The Neag School of Education hosted Jahana Hayes — an education spokesperson, teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury, Conn., and 2016 National Teacher of the Year — as the keynote speaker at this year’s annual Celebration of Diversity in Education event, held Sept. 28 at the Alumni Center on the UConn Storrs campus.

This past July on the Storrs campus, 11 current teacher leaders representing 10 school districts from across the state spent five days engaged in a variety of learning activities during the inaugural Teacher Leadership Academy. The academy, hosted by the Neag School of Education from July 25-29, 2016, and co-directed by assistant professors Rachael Gabriel, Jennie Weiner, and Sarah Woulfin, was designed to enhance participants’ ability to support high-quality instruction, create conditions for reform, and lead change in Connecticut schools.

The former dean of the Neag School discusses a new national report calling for greater support for teachers in order to improve learning for all students.

Over nearly four decades, a total of more than 26,000 educators have convened on the UConn Storrs campus for Confratute, a weeklong summer institute that provides educators with practical strategies for engagement and enrichment learning for all students. Thanks to support from one philanthropic family institution known as the Barnes Foundation, close to 100 attendees have been able to attend Confratute over the past three years — including this summer’s program, which marks Confratute’s 39th year.

While the number of global learning opportunities for current Neag School students continues to expand, the School will now be offering yet another type of internationally based program — one designed to serve practicing school principals based in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan.