Neag Team Leads the Way on Intensive Early Reading Initiative

Posted on November 5, 2012December 13, 2021 by Tom Breen

Michael Coyne, associate professor of educational psychology, reads with a group of first, second and third graders at the Windham Center School. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Connecticut has some of the nationʼs worst disparities when it comes to the reading performance of low-income students compared to their more affluent peers, but an innovative new initiative coordinated by the University of Connecticutʼs Neag School of Education aims to study and change that.

Launching this fall, the CT K-3 Literacy Initiative (CK3LI) will support schools in implementing research-grounded practices to improve the reading abilities of children in kindergarten through third grade, a crucial time for developing strong literacy skills.

The initiative, announced in August by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as part of the Stateʼs Education Reform to improve overall outcomes, was developed by the General Assemblyʼs Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. The initiative is based on research gathered in 2011 through a study funded by the Grossman Family Foundation promoting best practices in early literacy and closing the academic achievement gaps. Literacy How conducted the study in 15 Connecticut schools that showed the importance of proper reading assessment tools, timely interventions, well trained teachers and

coaches, and school leaders who make reading a priority. The Commission on Children also participated, teaching parents how children learn to read and what they can do at home and in school to bolster reading.

“If kids are reading well by the end of first grade, thereʼs an 80 to 90 percent chance theyʼll continue to read well,” said Neag School professor Michael Coyne, whoʼs overseeing the initiative along with fellow Neag professor George Sugai. Both are researchers in the Center for Behavioral Education and Research. “Unfortunately, the flip side is also true: we know that if students arenʼt reading well by the end of first grade, thereʼs an 80 to 90 percent chance theyʼll continue to struggle with reading.”

This expanded initiative commits $1.77 million in funding to support 25 new reading interventionist and literacy coach positions at five more schools selected in September through a competitive process, and showing a demonstrated commitment to improving reading outcomes. Each of the five elementary schools will have a literacy coach and four reading interventionists who will help adapt existing effective programs, develop new instructional methods, tailor lessons to individual student needs, and gather data to document student progress and implementation fidelity or accuracy. Each child not reading at proficiency will receive an individualized reading intervention plan. Parents will be informed and engaged as authentic partners. The Neag team will be supported by Hill for Literacy researchers in coordinating the initiative in the five schools.

Another important CK3LI objective is to give existing school and district staff the tools and strategies to continue to use methods and strategies that prove to be effective in improving reading skills.

“Itʼs so exciting that thereʼs real commitment to this initiative at the state level,” Coyne said. “This is going to enable us to focus resources and intervention efforts on those kids who need them the most.”

The five schools that will be participating in the CK3LI initiative are:

Ann E. Norris Elementary School in East Hartford Latino Studies Academy at Burns School in Hartford John Barry Elementary School in Meriden Truman Elementary School in New Haven Windham Center Elementary School in Windham

The state will increase that number by five schools per year. Among the responsibilities that the schools accepted as part of the CK3LI initiative are a commitment to providing students with uninterrupted reading instruction, access to evidence-based small group intervention strategies, and the creation of literacy teams that will meet regularly to examine studentsʼ progress and plan and adjust instruction. School and district administrators have committed time and priority to CK3LI implementation so that students, parents, and teachers will truly benefit from this unique opportunity.

In addition to intensive interventions at the five selected schools, the law also requires major statewide reforms, including a coordinated state-wide reading plan to bring consistency and quality to the way reading is taught across the state; reading instruction based on science; reducing the disproportionate and inappropriate ID of minority students as Special Ed.; professional development in reading for teachers and administrators; incentives for schools that improve their reading performance trend; and recommendations for a proven reading assessment tool that helps identify the specific individualized learning needs of early readers, K-3. The UConn Team will also be assisting with these important initiatives.

“There is compelling evidence that an intensive focus on literacy, particularly for those

identified as struggling early readers, can have a dramatic impact on a childʼs future school success,” said Connecticut Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor in a statement. “The General Assembly, particularly members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, deserves great credit for making early reading a priority as part of education reform this year. We look forward to building on this commitment.”

Right now, Coyne said the focus is on making sure the program is up and running at the five participating schools, but heʼs hopeful the initiative will provide the evidence and framework for an effective literacy approach that can take root in other schools.

In the end, all CT students will benefit from this unique effort; however, students who are at greatest academic risk will be experiencing an unprecedented opportunity to become successful readers.

