ECE

Teaching Genocide for Human Rights

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By Glenn Mitoma

 

This past November marked the 75th anniversary of the opening of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which sought to bring to justice two dozen high ranking German leaders. Over 11 months, prosecution teams from the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, led by US Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Jackson, conducted a systematic autopsy of the Nazi’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. Alongside Jackson worked a young Connecticut lawyer named Thomas J. Dodd, for whom the University of Connecticut’s Thomas J. Dodd Research Center is named. Jackson, Dodd and the other prosecutors at Nuremberg were attempting not only to convict the individual Nazi leaders like Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, industrialist Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, and propagandist Julius Streicher, but also to present before the world the architecture of death and destruction we now know of as the Holocaust. The trial was an exercise in education as much as law, and many of the participants hoped that the lessons learned would help put the world on a path to peace and justice.

 

Seventy-five years later, the lessons of Nuremberg are as important as ever. In Connecticut, the General Assembly recently adopted a statute requiring education about the Holocaust and other genocides to be part of the social studies curriculum in every school district. Today, reflecting on the legacy of Nuremberg, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to teach about the Holocaust and genocide in a way that supports human rights.

 

Teaching and learning about the Holocaust and genocide, while important, can be fraught. By definition, these topics are traumatic and include episodes of extreme dehumanization, violence, and brutality. At best, students can find genocide difficult to comprehend; at worst, students can become traumatized (or retraumatized) in the face such material. Teachers, too, will grapple with the challenges of understanding and presenting age-appropriate learning materials about something so fundamentally inappropriate. Clear guiding principles and learning objectives, such as those provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, are essential.

 

Despite these challenges, the importance of learning about genocide and the Holocaust has never been greater. In recent years, rising authoritarianism, racism, and anti-Semitism have demonstrated that the building blocks of genocide exist in every society. At the same time, the spread of disinformation, propaganda, and conspiracy theories—often, like those targeting billionaire philanthropist George Soros, reviving anti-Semitic tropes—have found an all-too-eager audience online and in the real world. Effective genocide education can be on one important way of confronting these troubling trends and building a broader culture of human rights and democracy.

 

This semester, I piloted a new course for our Human Rights program, introduction to Genocide Studies. Designed as a critical, interdisciplinary, and practically engaged course, the learning objectives encompass areas of knowledge, values, and skills. These include:

 

• Students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how and why particular genocides have occurred, with reference to the key historical, political, and social contexts.

 

• Students will analyze social and psychological factors that enable or constrain genocide.

 

• Students will apply their knowledge to the world outside the classroom to identify contemporary impacts or risks of genocide.

 

• Students will apply their knowledge to the world outside the classroom to commemorate, advocate against, or prevent the perpetration of genocide.

 

• Students will develop empathy for victims or targets of genocide.

 

• Students will foster the respect for diversity, common humanity, and justice.

 

The course materials, such first-person testimonials, primary source documents, documentary films, monuments and memorial, as well as scholarship, are selected to allow students to explore the ways historians, psychologist, lawyers, political scientists, and others have tried to understand genocide, and on what and how we can know about genocide as a human experience. Reflective journals, structured classroom dialogues, and an emphasis on supportive relationships are all used to try to avoid easy moralizing and distancing of genocide and to help students think about power and responsibility in relation to genocide perpetration and prevention. In the end, my hope is that the course is fundamentally anti-genocidal in that it pushes back against the frames of mind that makes genocide possible, and equips students with the ability to take action and contribute to or develop practical efforts commemorate, advocate against, or prevent the perpetration of genocide.

 

The design of this course follows not only recommendations for responsible teaching and learning about genocide, but also the basic tenets of human rights education (HRE). Rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the HRE framework emphasizes not only teaching about human rights as subject, but also teaching through human rights (i.e., pedagogical approaches that honor and uphold students’ dignity and humanity) and teaching for human rights (i.e., learning outcomes that make students better equipped to claim their own rights and respect the rights of others). For genocide education to avoid leaving students feeling depressed and disempowered, it needs to embrace the opposite of genocide: a vision of justice and humanity that teachers and students together can work toward.

 

Like the Nuremberg Tribunal, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the result of a post-World War 2 effort to come to terms with the legacy of violence, dictatorship, and atrocity that had characterized the preceding years. The UN Human Rights Commission, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, drafted the Declaration mindful, as the Preamble states, that “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” But while Nuremberg provided the first autopsy of the horrific crimes of Nazi regime, the Universal Declaration provided a vision for how the world might build a more just, free, and equal world by centering “the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” Toward that end, the Commission not only recognized that the right to education was among those “equal and inalienable rights,” but that teaching and learning were at the core of how we would build that better future.

 

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. (emphasis added)

 

As we emerge from the forced isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be much work to be done to address the devasting impacts it has had on our individual and collective lives. Among the things we can take from both the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that the path to a better future often begins with learning the lessons of the past. This includes confronting difficult truths and acknowledging accountability for violations of human rights. But it also includes articulating a vision of the future, rooted in shared values and fundamental principles, toward which we can work together. Holocaust, genocide, and human rights education are an important part of that work.

The Heroes of Our Time

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By Brian A. Boecherer

 

For those of you familiar with the EuroVision Song Contest, you may recognize the title of this new section of the UConn ECE Magazine as a refrain from the 2015 song contest winning song, Heroes. The phrase is used in other modern songs too, and naturally, for those who know Russian literature, it is nearly identical to a famous Mikhail Lermontov novel from 1840 — Hero of our Time. We are using this as a title to highlight members of the UConn ECE community who help promote social well-being, social cohesion, and improve the lives of others. They are everyday heroes who engage in current issues of our times — they are members of the UConn ECE community who provide leadership in the form of education, the arts, activism, and more. Their energy and interactions change lives in a personal way and offer us examples of how our engagement helps others, as well as ourselves.

