The Bulletin. (Nikitoula Menounos, former Norwich Tech Principal and UCAPP alumna, is now the assistant superintendent of the Connecticut Technical High School System)
Author: Meghan Farrell
UCAPP Kicks Off Annual Workshop Series
On September 25, 2018, the University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) will begin its 4th annual series of UCAPP workshops. UCAPP workshops are designed to supplement UCAPP’s core curriculum by offering extensions to UCAPP’s current principal preparation program courses and internship opportunities.
The first two UCAPP workshops of the 2018-2019 school year will be held next week in New Haven, CT, and Hartford, CT. These UCAPP workshops, called ‘Core Values, Mission, and Vision + Budget’ first will challenge aspiring UCAPP Leaders to identify their own core values and beliefs about educational leadership.
Next, students will work in small groups of aspiring elementary principals at ‘Neag Elementary School’ and aspiring high school principals at ‘Neag High School’ to simulate the development of each school’s vision and mission statements. These vision and mission statements will be based on simulated school data and budget considerations developed by the UCAPP Workshops planning team.
Although UCAPP workshops are optional for students, each one provides a collaborative, hands-on adult learning experience utilizing authentic case studies, real data, artifacts and documents, and simulations. The process to create and develop the UCAPP workshop structure aligns closely with the Carnegie Foundation’s improvement science process. Specifically, UCAPP utilized the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) inquiry method in improvement science to address identified gaps in UCAPP’s ever-evolving core curriculum.
The UCAPP workshop model fills gaps between iterations of UCAPP’s core curriculum, and provide flexibility for the program to respond to student needs quickly and intentionally as standards, innovations, and policies emerge within the profession. Such stop-gap practices also support the program’s other processes to develop enhancements for continuous improvement between iterations of the core curriculum. In fact, since the implementation of the UCAPP workshop model, curriculum gaps identified by the program and filled by workshops are now leading to more permanent enhancements to continuously improve both the curriculum and student internship as part of the UCAPP’s elective redesign process.
“UCAPP Workshops fill gaps between iterations of our core curriculum, and provide flexibility for the program to respond to student needs quickly and intentionally as standards, innovations, and policies emerge within the profession.”
- Jonathan Carter, 3rd-year doctoral student
The workshop planning team consists of UCAPP’s current graduate assistant, Jonathan Carter, who is in his 3rd-year of his doctoral degree, UCAPP’s Program Coordinator, Joanne Manginelli and UConn’s Director of Educational Leadership Preparation Programs, Dr. Richard Gonzales.
The team constantly monitors ongoing shifts in the educational leadership field to strategically incorporate new UCAPP workshops into the academic calendar. UCAPP Workshops for 2018-2019 include the expansion of its popular career planning webinars, culminating with the 3rd Annual Mock Interview Day in two locations over two separate dates. Other new UCAPP workshops events for 2018-2019 include a series of Connecticut Administrator Test (CAT) study sessions led by EDLR’s Dr. Jennie Weiner and sessions facilitated by Dr. Chip Dumais on School Safety & Crisis Management and Social Media.
The 2018-19 UCAPP workshops will offer second-year students an innovative new series of five webinars on “Cultural Responsiveness.” These webinars will explore what it means for each of our aspiring school leaders to be a culturally responsive leader today.
Looking ahead, first-year students can choose to participate in the following UCAPP Workshops:
- Core Values, Vision, and Mission
- Professional Learning Planning
- PPT / Special Education
- SRBI
- Talent Management
- Situational Leadership (Culture & Climate)
- Situational Leadership (Family & Community Engagement)
Second-year UCAPP Leaders will have additional opportunities to further supplement their leadership preparation through these targeted workshops:
- Career Planning
- CAT/ELAS Preparation
- School Safety & Crisis Management
- Social Media
We look forward to the continued success of the UCAPP Workshops series, and encourage interested parties to visit UCAPP Workshops for more information or to register for an upcoming event.
What Podcasts Can Teach Us About Teaching?
A co-written blog “The Pedagogy of Podcasts” by Kristi Kaeppel, a graduate student in the Neag School’s educational leadership program, was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education. She also was featured in a UConn 360 podcast in May.
A Rural School Turns to Digital Education. Is it a Savior or Devil’s Bargain?
Administrator Tyrone Richardson Excels While Inspiring Others
The Excellence in Educational Leadership Award is an annual recognition by the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) for practicing school administrators, who have concurrently made contributions to the improvement of administrator preparation. This year, a member of the University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) faculty, Tyrone Richardson, was recognized with this award.
Richardson has served for the past six years as Principal of Betances STEM Magnet School in Hartford, CT. He holds a B.A. in Theater Arts/Communication/Elementary Education from Western Connecticut State University, an M.S. in Education from Cambridge College, and his Principal Certification 092 from Central Connecticut State University. As an alumnus of Hartford Public Schools, Richardson has a special connection with the community, and he is deeply dedicated to the success of Hartford students. At UConn, Richardson is involved with UCAPP and the UPPI Wallace redesign effort.