New Practice Guide: Teaching Elementary School Students to be Effective Writers

Posted on November 5, 2012November 26, 2024 by

Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers, a new What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guide, provides four recommendations that teachers and other educators can use to improve students’ writing. After examining the relevant research evidence, a panel of experts in writing, language arts, and education research developed the practice guide that highlights the following recommendations.

The Recommendations

Provide daily time for students to write. Students need dedicated instructional time—a minimum of one hour a day—to learn and practice the skills and strategies necessary to become effective writers. During that hour, teachers can observe the way students write, identify difficulties, and assist them with learning and applying the writing process.
Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes. Writing well requires that the writer think carefully about the purpose for writing, plan what to say, plan how to say it, and understand what the reader needs to know. Students should be introduced to a variety of strategies for carrying out the writing process and learn how to write for different purposes.
Teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing, and word processing. When these basic writing skills become relatively effortless for students, they can focus less on the mechanics of writing and more on developing and communicating their ideas.
Create an engaged community of writers. Teachers should create a supportive environment in their classroom so that students are motivated to write well. Teachers should participate in the writing community and provide opportunities for students to collaborate with others, make decisions about what to write and how to write about it, and receive constructive feedback.

Each recommendation includes implementation steps and solutions for common roadblocks. The guide also uses a set of ratings — strong, moderate, or minimal — to indicate the strength of research evidence supporting each recommendation. Evidence ratings reflect the degree to which each recommendation is supported by high-quality experimental and quasi-experimental design studies that meet WWC standards. Information about these standards and other practice guides are available at whatworks.ed.gov. A pdf of Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers can be downloaded here.

About the Panelists: Recommendations in the practice guide were developed by a panel of seven practitioners and researchers who have expertise in writing instruction: Alisha A. Bollinger, M.Ed., is a teacher of fourth grade at Norris Elementary School in Firth, Nebraska; Carol Booth Olson, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and director of the UCI site of the National Writing Project; Catherine D’Aoust is the coordinator of English language arts, K–12, in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District in Mission Viejo, California, and co-director of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) site of the National Writing Project; Steve Graham, Ph.D., is the Warner Professor of Special Education at Arizona State University; Charles MacArthur, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Education at the University of Delaware; Deborah McCutchen, Ph.D., is a professor of education at the University of Washington; and Natalie Olinghouse, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of educational psychology and a research scientist in the Center for Behavioral Education and Research at the University of Connecticut.

About the What Works Clearinghouse: A project of the U.S. Department of Education, the WWC is a central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education. The WWC develops and implements standards for reviewing education research, assesses the rigor of research evidence on the effectiveness of interventions (programs, products, practices, and policies), and produces user-friendly practice guides for educators. The WWC is administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences through a contract with Mathematica Policy Research.

Neag Study: School Psychologists Can Play Key Role in Reducing Obesity, Raising Scores

Posted on November 5, 2012February 17, 2023 by

How school psychologists can help students prevent obesity and, in turn, achieve academic success is the focus of a study conducted by Neag School of Education researchers and published in the National Association of School Psychologists’ School Psychology Forum.

Based on research Neag Educational Psychology doctoral student Scott McCarthy conducted for his dissertation, the study entitled “The Link Between Obesity and Academics: School Psychologists’ Role in Collaborative Prevention” outlines for educators what McCarthy calls a “practical and sustainable” plan for school psychologists like himself to implement interventions such as increased regular physical activity and nutrition education that, among other benefits, can contribute to academic achievement.

“It’s proven that obesity leads to physical health problems like diabetes and emotional problems like depression, as well as to other troublesome, negative results like social isolation, being bullied and low self-esteem,” said McCarthy who, in addition to pursing his Ph.D., works full-time as a public school psychologist in Greenwich. “The science of how weight influences students’ school performance is still emerging, but real evidence is there and, as educators, we need to be concerned and begin conceptualizing what we can do to help students succeed.”

Although a concrete cause-and-effect relationship between childhood obesity and academic performance has not yet been concretely established, research conducted by organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics—along with additional studies published in journals like the Journal of Adolescent Health and Preventative Medicine—make the connection impossible to ignore, McCarthy said. Results of these studies and others show that students who are overweight or obese score lower on standardized measures of academic achievement, as well as perform worse in the classroom.