 

Jane Yalof

UConn ECE Alumnus 2016-2017, Glastonbury High School
Singer, Mentor, Community Leader

 

"Think about what your own interests and passions are. Do what you want to do, not what others want you to do. Don’t worry about achieving leadership experience, that will come if you do what you love. If you are doing what you are passionate about, you will want to be a leader."

 

Jacob Skrzypiec
UConn ECE Instructor in Human Rights
Educator, Activist, Thought Leader

 

"We need to prepare students to be civically engaged, decent, educated, and paying attention. This is a response to the current political climate...We need students to practice human rights in the classroom and in their lives."

 

Fizza Alam
UConn ECE Alumnus 2016-2017, Waterbury Career Academy
Proactivist, Thinker, Optimist, Community Educator

 

"Because of the pandemic, we all have the opportunity to stay inside our house and look outwards. This is true about our own person too. There are so many communities that are hurting. I want people to have a little bit of sympathy. Take away your own personal interests for a second and see if you can consider someone else’s and help them. Don’t do it because you want..."

 

 

 

 

Jane Yalof
UConn ECE Alumnus 2016-2017, Glastonbury High School
Singer, Mentor, Community Leader

 

Young people need to understand that good leaders come with a host of other positive characteristics – humility, an adventurous spirit, and the ability to cultivate communities. Jane Yalof is such a leader, and her story is as impressive for a young adult as it is for a seasoned professional. Jane is active in a diverse array of activities at the University of Connecticut and is a leader in all of them. As she told me, she did not set out to be a leader, “it just sort-of happened”. And lead she does. Over her time at UConn, Jane has been active mentoring students, teaching mentoring to students, and continues to enliven female students as Music Director and singer in the all-female acapella group, Drop the Bass.

 

Jane is a UConn student who will be graduating Spring 2022 with a combined undergraduate and master’s degree in the Neag School of Education. She is light-hearted, bright, and has an optimism in society that has come from her deep engagement with it. Over the last five years she has seen how one person’s engagement can positively affect others. That’s how she started her activity as a mentor, by being mentored. Since then she has been actively involved as a mentor and teaching assistant through First Year Programs and through her involvement in Community Outreach. Jane engages in these community-oriented activities because her actions help others and teach others to help society in their own personal way. At the end of our hour-long conversation it is clear to me that Jane counts her successes in terms of the communities she fosters, the relationships she makes, and the tough conversations she helps other students have as a facilitator. It is impact on a personal level that counts. “[As a mentor and teaching assistant] we really created a safe space and helped students through tough issues. Many times, just by listening, and often by sharing our own personal stories. It is about learning to care for each other and protect each other.” Giving yourself to create a community makes you vulnerable, but it tends to make the community strong. Jane gives her time freely and extensively to help lead and educate others on the power of themselves.

 

In addition to her extensive mentoring and community outreach, which has also led her to a local elementary school as a tutor and to Alabama to engage on issues of racial injustice, Jane spends a great deal of time in the all-girl acapella group, Drop the Bass, where she serves as the Music Director and Vice President. “Do you get the name?” she asks me. “Drop the Bass – we are an all-girls singing group. ‘We don’t need no man’,” she says, with a joking lilt. This engagement, however, has become more than a creative outlet – it has become a community of young women who are interested in supporting young women and understand their layered identities, their power, and their impact on others. It is a community that works together to express important messages. As Music Director, Jane teaches music, runs rehearsals, supports others for voice parts, finds music to arrange (or arranges it herself) so the group of 16 young women can vote on what they will practice and perform for the community. “It is very girl-empowering, with a deep impact. It is about the singing, it is about enjoying what you are doing. It is about service too.” Their genre is female power ballads – “Cosmic Love”, by Florence + the Machine, and “The Village”, by Wrabel, (a gender power ballad) about a person who is transgender and their parents do not accept them yet. “The song is about there being nothing wrong with you. Rather, there is something wrong with them if they cannot come to you and ‘get’ you.” They are currently working on, “Don’t Worry About Me”, by Frances, which is dedicated to families and friends of those who lost their loved ones to COVID. It has not been easy working together during COVID, because they are working together at a distance, using Zoom. But they are recording their parts and working with another UConn student to synchronize it and make a video.

 

 

Jacob Skrzypiec
UConn ECE Instructor in Human Rights
Educator, Activist, Thought Leader

 

Talking with Jake about human rights and about making society kinder, smarter, and less polarized is anything but depressive. During the course of my interview, Jake makes me feel like I am the single most important person for making change happen. He is right, change starts with our everyday interactions with others. But indeed, in a climate where some politics has turned populist and daily human rights can be fragile, his words have a touch that unlock optimism and encourage a “benefit of the doubt” to others. What are we personally doing to make things better? Jake suggests that we should focus on what we can affect, make it better, and then reach a little bit further.

 

Jake (MA, UConn Neag School of Education, 2014) is a UConn ECE Human Rights instructor at Manchester High School (certified 2015) and is one of the founding figures in helping to develop a UConn ECE Human Rights program. Manchester High School (MHS) is unique in its vision of human rights as in June 2015, MHS made human rights a required course for graduation. Every student in Manchester has to take human rights, and with their five certified UConn ECE human rights instructors, most students are leaving the high school learning the “for and through” of human rights, but also walking away with UConn credit.

 

Jake mentions the for and through of human rights throughout our conversation. A brief explanation for us newbies: The Council of Europe succinctly explains that education is a right, but also a way for realizing rights, and we “put our rights and democracy into practice, and defend our rights and those of other people, if they are not respected – LEARN FOR THEM. Experience and feel the principles of human rights and democracy — LEARN THROUGH THEM.”

