Quick Links:

• Recruitment Efforts
• Enrollment
• Critical Teacher Shortage Areas
• Early College Experience Program
• Retention and Career Planning

Recruitment Efforts

K-12 Student Recruitment:

• In-person and virtual meetings with prospective students and parents
• Collaboration with K-12 school districts, especially partnership districts, such as East Hartford, Manchester, and West Hartford
• Attend East Hartford High School College and Career Expo

UConn Storrs Recruitment:

• Campus Visit and UConn Bound events, fall and spring (2 in-person events each semester)
• IB/M Pre-Teaching and Pre-Sport Management Information Sessions, fall and spring
• IB/M Application Workshop, fall
• Virtual and in-person meetings with prospective students
• TCPCG prospective teacher candidate transcript evaluations
• Collaborate with The Major Experience (TME) program to recruit IB/M & SPM TME mentors that work with prospective students
• Recruitment postings in Daily Digest and Advising Digest, fall & spring
• First Year Programs Pre-Professional Exhibition (targeted toward first generation and underrepresented students), spring

UConn Regional Campus Recruitment:

• Pre-Teaching and Pre-Sport Management virtual and in-person information sessions: Avery Point, Downtown Hartford, Stamford, and Waterbury campuses
• Major Fair, Avery Point Campus
• In-person and virtual meetings with prospective students
• IB/M virtual Application Workshops, fall
• Recruitment postings in Daily Digest and Advising Digest, fall and spring
• Collaborated with regional ACES advisors for student recruitment and course schedule advising

Transfer Student Recruitment:

• Transcript evaluations for prospective students
• Virtual meetings with prospective students
• Outreach to UConn Transfer Admissions to update major planning guides

Other Recruitment Activities:

• Neag School Advising website for prospective education students (how to apply, program guidelines and sample semester sequences, frequently asked questions, etc.)
• Recruitment flyers and postings disseminated via UConn Daily Digest & Advising Digest, social media platforms, Neag School website, cultural centers, academic buildings, and via email to prospective sophomores & advisors
• Recruitment social media campaign with admitted students
• TEACH Connecticut website

Critical Teacher Shortage Areas

The Advising and Certification Office continued to engage in targeted recruitment efforts to increase student enrollment in low-enrollment teacher education disciplinary areas and critical teacher shortage areas. Through these efforts, the Neag School is helping to address shortage areas in the state of Connecticut and nationally, and to meet the requirements for Candidate Recruitment in CAEP Standard 3.

Recruitment Efforts, Summer/Fall 2024-Spring 2025

• Advisors, Neag School faculty and communication staff revised recruitment flyers and website for secondary science, math and world language, which describe the majors, career trajectories, and financial incentives
• Promotion of critical shortage areas through outreach to Academic Center for Exploratory Students (ACES) and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) advisors, including targeted emails prior to admission deadlines
• Fall 2024 Neag Panel for Future Educators – IB/M seniors and master’s students discussed their experiences in the IB/M program and their preparation to teach in special education, world languages, social studies, and math classrooms.
• Second admissions opportunity offered for open spots in critical shortage area majors; this year in history/social studies, math, science, special education, and world language.

Cultivating Underrepresented Educators, Supporting Underserved Communities Project

Current K-12 teachers and school counselors work with Neag School teacher education and school counseling students on a community of practice. The intent is to remove financial barriers associated with educator certification and to provide professional development for both Neag School students and their mentors.

Early College Experience (ECE) Program

The Neag School of Education offers four education ECE Program courses with the goal of increasing the number of students who ultimately enter the fields of education and sport:

• EPSY 1100: Introduction to Special Education (3 credits)
• EDCI 1100: If You Love It, Teach It (3 Credits)
• EDLR 1162: Health and Education in Urban Communities (1 credit)
• EDLR 2001: Contemporary Issues in Sport (3 credits)

These courses offer high school students the opportunity to gain UConn credit, satisfy a UConn general education requirement, and explore teaching and/or sport management as a possible career path. In fall 2024, we held the first annual Education Early College Experience Day with over 100 high school students and teachers in attendance.

The original pilot of the Neag School’s ECE courses, in 2021-2022, included five districts, most of which are designated as Connecticut Alliance Districts: East Hartford, Farmington, Hartford, New Britain, and Waterbury. In 2024-2025, 924 high schoolers in 45 schools were enrolled in education ECE courses.