Emerging research, however, suggest that when students lose weight, their grades improve. School-directed initiatives and best practices shown to be effective include:

Walking for 15 minutes before the start of class
Having gym every day
Incorporating nutrition and obesity education into health and science classes
Eliminating sugary soft drinks from school lunch options and adding more vegetables and fruits
Getting rid of school soda and candy vending machines
Providing parents and school staff with nutrition and obesity education
Adding intramurals or other afterschool programs that give students additional opportunities for physical activity

In addition to these and similar strategies, schools in nine states (Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia) also annually conduct Body Mass Index (BMI) screenings to determine whether students’ degree of body fat, or BMI, make them obese, according to national and CDC guidelines.

School psychologists, who among other roles work to identify subgroups of students with special needs, are in the ideal position to advocate for, encourage or coordinate these kinds of efforts, the Neag study says.

“What’s important about Scott’s paper is that it not just shows the connection between a healthy weight and academic success, but that it provides simple interventions that can be integrated into health and science classes, at lunch time, or at other points during the school day,” said Neag School of Education Assistant Professor and Research Scientist Lisa Sanetti, PhD, who with Neag doctoral student Lindsay M. Fallon served as study co-authors.

Neag doctoral student Scott McCarthy presents a research poster based on his dissertation.

Equally important, McCarthy added, is that these interventions can be maintained: “So many times, schools get funding for great programs that make a difference for a while, but then are dropped when the grant ends or needed resources are no longer available. That’s why the suggestions we outline revolve around schools using current staff and are varied, so educators can pick what might work best based on their specific needs and circumstances.”

National Association of School Psychologists members can access the complete article here.

McCarthy also stresses that while most obesity-academic studies and projects have focused on elementary students, middle and high school students need to be included as well: “Ideally, steps can be taken to prevent obesity before it occurs. But at all grade levels, our job as educators is to serve the whole child—not just their academic needs, but their overall health and well-being needs as well. School is a powerful place. Every child spends six or seven hours a day here, so we can really make a difference.”

“Researchers will continue to study the connection between academics and obesity,” McCarthy added. “But just like schools have implemented programs to show the kids the dangers of doing drugs, or being a bully, schools now need to show the dangers of obesity.”

Neag Alum is Teaching in China

Posted on September 27, 2012June 9, 2025 by

During my final year at UConn, my passion for travel and foreign cultures led me to seek a teaching position abroad. With a 12-hour time difference, a history steeped in mystery and legend, and a written language based on thousands of characters, the Peopleʼs Republic of China was about as far away as I could go.

Currently, I teach English and history at the international division of Shanghai High School, one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Although about 40 percent of the staff are foreign teachers like me, and courses based on an international curriculum are offered, it is still very much a ʻChineseʼ school: There is a heavy emphasis on testing and teacher-centered instruction. The hard sciences are favored over subjects like history. Change occurs slowly. Suggested improvements must be made subtly and indirectly before passing through a long bureaucratic process, a staple of Chinese society.

For someone passionate about social studies and who graduated from UConnʼs Neag School of Education – which offers one of Americaʼs premier education programs – these cultural differences present some major challenges. I came to China with the ʻnobleʼ intention of observing local culture and understanding it. This I have managed to do. However, Chinese culture manifests itself in my workplace as mentioned above, and though I understand it, I struggle to work effectively in its context on a day-to-day basis. On more than one occasion, I have left meetings fuming over a pedagogical disagreement I had with a Chinese teacher.

These challenges aside, the work experience is immensely rewarding. One of my best lessons was an interview project in my ninth-grade honors history class. I offered students an extra credit assignment to interview relatives who had lived under Chairman Mao (1945-76). The heart-wrenching stories they came back with blew me away. Just as I respected my grandparentsʼ generation for their hard work and struggles through the Great Depression and World War II, so do I now respect Chinaʼs “Greatest Generation.” Not only did they live through the Japanese invasion, they then survived starvation and epic purges at the hands of their own government.

Experiences outside my job have also contributed to my developing an unabashed pride for China. From sparking a conversation with locals to ordering food at a restaurant, I feel I grow as a person and learn things constantly, just by going through my daily routine!