 

“How do we move kids and adults to think about the for and through? By practicing human rights in the classroom and in their lives.” For the last five years Jake has engaged in tempestuous issues with students to model and teach civility and open dialogue. Among other things, Jake teaches listening to others, even when you disagree, so that you may learn about what motivates others.

 

An important pivot point for Jake happened about three years ago. In his UConn human rights course, he had two students debating about transgender rights — both on opposing sides. The conversation got heated and turned into what he called a “bickering match”. Jake had to separate the students and administration got involved. Jake has reflected on that moment and says, “That anger, deep fear, and the unknown of someone else’s perspective struck me. Students are still developing and trying to learn, often as they speak.” But it struck him as being emblematic of society. “It is important to focus on the skills of communication, academic discourse, basic patience, and humility with our students so that they can be good adults.”

 

In addition to his work in the classroom, which includes teaching human rights at UConn in the summer for University of Connecticut’s College Access and Preparation Program (UCAP), Jake has been at the forefront of bringing human rights to social studies curriculum throughout the State and on the national level. It started when MHS gave him and his colleagues the latitude and encouragement to develop a human rights program for the school. But to do that well, Jake reached out to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the Connecticut Human Right Partnership — bringing organizations and individuals together for human rights advocacy. From there he helped to build the Human Rights Summit, which is a human rights workshop day for teachers, students, and the community. Then Jake, along with fellow UConn ECE human rights instructor, Chris Buckley (Brookfield High School), became the regional representatives for Human Rights Educators USA, to advance human rights education, advocacy, and opportunities on the national level. “It is a diverse organization, a powerful group,” Jake says bluntly and with pride.

 

Jake is also part of the leadership group in The National Council for the Social Studies, Human Rights Education Community, which works to promote human rights as an academic concentration in the high schools, and develop a new C3 social studies standard in human rights. “Four years ago [they] were more hesitant to embrace human rights education in K-12, but today that dynamic has completely changed. There is now a thirst for this curriculum to embed human rights into national social studies standards. There has been a cultural shift here.”

 

Circling back to the beginning, how does Jake stay positive and how does he help his students from turning morose in the face of historical and current atrocities?

 

“It’s hard; it’s not an easy task. We might be looking at a human rights violation — voting rights for example — and look at the history of suppression. We have to acknowledge there are screwed up things going on, but we also have to look at the positive work that is going on. Let’s focus on the accomplishments and the tools to make things better. It is important to give students tools to work at resolving issues.” It is also about self-care. Since COVID hit, Jake has been on over 70 hikes, not to lose himself or his connection with family and friends. “There still is positivity in the world. We need to focus on that too,” he says. He also invests time into writing. His recent article entitled, “A Ripple of Hope,” Media Voices for Children, Vol. III, explores how students are often more hopeful and ready to get involved than adults. “We need to build on youth voice. Support it, cultivate it. The kids get it,” he says with a smile in his voice. “Going to class every day, I love it, I can see hope in students’ eyes. They are engaged and excited about it. This is good stuff. We have to bring out that hope and optimism. That’s our job.”

 

 

Fizza Alam
UConn ECE Alumnus 2016-2017, Waterbury Career Academy
Proactivist, Thinker, Optimist, Community Educator

 

...to feel better about yourself. ...That’s fine too... But there are people out there — our neighbors — who are cold, hungry, and in need. Be empathic about one thing and try to make local action. See how you can help one person and execute it to the end. I don’t know all the ways, but people are innovative – donate clothes, start a community garden in a food desert, mentor... If everyone did one thing, all the problems wouldn’t go away, but we would know that we live in a caring society. We can be in a better place together. These things are so simple I sometimes don’t feel like I can put it into words.”

 

Fizza says many times during our 90-minute conversation, “I am just like everyone else.” By the end of the interview her insistence that we all share the same characteristics of a generous spirit and care of others leaves me wondering about the different stages of how environment influences conceptual schema — thoughts progress to words and words to actions. In other words, how do we stand up and take action in what we believe. Fizza says that she is a product of good luck — good parents, good mentors, and environmental inequality. The combination has given her insights into how neighbors live side by side — how they help each other and what may happen if they don’t.

 

Fizza was born in Pakistan, from a family that was forced to migrate due to the partition of India in 1947, and migrate again in 2001 because of societal dangers. When she was a year and a half old, her family immigrated to the United States — Waterbury, Connecticut. She enjoyed growing up in Waterbury, where “neighbor helps neighbor,” but it wasn’t until she was in the tenth grade that she realized that her majority-minority city “had serious issues”. She was recommended and was accepted to attend the Global Leadership Institute at Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, just one town over. “I went into this gorgeous building, and the dining hall was filled with nutritious foods, the teachers had advanced degrees, and everything was totally different. I saw the differences.” Fizza saw the inequality and realized that access to opportunity — access itself — was what made the difference in a person’s life. “I don’t think kids should be put at a disadvantage because of where they grow up. Kids have aspirations and need access.”

 

Growing up, Fizza says, her parents were like her friends’ parents — they worked multiple jobs, sometimes 14-hour days — and Fizza, like her peers, would go home after school, take care of siblings and help around the home doing laundry and making food. She enjoys the diversity of Waterbury, although she admits that not everyone is welcoming of Muslims. She says it is because they don’t really know the culture. She recalled a situation that happened to her in kindergarten, when she was five, and had henna on her hands for Eid. “My teacher took me by the hands to wash them, forcibly, with soap and scolded me for “dirtying” them with marker. I couldn’t understand why and felt wrong.” It wasn’t until later that she realized it was a lack of education.

