Neag School faculty continued to be highly engaged in seeking extramural funds to support their scholarship.

Research Center 2022-23 Highlights

The Neag School’s Research Centers serve as hubs of interdisciplinary activity that strive to further the School’s educational, research, and public engagement mission. As such, they play a vital role in contributing to the Neag School’s visibility through interactions with national, state, and local communities as well as industry and foundations.

• Center for Behavioral Education and Research
• Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation
• Reading Language and Arts Center
• Renzulli Center for Creativity, Giftedness, and Talent Development

Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE)

CEPARE is a member of the Education Policy Alliance, a nationwide network of university-based research centers and organizations. The guiding principles of CEPARE are:

Learning

• We conduct research and advocate for policies that improve learning opportunities and environments for individuals and their communities.
• We strive to learn with and from individuals and their communities, practitioners, and policymakers.
• We affirm the knowledge of communities and the importance of building on and affirming that knowledge through our inquiries and partnerships.

Equity and Justice

• We affirm place equity and justice at the center of our work.
• We engage in research with and for racially minoritized and other marginalized groups.

Partnership

• We affirm place equity and justice at the center of our work
• We engage in research with and for racially minoritized and other marginalized groups.
• We inform, support, and enable change in educational systems, organizations, and communities
• We partner with individuals, practitioners, policymakers, and each other, as well as communities and organizations

2022-23 Center Accomplishments

• The Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration (CCERC): CCERC has gained a national reputation for bridging the divide between research, policy, and practice. With Ajit Gopalakrishnan, Chief Performance Officer at the CSDE, Morgaen Donaldson co-leads the CCERC, which was funded initially through a $3 million ARP ESSER grant and will be continued through another $3 million grant in summer 2023. This Collaborative brings together researchers from across Connecticut’s universities to conduct important research. Findings from CCERC have been highlighted by The New York Times and the EduRecoveryHub, which produced, “Funding What Works in Education: Connecticut’s Unique Education Research Collaborative.”
• Rapid Research Briefs for Alliance Districts: With the support of AERA’s Education Research Service Project (ERSP) funding, CEPARE produced short-duration, fast-turnaround Rapid Research Briefs (RRB) that investigate pressing issues in Connecticut’s Alliance Districts, 36 of the lowest-performing and lowest-resourced school districts in the state. Through the ERSP funding, CEPARE produced RRB on important topics: fostering collaborative relationships between families for whom English is a second language and schools, diversifying the teacher pipeline, and the characteristics of alliance districts. Graduate students and a postdoctoral research associate worked with CEPARE director Morgaen Donaldson to respond to RRB requests from Alliance districts, carry out the required research, write the briefs, and share findings with the requesting districts before disseminating the briefs more widely. In this way, CEPARE RRB directly and positively impacted the learning opportunities of children in Connecticut’s most under-resourced school districts.
• UConn Undergraduate Admissions: This ongoing evaluation of the test-optional undergraduate admissions pilot program is led by Morgaen Donaldson and includes Eric Loken, Catherina Villafuerte, and Kiah DeVona.
• CEPARE Speaker Series in 2022-23:
  • “Where I Belong: Building Learning Communities through Trust, Authenticity, and Collaboration.” Led by Dr. Lauren Kelly of Rutgers, Hector Cruz of Fordham University, and Semaj Skillings of University of Connecticut on Nov. 2, 2022.
  • “Combatting Invisibility of Asian American Students: How Schools Can Support their Asian American Students & Their Families.” Led by Dr. Phitsamay Uy of University of Massachusetts-Lowell on March 22, 2023.