Lastly, if you have not had a chance to try it, real Chinese food is amazing. Most takeout restaurants in America are not representative of authentic Chinese cuisine, and the dust found in Lipton tea sachets is not tea. The variety of dishes and broad spectrum of flavors and colors is enough to satisfy even the most discriminating of foodies. My favorite dish is Shanghaiʼs most famous dumpling called xiaolongbao, a juicy morsel of seasoned pork wrapped in a delicate piece of dough, steamed to perfection. The teas are so delicious you never need to mask their flavor with milk, lemon, or sugar. The leaves can be infused sometimes as many as a dozen times without losing flavor!

The Peopleʼs Republic of China is larger than the continental U.S. and contains hundreds of ethnic groups, each of which has their own language and customs. The rich history and challenging work environment have inspired me to sign on for a third year.

Nicholas Banas ʼ10 (ED, CLAS), ʼ10 MA grew up in Mystic, Conn., but has been living in Shanghai, China, since fall 2010. He teaches AP World History, Ancient Civilizations, Honors 20th-century History, and English as a Foreign Language to students in 9th through 12th grade. His website, nicholasbanas.com, includes a blog about life in China.

Retired Educator Pledges Estate to Endow Scholarship Fund

Posted on September 27, 2012April 12, 2018 by

Neag alum As a biology teacher and department head for E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Jack Cohen helped educate young people for most of his life.

Retired in 1989 after 31 years, Cohen still believes deeply in the value of education and has decided to support it even after he is gone. Cohen has pledged his considerable estate to establish an endowed scholarship fund at the University of Connecticut, which governed E.O. Smith during much of his tenure at the high school.

Financial support for college is something Cohen knows about first hand. “Friends of family helped me while I was in college,” says Cohen, who relied on the G.I. bill after serving in the military during World War II to get his bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and his master’s degree from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He received a master’s degree in education from UConn in 1965.

For the grandchildren of a close friend, Cohen has provided a helping hand, covering room and board. He continues to help with college expenses. “I have one more to get through college,” says Cohen, who never had children of his own.

Cohen’s passion for helping is encouraged by his memory of a colleague’s story about growing up poor and going to college with help from the family who employed her mother as a maid. “After hearing that story, my wife said we should do something like that,’” says Cohen. His wife passed away more than 20 years ago but her memory will live on with his, through the fund that will carry their names, the Jack and Francine Cohen Scholarship.

“I’m fortunate that I have done well in life and I am happy I can help,” says Cohen.

The UConn Foundation, which raises funds from private sources to support the University, is ramping up its efforts to increase scholarship support for UConn students, says Heather McDonald, director of development for the Neag School of Education.

“During the 2010-2011 academic year, 72 percent of UConn undergraduates applied for need-based financial aid and 76 percent of those who applied received it. But of those who received need-based financial aid, only 16% had their need fully met,” says McDonald. “We are working to make our alumni and friends aware of the University’s growing need for privately funded scholarships. Mr. Cohen’s generous gift will make a huge difference to a lot of our students.”

For more information on supporting the Neag School of Education, click here or contact Heather McDonald at hmcdonald@foundation.uconn.edu.

Major League Baseball Calls Anderson to the Big Leagues

Posted on September 27, 2012March 31, 2016 by

Jeffrey Anderson, the physician responsible for the health and safety of the 650 student-athletes who represent UConn in 24 sports, has been named the new independent administrator of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program for Major League Baseball (MLB) and the MLB Players Association.

In his new role Anderson will administer testing requirements, monitor collection procedures and testing protocols, and audit test results for major league players. He will also administer the process of the Therapeutic Use Exemption, which permits athletes to take a prohibited medication. In addition, Anderson will prepare and release an annual public report on the programʼs findings.

The appointment of Anderson follows the announcement in early June by MLB and the Players Association of several revisions to their Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, including adding testing for human-growth hormone, increasing the number of random tests of players during the season and off-season, and strengthening protocols for addressing drug abuse by players. Since baseball introduced its random drug testing policy in 2004, strengthening its ban on controlled substances in place since 1991, 66 active major league players have been suspended for use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to Wikipedia.

Anderson will continue his responsibilities in Storrs as director of sports medicine at UConn and acting director of medical services within Student Health Services. He has served as an assistant clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Connecticutʼs Health Center since 1996, and medical director for research in the Department of Kinesiologyʼs Human Performance Laboratory in the Neag School of Education since 2005. Anderson serves as chair of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. The University of Michigan Medical School graduate is board-certified in family medicine, with an added qualification in sports medicine.