 

Since then she has made education and educational campaigns a central part of her approach to making change happen. In 2019 Fizza earned a summer internship with Congresswoman Jahana Hayes, where she worked directly with the congresswoman in Waterbury. As a capstone project, Fizza organized a panel on immigration at Naugatuck Valley Community College. “Congresswoman Hayes really gives women of color an opportunity and a voice.” Fizza told me that Congresswoman Hayes bought a select number of tickets for her interns to join a fundraising dinner so they could see what that “other world” looks like and sit at the table with leaders like Nancy Pelosi.

 

“I have had such great mentors in life. I rolled the dice and got really lucky. If I didn’t meet these people, I would have been very different. So, I am grateful for all that I have. It is luck. Really good luck.” It has also been really good effort.

 

Fizza has continued her education and awareness campaigns with a large voter registration effort in partnership with Be (A)Part, a non-profit that supports youth involvement, engagement, and activism. Fizza has been working on advancing the issue of absentee voting since 2018, when she was also working on the Hayes election campaign. She sees absentee voting as an issue of access. “We need to expand the vote, because the elderly and low income [people] need greater access.” Be (A)Part reached out to her as she had positioned herself as the youth expert in absentee voting. She says she brought the perspective of an urban woman of color and could speak to how people were being left out because of where they lived and how they lived. As part of the campaign, Fizza was part of a voter outreach and suppression panel. “I love how you can take an idea and then do something with it.”As Fizza is slated to graduate this spring with a double major in political science and economics, she is making plans for her next steps. “I want to make an impact on my community. God willing, I will attend law school next fall. I am an American, and an immigrant, and a woman.” I am not sure where I want to go with that, but I am interested in the impact of law on war and on inequality. Many things go back to laws.” Fizza tells me more about the Sharia and how it is counter to most people’s modern perception of it. She explains how the Prophet, who she modifies with “upon him be peace,” explained that war takes things away from people – possessions, symbols, churches, meaning, people, concepts – and that there should be restrictions on how war is conducted. “I want society to better understand these concepts and expand them.”

 

Fizza’s philosophies are instructive and they help give perspective on how we can build a better society in our local community. She sees education as offering people access to see how things work and gives them the tools to help themselves and others. She credits her parents and her faith with these perspectives.

 

“I want to make an impact and help people. For example, the attorney general impacts our lives in so many ways that we never see. You need an education to figure out these things. If I make it through law school, I will be able to understand a new world and bring it back to my community. [Slight pause] I am here, and I don’t know when the next person like me will be in this situation, so I need to do it. When you focus on helping one person or one community, you can stay motivated and stay focused. I hope everyone can feel this way. Learn, and bring it back to your community. I don’t understand how this is a controversial way of thinking.”

The Director’s Thoughts

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Welcome to the Winter edition of the UConn Early College Experience (UConn ECE) Magazine. I am happy to introduce this edition of the UConn ECE Magazine to you, because it also introduces a new approach to how the editorial board plans that the Magazine will continue for the future. This edition kicks off our vision of looking at our UConn ECE Community as a source of inspiration, positive change, and good work. We want the Magazine to engage with the issues of our time and show how our community is handling these issues. We want the Magazine to be a source of information, wisdom, and positive energy. The Magazine will continue to update our community on program changes, enhancements, and report important data. That part will not change. We are adding to the Magazine so that administrators, instructors, and students find useful examples of leadership and motivation. We want to tap into the richness of our community and reflect the best of what is going on as a guide to others. That said, we are not attempting to show inherent attribution – because they are UConn ECE, they are wonderful. Rather, the approach is, let’s all look at the successes of our UConn ECE community and let’s be inspired by their words and actions.

 

There is a great deal of research that suggests that the news we read influences our cognitive biases and mental health. Bad news reinforces the search for more bad news and confirms that all is going down the chute. We don’t want to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that there is no negative news; we want to be a positive source of information and discussion on what we can do about it. To that end, this edition of the Magazine will address issues of teaching and learning during COVID-19. Chris Malinoski, Ph.D., writes about moving biology labs to an online platform and Professors Glenn Mitoma and Alexia Smith write separately about teaching in the social sciences during a period when group inequality is evident in society. Four high school principals will lend us their voices and share how they are caring for their communities. We have also reached out to our community and are highlighting three “agents of positive change”. In addition, we have program statistics, the largest programs, the News Brief, and other interviews to keep you interested. Let us know your thoughts – we improve by listening, reading, and considering your words seriously. That is good advice for us all.

 

Thank you for being part of our UConn ECE community, and we hope you enjoy reading.

 

 

Brian A. Boecherer, Ph.D.
Executive Director

UConn ECE News Brief

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By Brian A. Boecherer

 

Remote Learning

 

On March 12th Governor Ned Lamont announced the closing of all schools in Connecticut until March 16th.  He later extended closures to April 30th and eventually for the entire school year.

UConn ECE sent a survey to all 208 partner schools to understand how high schools pivoted to remote learning.  By the first week of April, all schools were teaching online.

From the survey, 70% of partner schools are using a Google platform/Google tools to engage with students, while 21% of partner high schools are also using Zoom while also using Google tools.

At the time of the survey the most prominent concerns from the high schools were:  managing labs, managing exams, and finding additional creative resources to keep classes going. 

 

Grading

 

The UConn ECE Withdraw/Audit deadline was extended to the end of the academic year, allowing students to submit the Withdrawal Form at the end of their class.  This decision parallels the University’s Pass/Fail policy.

