Nayden’s step down program (Next STEP) will be piloted starting next week at the Hawley Armory fitness center. Participants must sign up in advance and it is a self-pay program that will run for 4 week sessions. They will be supervised by a combination of PT faculty and students.

Renzulli Academy – though the generous support of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the Renzulli Academy will be replicated in three school districts: Bridgeport, New London and Windham.

Peter Behuniak received a $150,000 grant on
Early Childhood Assessment
from the Connecticut Department of Education.

Tutita Casa and Katherine Gavin co-presented “Getting more into shapes across the younger grades” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference, Denver, CO. They also co-presented with other academics “Developing talent in the STEM fields in the era of the common core state standards” at the same conference. In addition, they presented “Awesome algebra for young mathematicians” at the same conference.

Morgaen Donaldson received a $265,000 grant on Educator Evaluation Pilot Program Study
from the Connecticut Department of Education.

Rachael Gabriel published Reading’s Non-negotiables: Elements of effective reading instruction. She also co-wrote Performances of research: Critical issues in K- 12 education.

Robin Grenier has been awarded a Fulbright to the University of Iceland beginning in January 2014. She will be conducting research and teaching in the museum studies program.  She co-edited “Performances of Research,” a book on the critical issues of K-12 education.  She also published “Reading’s Non-Negotiables,” a book on the elements of effective reading instruction.

Rachael E. Gabriel, with Co-PIs Morgaen Donaldson, Sarah Woulfin, and Kim LeChasseur, are one of 10 winners of MET Early Career Research Grants competition. The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and the National Academy of Education provide early career educational researchers with access to the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Longitudinal Database. Funding is provided by the William T. Grant Foundation and the Spencer Foundation, They will receive $25,000 each and access to the database for one year. Their project is entitled: Levels of Interactional Focus for Teacher Evaluation: An Exploration of Contrasting Protocols for Effective ELA Instruction.

Wendy Glenn has a publication in press “To witness and to testify:  Preservice teachers examine literary aesthetics to better understand diverse literature” in English Education. She wrote “Say what?: Exploring and responding to the unpredictable realties of censorship” for The Dragon Lode.  She has co-authored “Looking into and beyond time and place: The timeless potential of young adult literature” for The ALAN Review. She also wrote “The influence of

changing demographics on Norwegian schooling for social democracy” for Equity and Excellence in Education.

E. Jean Gubbins recently testified before members of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee with the State of Connecticut on a gifted and talented bill.

Jason Irizarry is a featured 2013 Latino Community Research Lecture speaker at The University of Saint Joseph (USJ). The lecture will take place on March 13, on the topic, “The Latinization of U.S. Schools.”

Jae-Eun Joo got funding for a project from AERA’s Education Research Service Projects (ERSP) initiative. This project will design and conduct a participatory evaluation inquiry to systemically document and analyze the unique STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education contributions of the Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn (L2TT2L) program to Boston’s urban youth and their communities.

William Kraemer received a $650,000 grant on
Adaptability of the Warfighter: A Interactive Model for Optimization of Performance and Resilience from the DOD/DARPA.

Don Leu co-authored “An online learning community as support for at-risk students’ literacy growth:  Findings, implications, and challenges” in Technology for literacy achievement in children at risk. He also co-authored “Working on understanding during collaborative online reading” in the Journal of Literacy Research. He was also interviewed for a documentary, Out of Print, in which the work of the New Literacies Research Lab is featured.  The film was directed by Vivienne Roumani and narrated by Meryl Streep. It will premier at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC in April.

Betsy McCoach and Del Siegle co-presented with five other academics “Publishing in gifted educational journals: Editors’ tips” for the Annual Convention of the National Association for Gifted Children.

Betsy McCoach co-presented with other academics “Talent development paths of women in gifted education” at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Convention.

Joan McGuire was the invited keynote address at the 25th annual conference of the Association for Higher Education Access & Disability, Dublin, Ireland. Her presentation was on “Universal Design for Instruction: A model for teaching diverse learners.”

Linda Pescatello presented at the ACSM Health Fitness Summit in Las Vegas on her 9th edition of ACSM guidelines for exercise testing and prescription “ACSM’s New Preparticipation Health Screening Recommendations.”

Jonathan Plucker co-presented with other academics “Supporting low-income, high-ability learners: Next steps in the research and policy agenda” at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference.

Sally Reis co-presented with other academics “Implementing RtI with gifted students: Service models, trends, and issues” at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Convention.

Joe Renzulli presented “Reexamining the conceptual foundations of 21st century gifted education: A theory into practice approach” at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Convention. He co-presented with Sally Reis “Implementing the Schoolwide Enrichment Model” at the same conference along with co-presenting with other academics “In their own voices in our time.”

Joe Renzulli was inducted into Asbury Park High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. He will be recognized along with 12 others at a ceremony in May.

Yuhang Rong was a panel moderator on “International Perspectives on Education Reform” at AACTE’s Annual Meeting in Florida.

Del Siegle co-presented with three other colleagues “Elaborating on Malleable Minds: Cases for professional development” at the Annual Convention of the National Association for Gifted Children. He co-presented with three other colleagues at the same conference “Making the case with Malleable Minds: Translating research to exemplary professional development”, along with presenting “Embracing Ebooks: Increasing students’ motivation to read and write.”

George Sugai served on a national panel discussing “Gun Violence Prevention” with Vice President Joe Biden serving as keynote speaker. The panel was sponsored by Sen. Murphy, Sen. Blumenthal, and Rep Esty. Sugai’s focus was on mental health and school safety initiatives. In addition, received a $143,266 grant on Preparing Effective Personnel for Infants and Young Children with Disabilities: The Foundation of Comprehensive Early Childhood Systems
from the ED/Office of Special Education & Rehabilitative Services/UConn Health Center.