While Andersonʼs responsibilities will be separate from his role at UConn, it is the second time a major sports league has looked to a member of the faculty in UConnʼs top-ranked Department of Kinesiology for their expertise. The department is home to the Korey Stringer Institute, which was established by the National Football League to provide information, resources, assistance, and advocacy for the prevention of sudden death in sport, especially as it relates to exertional heat stroke. The chief operating officer of the Institute is Douglas Casa ʼ97 Ph.D., professor and director of athletic training in the Department of Kinesiology and a nationally known expert on heat stroke.

“The health of athletes and concern for their safety and prevention of injury continue to be increasingly important throughout all sports,” said Pat Courtney, spokesman for MLB. “Dr. Andersonʼs appointment was a joint decision made by us and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The process included lengthy review of candidate resumes, multiple interviews, and discussions with anti-doping experts.”

Carl Maresh, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology and head of the kinesiology department, says, “This is a great opportunity for Jeff. I think it not only speaks well for his skill as a clinician and an educator, but to the reputation he has made as a researcher as part of his work as medical director of the Human Performance Laboratory. Our department can claim some of the best faculty in the United States with expertise in the strength and conditioning, and health and safety, of athletes. We are extremely fortunate to have Jeff Anderson as a highly dedicated member of our research team.”

Anderson says during his discussions with MLB and the Players Association the independent role of the position in the testing of athletes was highlighted.

“In the interview process I went through, they hit me with terrific questions – a lot about my independence and objectivity, because itʼs very important that I maintain my objectivity in the job,” he says. “Itʼs not just a symbolic position that they created so they have somebody there. Where I would ultimately come in is if there is an adverse result when it comes in from the testing lab. Iʼm responsible for determining if itʼs a true positive and then reporting to the Commissionerʼs office and Players Association simultaneously.”

Anderson, whose published research has included work in the area of the effects of drugs on athletic performance, says while there is no evidence more athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs, the attention on those cases that become the focus of widespread media coverage and legal action, such as former pitcher Roger Clemens, makes it seem so.

“I know more people are being caught because more testing is occurring,” he says. “Like anything else, itʼs being talked about so itʼs getting attention. We have 8,000 media outlets that have to fill 24 hours of sports talk. They need things to talk about.

“Basically the thrust of any good testing program is that it tries to do the right thing,” he adds. “You donʼt want to punish people who are innocent, but yet you donʼt want people to participate in activities that harm themselves, harm their sport, and harm people who aspire to be in that sport. [Testing plays] a really important role in both the health of the athlete and the integrity of the sports.”

Anderson says that while his work with Major League Baseball is not directly related to his work at UConn, the experience will benefit the student athletes whose health and safety he oversees.

“It helps round me out as a physician taking care of them” he says. “I donʼt know how many of the kids will know. It does make me better able to give them good advice based on further experience and things that Iʼve seen.”

Neag’s Korey Stringer Institute Fighting to Keep High School Athletes Safe

Posted on September 27, 2012February 16, 2023 by

Two and a half years after it opened in the Neag School of Education, UConn’s Korey Stringer Institute is on a mission to protect high school athletes around the country from heat stroke and other serious illness and injury.

To date, eight states – Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut – have adopted important pre-season practice guidelines promoted by the Institute. The guidelines eliminate intense “two-a-day” workouts at the start of preseason and allow young athletes’ bodies to gradually adjust to exertion in hot weather during phased-in summer practices.

Fourteen others states are currently working with the KSI to improve their existing policies so they are in line with the Institute’s recommendations.

UConn Kinesiology Professor Douglas J. Casa, the Institute’s chief operating officer, says the KSI’s goal is to have every state in the country adopt the guidelines within the next few years.

“The majority of heat stroke cases occur during initial summer workouts when athletes are neither prepared to cope with the environmental conditions nor the new physiological demands placed on them during workouts,” says Casa. “These heat acclimatization guidelines mandate that athletes be eased into these intense practice sessions, lowering their chances for exertional heat stroke.”

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heat illness is the leading cause of death and disability among high school athletes in the United States, sidelining athletes for more than 9,000 days a year, with most occurring in August when intense pre-season practices start. Since 2006, there have been 20 heat stroke-related deaths of high school athletes, according to the University of North Carolina’s National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury. A 2012 study by researchers at the University of Georgia revealed that deaths of high school football players due to heat nearly tripled from 1994 and 2009 compared to the previous 15 years.