Pass/Fail was introduced to the UConn ECE community from an email from the Provost to all teaching faculty.  Pass/Fail has never been an option for UConn ECE students, and after much deliberation, it was not extended to UConn ECE students during our current crisis.  

UConn ECE worked with the Connecticut Department of Education and the Connecticut Association of School Superintendents to introduce

 

 

 

 

 

the option of a Pass/Fail fourth quarter at the high schools to make allowances for the pivot to remote learning.  

Final exam policies were made clear to UConn ECE Instructors by the beginning of May.  While finals continued, individualized plans were created for schools as necessary.  

 

Resilience 

 

The UConn ECE Community pulled together during this unprecedented time to find solutions to issues.  UConn ECE departmental listservs were well-utilized to make announcements, share best practices, and support each other in real ways.

High schools continued nurturing their communities as well.  One stellar example, Wethersfield High School, engages with their students by offering a weekly morning announcements, highlighting life, teaching, and learning at a distance.

UConn ECE created a digital Professional Recognition Awards Show to replace their annual Professional Recognition Award Ceremony.  It was live broadcast on May 4th through YouTube Premiere.

 

Registration

 

Registration for 2020-2021 opened on April 30th.  Students have the next two months to apply to the program.  This year, due to an

 

 

 

 

 

inability to access printers, high school signatures are not required. 

Students will enroll in courses from August 11th to September 30th. Students who did not apply in the spring can apply in the fall without a late fee.   

 

Summer Plans

 

Pre-College Summer was forced to cancel their summer plans of hosting 500 students for their residential program.  The PCS team will use this time to retool and implement strategic planning for the coming years.  

UConn ECE New Instructor Orientation, which is usually in June, was postponed to August 21st.  This orientation will be hosted through HuskyCT and will utilize an online format.  It will be a combination of live and asynchronous video.  More details are to come. 

Similarly, UConn ECE is making arrangements for moving all professional development workshops online for the Fall semester in preparations for the possibility that we will not be able to meet in person.

NACEP has put a pause on accreditation applications for 2020. UConn ECE was prepared to submit its application on July 1st however due to COVID, the organization has decided to put a hold on applications for a year. UConn ECE is a founding member of NACEP and was first accredited in 2007.  Since our first accreditation, UConn ECE has quadrupled in terms of courses offered to the high schools and has quintupled in terms of student enrollment. 

Rutkauskas and Grant Presentation Accepted at NEACEP Conference

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By Carissa Rutkauskas and Kathrine Grant

The 2020 New England Association of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NEACEP) was to be held at the University of Rhode Island on May 29, with the theme of Barriers & Breakthroughs in Early College Programming; however the event was postponed due to COVID-19. Carissa Rutkauskas and Kathrine Grant’s presentation, CE in NE: History, Facts, and Stats to Communicate a Stronger, More Unified Future will have to wait until it is safe for people to once again travel, gather in groups, and appreciate the freedoms associated with a pre-pandemic lifestyle. While we will not be presenting at NEACEP this spring, we would like to share a glimpse of what we have been working on here.

The presentation is an overview of the challenges and barriers created by a lack of centralized, key programmatic features across the field and within specific programs—including marketing, data, and theory behind Concurrent Enrollment (CE)—and offers suggestions of for a centralized ideological strategy, organizing, professionalization, and strategic marketing as part of the solution.

Centralized ideological strategy. CE programs vary vastly by region, state, and even within states. A sample of differentiating variables include, but are not limited to: program name and terminology used, who teaches, where courses are taught, cost of program, matriculation status of the students, and programs hosted by two-year technical versus four-year institutions of higher education (IHE). The University of Connecticut’s original concurrent enrollment program, the High School Co-operative Program for Superior Students, was established in 1955 and laid the groundwork for its continuously operating program. In 1997, the National Association of Concurrent Enrollment Programs (NACEP) became the first, and to date, the only national accreditation body of its type. They, and organizations such as the College in High School Alliance, the Education Commission of the States, and independent researchers, have helped create a strong framework and standards for the idea of high school students taking college courses.
Essential to this agenda is an agreed upon, standard terminology. The U.S. Department of Education defines dual enrollment (DE) as students enroll in postsecondary coursework while also enrolled in high school.* NACEP defines CE as the subset of dual enrollment courses taught by college-approved high schools. Yet, not all programs or states employ the same language to describe the same process of accelerating secondary learning: a concurrent program in one state may be considered a dual enrollment in another. These seemingly straightforward definitions, unfortunately, have not established a precedent on name standardization at the state-level; the issue of naming and terminology is and are further exasperated with the use of dual credit and names and definitions unique to states and individual programs.

Equally essential is determining what CE is not. Standardized tests, such as the College Level Exam Placement (CLEP), Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) can be categorized as Prior Learning Assessments (PLAs), where credit is earned outside the classroom, or based off a single assessment, usually in the form of an exam. These and other PLAs are often mistakenly categorized with CE credit, for political, economic, or reasons of unfamiliarity with the differences. Clearly defining and communicating what CE is, including the parameters of instruction, location, and testing, is paramount to its continued success.

Organizing. NACEP, NEACEP (and other state NACEP chapters) have done amazing work in creating a more centralized and unified approach, but states without a strong statewide CE policy or legislation are often left fragmented. In Connecticut, for example, the brief amount of the State legislation on CE is vague at best and does not assign a name to high school students enrolled in college courses (regardless of where they are taking their course—at their high school or on their a college campus). Even as the home of the first concurrent enrollment program in the country, our State guidance is not well-defined, diminishes the strength of CE programs.