 

 

 

 

 

After-School Exercise and Nutrition Program Reaches Out to Urban School Children

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Urban nutrition_4
Photo Caption: The USDA’s food plate makes it easy for children to understand healthy eating. (Photo courtesy of Meriden Board of Education)

CT FANs in Motion, a collaborative effort between the Department of Extension in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Department of Kinesiology in the Neag School of Education, has been funded through a $2.5 million competitive grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The grant is being used to enhance an existing 4-H youth development program called Fitness and Nutrition Cubs (FANs) that is designed to help reduce obesity in 9 to 14 year-old children. Initially, the expanded program will take place in five schools where students meet health and income guidelines. It was started at the Roger Sherman Elementary School in Meriden this fall, and will be rolled out over the next five years in schools in New Haven, Fairfield, and Windham counties.

“People continue to be surprised that we have active 4-H programs in urban centers,” says Wanda Hamilton, 4-H urban program coordinator for the New Haven County Extension Center, “but city programs are always very popular. School-based activities give these kids a familiar place to gather, they have older teens as positive role models, and they have fun at the same time they’re learning new things.”

Ana Gómez Volek, assistant research professor in the Department of Kinesiology, says the factors that contribute to childhood obesity are complex. “Poor food choices and physical inactivity are behaviors that we can target,” she says, “and the expanded program aims to educate children and parents by using innovative approaches to improve knowledge of nutrition and exercise.

Gómez Volek says one of the things that is different about this program is the addition of a research component that will track over time how the program affects the participants’ knowledge and attitude about diet and exercise. Researchers will also be obtaining non-invasive physiological measurements. Eventually, a smaller cohort of the children will be selected to come to campus to participate in specialized physical fitness testing using sophisticated equipment in the Department of Kinesiology’s Human Performance Laboratory.

Sustainable gardening

Umekia Taylor, associate cooperative extension educator-in-residence adds that CT FANs In Motion is designed to be a year-round program that will reach children and their families by providing activities that are both fun and educational. She is particularly enthusiastic about the addition of a gardening component.

“We have a commitment from the state’s Master Gardeners to work with the children, showing them how to plant sustainable gardens,” says Taylor. “This is helpful in teaching about nutrition, but it also involves the physical aspects of gardening … it’s exercise with an end result you can eat!”

Once the food that is grown in the gardens is harvested, the plan is to have a community night where children will bring their families to enjoy a meal prepared by local chefs who will use the fresh produce as a key component of the menu. At the end of the night, each family will get a bag of groceries that will enable them to replicate what they have just eaten when they return home.

Adding exergaming

CT FANs In Motion boasts another feature that makes it appealing to its youthful audience, and that’s the inclusion of ‘exergaming’ with Wii and Xbox. While children get to play traditional games involving such things as balls and hula hoops, the computer-generated activities that get them up and moving include a wide array of sports, dance, and exercises they might not otherwise encounter.

Taylor says, “A colleague of ours is one of the foremost gurus of exergaming in the United States. She is affiliated with the Learning Gaming Lab at New Mexico State University, which is one of the premier sites in the US studying the effects of interactive video games on children’s health.” Through that contact, the UConn researchers applied for grants that enabled them to purchase gaming equipment that will remain in the schools for use by the entire school population.

Hamilton, Gómez Volek, and Taylor all say the ultimate goal is to deliver year-round programming within a school setting that is beneficial to the children, their families, and their communities.

“We’re committed to making a sustained positive impact on the lives of children by implementing fun and creative programs that empower children and their parents to make more informed healthy lifestyle choices,” says Gómez Volek. “A side benefit is that we will expose families to cutting-edge science on diet and exercise, while we demystify the research process within these vulnerable communities.

“All of this should be instrumental in helping these children determine what makes a healthy lifestyle as they transition into adulthood.

For more information on supporting Neag School programs like these, and others, contact Heather McDonald at 860-486-4530, via email at hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu. 

Education Professor Speaks on School Safety at Major National Conference

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sugai panelGeorge Sugai, a professor in UConn’s Neag School of Education and an expert on school climate and student behavior, addressed a conference in February that included Vice President Joe Biden on the topic of making schools safer in the wake of the Sandy Hook School tragedy.

Sugai, who in December co-authored a national position paper on school violence following Newtown, told the invitation-only crowd of lawmakers, educators, political leaders, law enforcement officials, and others that preventing school violence at every level requires better communication between parents, students, teachers, and administrators.

“In most violent acts that occurred at school, somebody knew about the act before it occurred,” Sugai said, citing a recent Secret Service report that found at least one person knew beforehand of 80 percent of episodes of school violence.

“If we don’t have a means for communication, we’re not going to have the ability to put in place the things that are being discussed at this conference,” he said.

The conference was convened at Western Connecticut State University, with panel discussions moderated by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. Also speaking at the conference were Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, and experts on topics ranging from police work to psychology.

The keynote address was delivered by Biden, who called for stronger gun control laws and expanded attention to mental health care, saying the future will judge harshly if the country fails to act in the wake of Newtown.

“I cannot predict what will be written about us 20 or 30 years from now if we don’t act,” he said. “There’s a moral price to be paid for inaction.”

Sugai won applause from the attendees when he said the issue had to be taken as a whole, and that factors like communication and interpersonal relationships are critical to preventing school violence whether on the level of a Newtown or more commonplace incidents of bullying and related behavior.

The most important thing parents and educators can do, Sugai said, is make sure they’re involved with their children, to prevent a sense of isolation and the breakdown in communication channels that can lead to violence.

“I’m an optimist, and I really believe we can create a civil society, civil cultures, and civil neighborhoods,” he added. “We as individuals can actively do something today and tomorrow to change things for the better.”