Named after the Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman who died from extertional heat stroke in 2001, the Korey Stringer Institute is dedicated to providing first-rate information, resources, assistance and advocacy for the prevention of sudden death in sport. Heat stroke is one of seven core issues the KSI focuses on. The Institute also advocates for greater use of automated external defibrillators; mandated athletic trainers on site for all high school practices and games; expanded coaching education; use of wet bulb globe temperature for more accurate weather readings reflecting both heat and humidity; and the creation of clearly-defined emergency action plans for when athletes fall ill.

Stringer’s widow, Kelci Stringer, created the Institute at UConn because of the University’s national reputation for top-flight research in heat, hydration and other issues impacting the performance of athletes and the physically active. The National Football League, Gatorade and TIMEX support the Institute’s work as corporate sponsors.

Casa and staff from the KSI have been traveling around the country over the past two years meeting with coaches, parents, athletic associations and lawmakers in an attempt to gain support for the heat acclimatization guidelines, which were first introduced through the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) in June 2009. Casa co-chaired the NATA committee overseeing the new standards.

One state was particularly aggressive about adopting the new guidelines. After three young athletes collapsed from exertional heat stroke during one of the hottest summers on record in 2010, Arkansas officials moved swiftly to put greater protections in place.

One of the athletes, a 16-year-old high school football player named Tyler Davenport, died from complications due to exertional heat stroke. Two others, high school football player Will James and junior high basketball tryout Logan Johnson, survived, primarily due to quick-thinking staff members who moved swiftly to cool the boys’ bodies prior to transport to a local hospital.

Nine months after the incidents, Arkansas officials adopted new laws requiring all public high schools to have emergency action plans for serious athlete illness or injury; automatic external defibrillators on site and additional emergency medical training for coaching staff. Arkansas adopted NATA’s heat acclimatization guidelines in 2012 and is now considered a national leader in protecting its high school athletes on the practice field.

“I absolutely think these policies were needed,’ says Jason Cates, head athletic trainer at Cabot Public Schools in Arkansas and current president of the Arkansas Athletic Trainers’ Association. “We had three high-profile incidents in the state of Arkansas in 2010. We had no choice but to make changes to how we were managing two-a-day workouts in Arkansas.”

Heat-related incidents were dramatically reduced in college athletics after the NCAA adopted stricter practice standards in 2003. The National Football League eliminated two-a-day contact practices as part of its 2011 collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association. But high school athletics is different, Casa says. There is no overarching national governing body that has the authority to mandate policy changes and states are left to their own devices in terms of regulating athletic practice sessions. Most states’ policies are conveyed as recommendations with little or no penalty for non-compliance.

So the struggle, for the Korey Stringer Institute, NATA and the high school parents and community associations looking for change, centers on the local and state level.

“The body of evidence supporting heat acclimatization is large,” says Casa. “By not mandating heat acclimatization guidelines, states are failing to protect their athletes; and, in fact, are placing them at greater risk for exertional heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses. We urge coaches, school leadership, parents and legislators to push their states to establish new guidelines or have inadequate guidelines revised.

Cates praised Casa and his staff for their tireless effort.

“Getting those eight states to adopt these rule changes has been a monumental feat,” Cates says. “Change is hard on any level, but the facts have been proven from studies done at KSI, at the NCAA level, and with the recent three-year study in the state of Georgia. We still have a long way to go, but we now have eight states that serve as models.”

Casa is quick to mention that it shouldn’t take an untimely athlete death to draw attention to critical issues like heat stroke and the need for more athletic trainers on site at high school practices to keep students safe. The Korey Stinger Institute is in the process of drumming up additional financial support so that it can continue conducting research, building a national policy database and advocating for families and youths across the country. The Institute has garnered many supporters along the way. Andrea Johnson, Logan Johnson’s mother, is one.

“Our family has been fortunate to meet Dr. Douglas Casa of the Korey Stinger Institute and we hope that through Logan’s story, others will be educated about exertional heat stroke and help spread the word to save many lives.” Johnson says.

Anyone wishing to donate to the University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute may do so here.

To view a video about the Korey Stringer Institute, click here.