Of the 36 degree-granting undergraduate IHEs in the State, nearly all offer some type of college credit program or opportunity for high school students – whether it be CE, DE, PLAs, or another model. Unfortunately there is currently no accurate database or combination of internet search terms that would produce a complete list of these courses. To find all of the programs in Connecticut, you would have to combine a series of search terms—and you still might miss a program or two. States such as Utah and Vermont have comprehensive statewide policies in place and assign a specific and clear name to their programs. The lack of common language between and among states not only further obscures the prospect of comprehensive research or the likelihood students being able to maximize earning college credit while in high school—it also provides utter confusion. For example, Utah uses the term concurrent enrollment and Vermont’s choice is dual enrollment in state policy for programs in which a secondary school student can take a postsecondary course at the high school or IHE with IHE oversight. At UConn ECE, we would define this as a concurrent enrollment program—even though our program is only for students who take postsecondary courses at their high school.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) also does not completely accurately represent these type of programs. Although UConn ECE is the oldest and one of the largest programs in the country of its type, its CE impact is often overlooked. UConn ECE students are not matriculating college students, but rather non-degree students. This means they have the option of transferring their credits to a degree-seeking instruction (non-matriculated means that just because they are a part of UConn ECE and are taking UConn courses, they are not pursuing a degree at the University). UConn ECE is one of the nation’s largest programs, serving approximately 13,500 students annually, but these figures are often captured only at the institutional level and are missing from NCES databases or at the state level. Without organizing, and the consistency in language that comes with, the impact of programs like UConn ECE—from providing access to higher education to the many financial benefits for students—can be completely overlooked.

Professionalization. The sharing and dissemination of specialized knowledge and information in relation to CE programs through professional organizations not only safeguards and refines best practices but provides an opportunity for mutual enrichment and advancement. Organizations like NACEP and NEACEP do just this: from conferences to reaccreditation, they help to ensure quality in programs and continual improvement within the field. These organizations not only help maintain a sense of norms and offer a centralized ideological strategy through their research, advocacy, engagement, and community and comradery through networking and volunteering—they also often are involved in accreditation based on a shared set of standards.

Also key to communicating and challenging new studies, theories, and practices is a peer reviewed academic journal. The CE discipline is fortunate to have a small, but growing, number of organizations and researchers sharing this common purpose; but, the volume and support of research in CE is much less established from than other areas. Those involved with community colleges, for example, can be a member of the American Association of Community Colleges, as well as dozens of niche councils, alliances, and associations, with focus on topics such a specific demographic or geography. Institutional accreditation, at least in California, is conducted at the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), while institutions in the rest of the county fall under the auspices of regional accreditations who also serve 4-year institutions. Research is collected in publications that are independent and unbiased from the accreditor in peer-reviewed journals such as Community College Review and Community College Journal of Research and Practice.

To consider the impact of just one organization, take the discipline of English: English Language Arts educators across the pre-k-20 continuum can be a part of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), which is an overarching organization that supports the advancement of the field. This organization hosts an annual convention with specific strands for members with diverse interests. It also houses several academic journals (such as English Journal and College Composition and Communication), advocates for the field at local and national levels, and supports these efforts with coordinated research. NCTE also supports state affiliates, which mirror the national organization, and offers assemblies and groups that allow for specification and continued learning within a certain domain. These many, but unified, aspects of NCTE work in conjunction with one another to provide a coordinated, rich, and diverse engagement and learning network that moves the discipline forward.
CE is making strides in the area of a scholarly periodical with the much anticipated Concurrent Enrollment Review, a partnership among Syracuse University’s Project Advance, Boise State University Concurrent Enrollment Program, and UConn ECE (for more information, see The Last Great Frontier). The goal of this journal is to provide a specific coordinating body to solicit, distribute, warehouse, and support continued research into concurrent enrollment; this effort helps to enhance the continual process of legitimizing and professionalizing the field. CE has a national organization and national conferences. There are regional organizations to support the specific needs of areas within the country. Programs and organizing bodies have made coordinated efforts to advocate for the field, both inside and outside of the political arena. But these efforts do not reflect the full capacity of the field to provide professional development and enrichment opportunities for programs, create and distribute research on the impacts of CE, or advocate for programs and the experiences they provide for students.

Strategic marketing. Organizations like the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate’s Diploma Programme (IB) are common household terms, but how many of you were aware of AP tests before you or your student went to high school? And how many were aware of concurrent enrollment opportunities? We would wager that it is a lot less of you in the second group. AP and IB have centralized and strategized their marketing campaigns—across the years and different educational contexts—to move their programs forward. Students know about AP tests (and about SATs and ACTs) and how important they are for secondary and postsecondary opportunities—yet, the impact of concurrent enrollment (which we would argue is greater since it provides an experience more analogous to post-secondary study as compared to a singular test) is so significantly less known.

To return to the many programs in Connecticut that use many names to communicate CE (or DE…or dual credit), the majority of marketing is either done from an IHE program to a high school, or solely the burden of an overworked high school staff. UConn ECE has made efforts to extend this marketing to younger students (such as through our partnership with the Connecticut Parent/ Teachers Association [CT PTA]) to provide students with more, and earlier, information about their secondary academic options. However, these efforts are local to our program and are not aligned with other programs within the state or with regional or national bodies. Two programs through the State of Connecticut’s Community College system, College Career Pathways (CCP), a national program funded through the Carl B. Perkins Career and Technical Improvement Act of 2006, and High School Partnerships Programs (HSPP), are somewhat more organized in presenting these options to students and families. Fortunately, some states with more developed policy do mandate early marketing coordinating these efforts. Centralized marketing, especially on the national level, would provide programs with a structure to continually extend the opportunities they provide to students and help to ensure that more students are aware—and able—to take advantage of CE opportunities.