Richardson has worked with UCAPP for the past three years, designing and presenting class seminars on subjects ranging from the budgeting process and building teams as a leader to crisis management. This past year, he also served as a professor in practice for UCAPP PLUS courses. During class sessions, he brought practical and real-life experiences to the theories and research presented by faculty. .
Within UCAPP, Richardson serves as what is known as a mentor principal. In this role, he mentors aspiring administrators in the UCAPP program by providing them access to the school, working as a leadership role model, and assigning them an active role on the team. Richardson also supports UCAPP staff with program implementation and recently joined members at a national conference where they presented best practices, and were exposed to many rich ideas.
“He has contributed in substantive ways to the University of Connecticut’s administrator preparation program by leading workshops on topics in Educational Leadership, collaborating with University faculty to teach issues in relevant and rigorous ways, and mentoring aspiring principals from across the state of Connecticut,” remarked Associate Professor of Educational Leadership,
Dr. Sarah Woulfin.
Richardson did not always envision becoming a principal, but considered it after one of his previous principals identified his strengths, and encouraged him to join a leadership cohort. As a teacher, he always enjoyed helping students, and he then realized that by supporting teachers and other administrators he can impact the lives of even more students.
In addition to his enthusiasm in the classroom, Richardson is also an active voice on Twitter. He tweets pictures of students in the classroom as well as on field trips. Additionally, he uses it as a platform to recognize teachers, staff and students for enacting the school’s value and mission. This untraditional platform sets Richardson apart and offers new channels of communication with faculty and students.
For aspiring educational leaders, Richardson offers this piece of advice,
“Keep thinking about our future and the evolution of education as you prepare students to interact with one another. We can’t continue to teach students in the same fashion that we were taught in. Lead, model, be innovative, and put yourself out there to make mistakes. Above all be patient and remember you are working with kids. School is for them.”
Husky Sport Collaborates with Local and Global Partners to Provide Additional Engagement to the Youth of Fred D. Wish School
One of the Husky Sport program’s strengths is its relationships, and from that, its partnerships. Since the program’s inception in 2003, it has been dedicated to maintaining community and campus partnerships to support youth and college student development. This past semester has been full of collaborative initiatives for Husky Sport including their partnerships with Fred D. Wish School, where they participate in direct engagement with Hartford North End youth, and UConn’s Leadership In Diversity (LID) program for the 2018 Ignite Campaign. Husky Sport also partnered with UConn’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) and local volunteers from ESPN to provide additional engagement to the youth of Fred D. Wish School.
YSEALI is a grant-funded initiative started by the U.S. Department of State in 2013, which aims to support the leadership development of youth from Southeast Asia. Currently supported by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, approximately 40,000 individuals participate in the student exchange program each year. The Global Training & Development Institute (GTDI), which facilitates UConn’s YSEALI program, gives students an opportunity to identify and develop a business plan for an issue in their home community or country that they are passionate about finding a solution for. Upon returning to their home country, they receive feedback and mentorship from the UConn program, and have the chance to apply for financial support for their social initiative.
Husky Sport helped facilitate YSEALI’s mission as they served as a host organization for YSEALI students and introduced them to the Fred D. Wish School in Hartford, CT, one of Husky Sport’s community partners. This is the fourth year that Husky Sport has hosted this event where YSEALI volunteers pair up with Husky Sport mentors for a day of learning and engagement with elementary students through physical activity. This year, YSEALI students participated in a 30-minute information session about the organizational history of Husky Sport and their partnership within the Hartford North End community. YSEALI and Husky Sport program leaders then worked together to lead 3 dynamic sessions outdoors with Wish School’s fourth grade students. These sessions were centered around physical activity and nutrition, two of the Husky Sport program pillars. Both Wish School and YSEALI students then participated in a series of games and challenges that incorporated themes such as the USDA guided MyPlate and physical literacy. The day concluded with a debrief session which invited volunteers to ask questions and reflect on the experience.
“For most of the YSEALI students, volunteering with Husky Sport is their only opportunity to see the American school system up close as well as interact with youth during the 5-weeks here in the United States. During their time with Husky Sport, the participants learn valuable information that may help them start their own non-profits in their home countries when they return,” explains Cassandra Therriault, Husky Sport Graduate Assistant and YSEALI Program Staff Member on the takeaways for YSEALI participants.
However, this unique opportunity not only benefits YSEALI students, but it offers a one-of-a-kind experience for the elementary school students at Husky Sport’s community partner school. Therriault adds, “Each time the YSEALI students come to the school they share about their home country and their experiences in elementary school, which provides a great opportunity for our Wish students to ask questions and learn about places around the world!”
While the partnership with YSEALI allowed Husky Sport to collaborate with volunteers from around the globe, the ESPN partnership engaged more local volunteers. Four volunteers from ESPN’s Library Committee out of Bristol, CT joined Husky Sport for a day of engaging literacy, nutrition, and physical activity with K-2 students from the Fred D. Wish Elementary School. The day was organized into different stations including, reading a children’s book, a physically interactive game focused on hand-eye coordination, and an activity centered around Wish School’s life skill theme: Be There, Be Ready!