Hunger: Does it Justify the Means

Posted on September 27, 2012December 8, 2016 by

Dr. Wendy Glenn, associate professor of English education at the Neag School of Education and young adult literature expert, gives a review of the book “The Hunger Games” for the French newspaper, Le Monde. Below is her review.

Theater image from The Hunger Games movie. (Google images)

The Hunger Games series has become so successful among both teens and adults given both the quality of writing and the complicated issues the novels raise. Readers enter a world that is described in compelling, rich detail; they witness a reality that, on the surface, seems distant, and come to care about the well-developed characters who inhabit this place.

However, as is true across dystopian titles, the three novels in the series call into question assumptions about readers’ own realities and societies, thus encouraging connection and reflection. The fact that the story is grounded in the coming of age process, one that is often defined by idealism and hope, heightens readers’ willingness to root for Katniss and those close to her.

I appreciate how Collins avoids the glamorization of violence in the novels; the violence is both uncomfortable and necessary. We, as readers, witness the results of a class-based system gone awry, one in which entertainment is derived in ways reminiscent of the Roman gladiator tradition. Collins uses violence to show just how low those in this community have gone, effectively issuing a warning to readers in our time and place.

In the midst of violence that results from a persistent belief in societal stratification and the valuing of people based upon where they live and what they possess, those moments of empathy and human connection that do arise (such as when Katniss sings a lullaby for Rue upon her death) are all the more poignant and somehow special. I believe these moments serve as a reminder of what really matters, thus urging us to honor and fight for equity and respect among all people.

The Hunger Games can be defined as political in nature. I argue that the series can be read as a critique of a capitalistic economic system that inherently creates disparities among citizens and rewards and punishes in inequitable ways. This theme can be likened to school funding in the United States in which students who hail from wealthier communities enjoy up-to-date school facilities and text materials, ample resources in the form of technology and extra-curricular opportunities, and, subsequently, greater opportunities for enrichment and success. In less affluent communities, the pervasive influence of concentrated poverty inevitably introduces greater challenges into the school and larger community.

Young adult (YA) fiction is thriving in part due to novels like Twilight and The Hunger Games. Admittedly, publishers recognize that adolescent readers have more expendable income than in the past and are a ready market for sales; interest in YA titles among movie makers doesn’t hurt either.

However, the field is strong beyond these high profile titles and offers teen readers incredible variety and high quality. John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars challenges readers to embrace life and loss in their full complexity. Matt de la Peña’s Mexican WhiteBoy exposes readers to new and culturally influenced ways of defining their identities. And Laurie Halse Anderson’s Chains tests and contests readers’ assumptions about history and those whose voices have been historically silenced in the United States.

Quilts, Surreal Photos At UConn Library

Posted on September 27, 2012December 8, 2016 by

Quilts In 2008, Catherine Whall Smith was working on a quilt about the presidents of the United States. She thought Hillary Clinton would get the Democratic nomination and then win the presidency. Then Clinton conceded. So Smith excluded Clinton and just changed the name of the quilt to “Where’s Hillary?”

That wasn’t the only time Smith changed the theme of a quilt in the middle of creating it. In 2009, she was working on a yellow quilt, and she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. She was given three kinds of medicine. One was yellow. “It seemed appropriate,” she says. She changed the theme of her quilt to “Lyme Disease Babiosa Strain.”

“When I’m planning a quilt, I might pick out a palette, but I interpret it as I work with it,” Smith says. “The quilt itself tells me where it’s going.”

Smith’s quilts are the focus of a new exhibit at the University of Connecticut, “Line Dances.” It is at the Homer Babbidge Library and the Dodd Center on campus in Storrs.

Smith, who retired in 2008 from her position at UConn’s Neag School of Education, is inspired by a lot of things: her family, her friends, hay bales she sees in the fields while commuting from Chaplin to Storrs.

She has a lot of fun with those hay bales. “I just noticed them one day, in the field, with the white plastic over them. They fascinated me. They looked like marshmallows,” she says. Her quilts show variations on the theme of white-covered hay bales. A single bale is “Alone But Not Lonely.” In a row, they’re “Pearly Whites.” In the sunshine, they’re “Hay in Heat.” In the enticing autumnal colors, they’re “Rolling in the Hay.”