In closing, coordinating marketing, organizing, and creating and participating in professional organization and activities across state and national levels can help establish a centralized ideological strategy that would help to extend and deepen the mission of concurrent enrollment. A programmatic unity would benefit individuals programs, it makes the experiences provided by concurrent enrollment more accessible and richer for the students and schools we serve. Enhancing, deepening, and extending learning for students is not just CE’s laudable pursuit: it is imperative work to prepare students for a complex, multifaceted, and ever-changing future. Sharing this in a unified and coordinated manner only extends our work.

Behind the Scenes at Pre-College Summer: A chat with our Graduate Assistants

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Nicole Hyman and Nella Quasnitschka

 

In 2014, a group of staff from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) came together to offer
high school students the opportunity to live and learn at UConn’s first Pre-College Summer (PCS) program.
That summer, there were about 50 high school students who participated, each one enrolled in one of the
seven courses offered by UConn faculty. Since then, PCS has grown to bring about 400 participants to campus
each summer and has expanded to run four one-week sessions with over 30 courses for students to choose
from.

 

With that growth came the need for more staff.  In July of 2014, Erin Donohue, a master’s student in the
Human Development and Family Studies Department, was hired as residential staff, and became the first PCS
Graduate Assistant (GA) the following year. We are extremely blessed to still have Erin working for the
program today.  Erin’s valuable contributions led us to explore a partnership with UConn’s Higher Education
and Student Affairs (HESA) program as a GA site for graduate students enrolled in the HESA program. Our first
HESA GA, Joe Fisher, joined us in July 2017, followed by Cody Olson in July 2018, and Nicole Hyman in July
2019.

 

We set high expectations for our GAs who are tasked with hiring, training, and supervising summer residential
staff, programming exploratory workshops, and developing policies.  Our GAs work closely with University
faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as high school counselors, students, and parents.
We have seen them work through their graduate programs with determination and dedication and have found
it is so rewarding to see them succeed.  In the past year, Joe graduated (May 2019), Erin successfully defended
her dissertation (April 2020), and Cody is graduating this May 2020.
PCS would not be the program it is today without our Graduate Assistants. As a way to celebrate and
recognize our recent graduates, we have given them the spotlight to share about their contributions and
experiences during their time with us by answering a few questions.

 

1. What is your most memorable moment as a PCS GA?

 

Erin Donohue: The most memorable moments for me as a PCS GA are the 4 weeks each year when students
attend the program. Although those weeks are usually stressful behind the scenes, seeing the positive impact
that the program has on students and their transformation from the first to last day of their stay in the
program is truly rewarding.

 

Joe Fisher: The office feel. During my time as a GA, we moved offices, though the close-knit family feel of our
team remained the same. Talking over cubicles, or stopping in often to sit down on someone's 'friend' chair,
my best memories come from small brainstorming sessions with the PCS team that led to such great ideas and
laughs.

 

Cody Olson: Presenting at the 2019 NAASS conference on the new hiring process I developed and receiving so
much support from my coworkers and praise from the audience is something I'll never forget. It proved to me
that I belong in this field and showed me how much my supervisors and friends care about me and my career.

 

2. What is one thing you will take away from your experience?

 

Erin Donohue: It's really hard to pick just one thing! I've learned so much from working with the PCS team
over the years. I think what I will take away from this experience is that teamwork and the sharing of ideas can
really make a vision a reality because each person brings their own unique perspectives and experiences to
the table; and everyone's ideas are important. I think this is a valuable take-away moving forward in any
career.

"Seeing the positive impact that the program has on students and their transformation from the first to last day of their stay in the program is truly rewarding."

— Erin Donohue

Joe Fisher: Certainly something that I have taken away, and that has assisted me so much in my professional
career, is the self-motivation and need for creativity that Nella and Melanie, my supervisors, instilled in me. As
a fast moving program, there was not always time to plan and coordinate a change, so there was always a
need for someone who needed to be a self-starter and motivated to get the job done.
Cody Olson: I am walking away from this assistantship feeling incredibly confident in my abilities as a higher
education practitioner. Nella once told me that her goal for the GAs in her office is for them to feel as though
they can run the program themselves by the time their two years are done. I feel like I could run not only PCS,
but really any program and this has me excited for the next chapter of my professional life.

 

3. What accomplishment with PCS are you most proud of?

 

Erin Donohue: I'm most proud of the growth of the program over the years and the effort it has taken to get
us where we are now.  I've been with PCS since 2014 when we were only a 2-week program with about 50
students, so to be a part of the cumulative efforts to grow and expand the program to a 4-week program with
hundreds of students is something to be proud of.

“When I think about PCS, I usually think about my summer staff. Building a team that created long-lasting bonds and genuinely enjoyed their experience was incredible. I’d like to think that in some ways I changed the culture of our program and that this culture shift will benefit the program for years to come.”

— Cody Olson

Joe Fisher: I think I am most proud of being able to rethink and recreate our residential team positions,
including creating the newest role, the Residential Counselor for Student Welfare. The position is a unique
hybrid between a counselor and confidant. There was a direct need for students to have an outlet in our
residential program, and this position allowed for students to be heard, seen, and supported to be successful
in completing our residential program.

 

Cody Olson: When I think about PCS, I usually think about my summer staff. Building a team that created long-
lasting bonds and genuinely enjoyed their experience was incredible. I'd like to think that in some ways I
changed the culture of our program and that this culture shift will benefit the program for years to come.

 

Nicole has been another great addition to the PCS family with her expertise in access and working with FirstGeneration College students.  We are looking forward to another year with her on our team and all the
possibilities that brings.  We are also excited to welcome our newest HESA GA, Deanna Gallegos, to the PCS
team this fall. Deanna is a 2019 graduate of the University of California-Davis and will be with us for the next

two years.