Retention and Career Planning Initiatives

The Advising and Certification Office engages in efforts to enhance student retention and success, which are aligned with CAEP Standard 3 Monitoring and Supporting Candidate Progression and informed by research related to student support and retention. In addition, staff support candidates’ career readiness, employment and certification, in Connecticut and nationally.

Advisors support meaningful student engagement, transition, and a sense of belonging within the school and into students’ professional programs in many ways, including:

• Connecting students to communities in their profession.
• Connecting students to communities within the Neag School through student groups, community hours, orientations, student events and recognitions, and opportunities to engage with faculty and staff

Career Planning Efforts

• Resume and cover letter writing workshop
• Career Development Modules posted in HuskyCT cohort site
• Interviewing workshop, led by K-12 school district administrators
• Administrator virtual panel for TCPCG students
• Education Career Fair, spring
• Mock Interviews, spring
• Educator Certification
  • In 2025, we launched a new Certification landing page on the Neag School website with webpages for each educator licensure program (Reading, School Administrator, School Counseling, School Psychology, Speech & Language Pathology, Superintendency, Teacher Education)
  • Connecticut certification process presentations (IB/M, TCPCG, and School Counseling)
  • Out-of-State Certification Support
    • Certification information flyers for other states
    • Individual student meetings & fall virtual information session
    • Complete verification forms and letters for recent or previous program completers

Student Retention Efforts

Academic Support:

• IB/M and SPM new student advising sessions by major, spring
• IB/M and SPM preliminary/junior plan of study meetings by major, fall
• IB/M junior, senior, and fifth year orientations, fall
• IB/M senior student teaching orientation, spring
• IB/M elementary senior-year rotating schedule meeting and handouts, spring
• Course schedule emails to each IB/M and SPM cohort, fall & spring
• Updating of advising syllabi for each major, spring
• IB/M and SPM cohort sites in HuskyCT (repository for information on advising, career, clinic, and teacher licensure testing)
• Academic Success Plan and meetings for students on university academic notice
• Professional Growth Plans for IB/M and SPM students
• Bi-weekly Teacher Education Unit (TEU) student support meeting (IB/M faculty and staff discuss students of concern)
• Individual student meetings regarding course scheduling, plan of study, and academic support
• Review prospective applicant academic advising reports/transcripts to ensure they are on track for fall admission and transition into the professional program
• In spring 2025, to further support the successful transition from junior to senior year, the assistant dean and certification officer visited each of the junior methods courses. We reviewed general resources and licensure test preparation materials on HuskyCT, answered questions about licensure test completion timelines, had students run their advising report and check total credits toward graduation and their approved preliminary plans of study, and reminded students about contacts for advising and support.

General Student Support:

• In fall 2024, we held a Community Building event for Teacher Education students with an alumni student panel
• Individual appointments with current students
• Provide support to Neag student Groups: Teacher Education Student Association (TESA) and Leadership in Diversity (LID)
• Junior Mentoring Program for IB/M students

Teacher Licensure Test Preparation:

• Development of test preparation materials for each major with information on test accommodations, fee waivers, and test preparation resources
• Created culture of test preparation
• Outreach to graduates missing passing licensure test scores

Junior Mentoring and Orientation Program for Campus Change and Transfer Students

In fall 2022, we created a mentorship program for incoming IB/M students (initially just campus change and transfer students) identified as needing academic or other support to successfully transition through the IB/M program. Participating junior mentees are paired with an IB/M master’s student, typically in their subject area. Mentees receive support, knowledge of available resources and communities, and form connections with IB/M students. Mentors gain experience mentoring and share their experiences with incoming students. In fall 2024, 9 junior mentees and 5 master’s year mentors participated. The average semester GPA for mentees was 3.43 and 7 students are successfully transitioning to the senior year.

Certification

The Neag School of Education recommends qualified program completers for state certification and verifies students’ completion to the other 49 states. In 2024-2025, we recommended program completers in the following certification areas:

• Teaching (193)
• #092 – Intermediate Administration or Supervision (16)
• #097 – Reading and Language Arts Consultant (1)
• #102 – Remedial Reading and Remedial Language Arts (6)
• #093 – Superintendent of Schools (11)
• #068 – School Counselor (9)
• #070 – School Psychologist (10)
• #061 – Speech and Language Pathologist (23)

Fifty-five verifications were completed for recent or previous program completers for certification other states, including Massachusetts (18), New Jersey (11), New York (5), and others.