Not all of Smith’s quilts are amusing. One titled “Pain” was made after her sister died. The quilt features lines intersecting each other in almost a grid pattern. “Pain goes in and out and through you until you’re rid of it,” she says. “Drilling for Oil,” from 2008, is accented by a penguin pattern, to show the creatures whose lives are endangered by oil drilling.

But really, every quilt she makes is about one thing: patterns, colors, lines, especially the wavy lines that are her trademark. “These lines are the voice in my quilts,” she writes.

‘Natura Morta’

Daniel Mosher Long got his MA at the Neag School, but that’s where his and Smith’s commonalities end.

As an artist, Long gathers together strange accumulations of objects — a wrench, lace and a robin’s egg; dead bugs and pretty china; bird claws, flower petals and mah jonng tiles; a caterpillar, a light bulb and a cut-glass plate — arranges them artfully and then photographs them, giving them all an antique look that emphasizes their strangeness.

His work is the focus of another show in the Homer Babbidge Library at UConn, “Natural Morta.”

“Many but not all of the objects in my photos are family mementos. Things passed down through the generations. Other things I have found in and around Mansfield (i.e. animal bones) or purchased during my travels,” he says. “Most of the birds, snakes and rodents (mice, voles, shrews) were supplied by my two cats.

“I had a collection of oddities long before I started photographing them,” he says.

Even though his objects are odd and his arrangements are often disturbing, Long says he does not intend for the images to be sinister.

“Many of the objects I use in the compositions are not suitable for Hallmark cards. And I have an interest in how objects are associated with magic and voodoo. But I do not go out of my way to make images that are scary or disturbing,” he says.

Long, a resident of Mansfield who teaches photography at Manchester Community College, says he likes it when the objects create a narrative. But that’s not necessary.

“I also like my images to be open to interpretation. I like ambiguity. I don’t want the work to be too literal,” he says. “I think the work is more interactive, more engaging, when it is less straightforward.”

LINE DANCES: QUILTS BY CATHERINE WHALL SMITH and NATURA MORTA: CABINET OF CURIOSITIES will be at the Homer Babbidge Library, 369 Fairfield Way, and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, 405 Babbidge Road, both at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, until Friday, Oct. 19. Opening receptions for all three exhibits will be on Sunday, July 29, from 2 to 4 p.m. Details: http://lib.uconn.edu/about/exhibits.

To see more pictures of the exhibits, visit here.

Researchers Win $3 Million Grant to Probe Surprising Science Learning Gap

Posted on September 27, 2012December 1, 2021 by

UConn researchers, backed by a $3 million federal grant, are beginning an ambitious project aimed at understanding why some urban schools are excelling in science education, research that could ultimately change the way the subject is taught around the country.

The five-year School Organization and Science Achievement Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is unique by specifically examining science education not only in the classroom, but in terms of the entire educational environment. John Settlage, a professor at UConn’s Neag School of Education and the principal investigator, said the idea for the project came from studying elementary science test scores. What was surprising was that certain urban schools in Connecticut were outperforming not only their city peers, but also many suburban schools.

That’s prompted researchers to look beyond what happens in classrooms to learn how successful science performance arises from systems of relationships. This includes examining all stakeholders, from the building’s principal to the lead science teacher, and even parents and volunteers who partner with the school.

John Settlage, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, is principal investigator of a study aimed at understanding how certain schools excel in science education. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

“We’re taking an ecological view of science education,” Settlage said. “How we teach science is obviously important, but we should not ignore the bigger picture. The interactions among people throughout the school, including with the surrounding community, all contribute to children’s science learning.”

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that uneven success in schools translates into unequal access to college and career options for certain students. Settlage’s study promises to shed light on improving the quality of all children’s science experiences.

A multidisciplinary project, UConn researchers joining Settlage are educational statistics guru Betsy McCoach, educational leadership experts Morgaen Donaldson and Anysia Mayer, and post-doctoral fellow Regina Suriel. Right now, the researchers are working to firm up arrangements with school districts including Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport. In total, Project SOSA will involve 150 schools in Connecticut and Florida, where researchers at the University of Central Florida are collaborating with the UConn team.

Ultimately, the goal is to craft a set of recommendations about school leadership and organization practices that can be used by educators around the country. The result will be improved school environments where science teachers and science students can thrive. These efforts will also inform UConn’s science teacher and school administrator preparation programs.

“You can be the best science teacher in the world, but if you’re not in the right environment and there is not solid leadership, then those problems will show on the science test,” Settlage said.