The partnership with ESPN developed through an alumni connection, Leigh Michaud, who earned her M.S. in Sport Management in 2012, and now works in Remote Production Operations for ESPN. Having worked with Husky Sport throughout her time at UConn, Michaud thought it was the perfect place for her ESPN Library committee to volunteer. Since, they have been volunteering with Husky Sport for the past five years.
As many members of the ESPN Library Committee, including Michaud, return every year, volunteers are able to connect with students that they saw in previous years, promoting and facilitating Husky Sport’s commitment to relationships. This connection and association with fun memories from the previous year(s) always means something special for both the ESPN volunteers, Husky Sport and the Wish School students.
Assistant Director of Husky Sport, Patricia Bellamy reflected on the significance of the experience as she remarked,
“It’s always great when our ESPN volunteers are here! We get to further divide and engage our students for multiple activities but they [ESPN volunteers] also get to feel how exciting it is to work with our Wish Students. Having the adults that you see everyday telling you that reading is important is one thing, but when people who have the 'cool jobs' come and tell our students, it’s a big deal.”
Partnerships with programs and organizations like YSEALI and ESPN are not only important to the collegians participating in Husky Sport, but they offer a rewarding experience for the ESPN volunteers, help build YSEALI participants leadership development, and work cohesively to help engage and inspire local youth in Hartford.
The Department of Educational Leadership appreciates Husky Sport’s intentional relationship building with various partners around the world and throughout Connecticut. Their continued dedication to these partnerships lends itself to meaningful and reciprocal learning experiences for those involved.
UConn 360 Podcast Interviews Ph.D. Student Kristi Kaeppel
UConn Podcast. (LLEP Doctoral Student Kristi Kaeppel Featured)
Teacher Evaluation Is Stuck in the Past
Education Week. (Co-authored by EDLR’s Sarah Woulfin and Rachael Gabriel)
UCAPP’s 4th Annual Change Project Day
On Saturday, April 28th, the University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP) held their 4th Annual Change Project Day at Laurel Hall on the UConn Storrs Campus. The Change Project is the capstone for the School Administrator’s 6th year certificate program, through which students identify opportunities for school improvement and develop a plan to ignite positive change in their home or mentor school.
This year, 37 graduating students presented their final projects to their host school mentors, clinical supervisors, UCAPP faculty, colleagues, friends and family. The reach of these projects went far beyond the presentation day, as they were put in practice, and directly impacted 4,500 students and 620 educators throughout Connecticut. Beyond the impact on students and educators, the UCAPP graduates gained learning that was not only supported by what they were exposed to in UCAPP coursework, but from first-hand administrative experience.
“I learned from the change project how important it is to build relationships as a leader, to support teachers and build capacity, as well as developing professional learning opportunities that are more meaningful and individualized for teachers,” offered UCAPP graduate, Lauren Poppe, regarding the experience.
Poppe’s project was centered around “Teachers Invested in Learning.” For which, she put together a book club after school for teachers that were interested in learning and growing together. The teachers met once a month to discuss the book, Joy Write by Ralph Fletcher, as well as to share student work, things they tried, and any ideas they had moving forward. Poppe explains that she developed this topic because, “Teachers were often expressing how they feel like they do not have enough say in their own learning, the curriculum they are teaching and many felt like there was little joy in the classroom for students and teachers.”
Hannah Sam, a UCAPP graduate, worked on getting higher rates of students to complete service hours with 8th grade capstone projects. Sam learned the importance of investing in appropriate structure to enact positive change, how to evaluate the big-picture in relation to student success, how to delegate based on strengths and empower team members, and how to involve parents and community members.
UCAPP graduate, Sara Spak, focused her project on the high school level. She worked with school and student leaders to add a “flexible block” of time in the school schedule to allow students to have choice in their educational decisions. She assisted in the design and implementation of a pilot offering 4 Flex Block opportunities in the Ellington High School schedule. Survey results completed by both students and teachers provided positive feedback and suggestions that led to full implementation of Flex Block for the upcoming school year.
“Giving students choice is powerful and allows students to find passion and voice in their learning.”
Spak learned about the importance of listening to students in addition to educators as an administrator. She explains, “Giving students choice is powerful and allows students to find passion and voice in their learning. This committee was led by 4 incredible student leaders who represented the voice of students throughout Ellington High School in a positive and meaningful way. Their perspectives were thought-provoking and challenged adults on the committee to think outside of the box and to impart change that did not conform with traditional norms.”
While all unique, each UCAPP Change Project was consistent with the program’s mission of preparing highly qualified school leaders to promote equity and excellence in schools throughout Connecticut. Therefore, exemplifying the readiness of the UCAPP program graduates to foster positive change in their new career path.
Sarah Barzee, Chief Talent Officer at the Connecticut State Department of Education delivered the keynote speech prior to the morning presentations. The event was a great opportunity for UCAPP graduates to present their capstone projects as well as learn from recent alumni and new school leaders.
To view the full album, please visit Neag’s Facebook page.
Principals as Instructional Leaders and Managers—Not an “Either-Or”
Institute of Education Sciences. (EDLR’s Morgaen Donaldson and Shaun Dougherty’s research on principal evaluation policies featured)