Principals' Professional Learning: The How, the What, and the Why
November 19, 2025 | 9 to 10 a.m. | Virtual
With Dr. Morgaen Donaldson, Associate Dean for Research at UConn's Neag School of Education
In this session, focused on supporting principal learning, Dr. Donaldson will share lessons learned from a mixed-methods, national study on principals' professional learning grounded in a comprehensive review of the literature. She will provide recommendations on the form and content of principals' learning and discuss how district leaders can best support principals' growth in their contexts, and school leaders can advocate for such practices.
Maneuvering the New Legal Landscape: An Interview with Dr. Preston Green
January 15, 2026 | 9 to 10 a.m. | Virtual
With Dr. Preston Green, John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education
Focused on the current legal landscape and how leaders can effectively respond, Dr. Green, professor of education law, will focus in this interview on the impact to school districts of recent rulings of the Supreme Court and federal challenges to public schools.
Registration coming soon!
Examining the Leaky Pipeline: How Feminization Impacts Women's Leadership Experiences and Trajectories in Schools and District Offices
March 26, 2026 | 9 to 10 a.m. | Virtual
With Dr. Jennie Weiner, Department Head and Professor, UConn's Department of Educational Leadership
For all those interested in supporting women and making the pathways to leadership more equitable, this talk will focus on why, despite recent reports showing only 26% of superintendents identify as women and only 9% as women of color, most district special education leaders (including in CT) identify as female. Specifically, and using the concept of feminization, we argue that the same discriminatory structures that are keeping women from the superintendency (or high school leadership for that matter) is funneling women into district level special education leadership positions. We will highlight the attributes of these feminized roles (i.e., how do we know discrimination is occurring?) and offer some ideas for enhancing both these positions and women’s leadership opportunities overall.
Registration coming soon!
Unequal Lessons: School Diversity and Educational Inequality in New York City
April 27, 2026 | 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. | In-Person - CAPSS Office
With Dr. Alexandra Freidus, Associate Professor, UConn's Neag School of Education
Dr. Freidus will share research and findings from her new book, which focuses on the roots of racial inequality in diversifying schools. "Unequal Lessons" is based on six years of observations and interviews with children, parents, educators, and district policymakers about the stakes of racial diversity in New York City schools. The book examines what children learn from diversity, exploring both the costs and benefits of school integration. By drawing on students’ firsthand experiences, Freidus makes the case that although a focus on diversity offers many benefits to students, it often reinscribes, rather than diminishes, existing inequalities in school policy and practice. The idea of diversity for its own sake is frequently seen as the solution, with students of color presumed to benefit from their experiences with white students, while schools fail to address structural inequality.
Registration coming soon!