 

We don’t know where we’d be without our GAs.  Erin, Joe, Cody, Nicole, and soon-to-be Deanna have all, and
will, shape PCS in unique ways that highlight their own interests and strengths. Thank you for all your hard
work and dedication to the program.

UConn ECE Recognizes Excellence and Awards Six Student Scholarships

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By Carissa Rutkaukas

 

Each year UConn Early College Experience (ECE) gets to know some of its seniors through a glimpse of their work and provides a $500 scholarship in honor of their accolades. This year, three committees of four considered over 100 applications for only five awards. Those that did not meet the posted requirements were eliminated early, but that did not make the decisions any easier. Many of those that remained showed creativity, ingenuity, uniqueness, and a contribution to the greater good. The applicant pool was so strong this year, we ended up awarding a sixth award! UConn ECE is proud to recognize the following Students.

 

Excellence in the Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences demonstrate academic achievement and a potential for future academic and professional accomplishments in a field focusing on the Arts, Humanities, and/or Social Sciences Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics demonstrate academic achievement and a potential for future academic and professional accomplishments in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Mathematics Excellence in Civic and Community Engagement demonstrates ambition and self-drive evidenced by outstanding achievement in both school and their community…already making a positive difference in their town or neighborhood and inspiring others to do the same.

 

Name

 

Afroja Akter

 

Ellanora Lerner

 

Varsha Rathore

 

Cynthia Chen

 

Emil Perdue
 

Alexis Eaton

Award

 

Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences Scholarship

 

Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences Scholarship

 

STEM Scholarship

 

STEM Scholarship

 

Civic and Community Engagement Scholarship

 

Civic and Community Engagement Scholarship

School

 

Waterbury Career Academy High School

 

Fishers Island School

 

South Windsor High School

 

Greenwich High School

 

Greenwich High School

 

Lyman Hall High School

2020 UConn ECE Professional Recognition Awards Moves from Ceremony to Show

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By Carissa Rutkauskas

 

UConn ECE faculty, staff, and award winners look forward to the annual Professional Recognition Awards Ceremony each year. They enjoy an elegant sit-down dinner, serenaded by a trio of UConn jazz ensemble students, celebrating a successful academic year by recognizing outstanding instruction and administration for the UConn Early College Experience Program. This year it would have been on Tuesday, April 28 in the Gallery of the Jorgenson Center for the Preforming Arts. Things did not quite go that way.

 

As high schools began closing in early March, first for 2 week, then for longer, the University told college students not to return to campus from Spring Break; faculty and staff began working remotely; and the opportunity to honor those nominated by their students and colleagues was not going to happen in person. So, we embraced technology and the good nature of the award recipients and went online. The prerecorded 2020 UConn ECE Professional Recognition Awards Show premiered on Monday, May 4 with a private screening on the UConn ECE YouTube channel. Friends, relatives, students, and colleagues were able to watch and interact with the 25-minute production. Eleven award recipients, 7 staff members, and 1 faculty member had submitted video footage that was then edited together by Austin Gao, Digital Media and design student, to create a memorable evening for all.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to the 2020 winners:

Award Name School Discipline
Thomas E. Recchio Faculty Coordinator Award for Academic Leadership Scott Campbell UConn English
Principal Award for Program Support & Advocacy Thomas Moore Wethersfield High School Principal
Site Representative Award for Excellence in Program Administration Alicia Melillo Cromwell High School School Counselor
Instructor Award for Excellence in Course Instruction Eric Bosley Plainville High School European History
Angela Brower RHAM High School Latin
Libbi Intemann Trumbull High School Philosophy
Geoffrey Kern Edwin O. Smith High School Statistics
James DeCesare The Master’s School Drawing
Sarah Tibbetts Daniel Hand High School Chemistry
“Rookie of the Year” Award for Excellence in First-Year Course Instruction Carla Toney Newington High School Italian and French
Jan Pikul Award for Continued Excellence in Instruction William Schultz Enfield High School Chemistry

Overcoming Adversity: UConn ECE Strong

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By UConn ECE Program Office Staff

 

A committee of four reviewed and selected the cover for the Spring 2020 edition of the UConn ECE Magazine from student submissions responding to a call to show adaption to distance learning that embodies “Overcoming Adversity – UConn ECE Strong.” The winning photo includes the caption “Distance makes the heart grow fonder” and captures one of the many signs that the community displays in their front yards thanking essentials workers.

 

The committee recognizes the essential work that teachers continue to do from a distance during such unprecedented times and have had to adjust their lesson plans and schedules to meet the needs of their students. We have also included two runner up photos, one depicting the abstract passing of time during such a surreal experience and the other capturing what school at home looks like for a student.

Erin Blanchette Transitions to Another Office

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By Brian A. Boecherer

 

The office is experiencing another transition – Erin Blanchette – our long-time colleague has transitioned to another job at the University in the accounting division. We are sad to see Erin go, and her departure has left a noticeable hole in the office. We are, however, so happy for her, as this is clearly a good progression and a new exciting adventure for her. Erin joined the office in 2006 and has filled many positions over the years. Some may remember her as the registration coordinator and also assistant to the previous director. In more recent times Erin has led our financial area – modernizing student billing, collections, and developing a billing customer service presence for the office. Erin is also responsible for deepening our relationship with the Avery Point Campus and working with the leadership on that campus to host a UConn ECE Cardboard Boat Race in conjunction with Avery Point’s boat race. Erin created the UConn ECE store and has been a big part of our student outreach and UConn ECE marketing and branding. Not only has Erin accomplished much, she has created relationships that will last. Erin has been an important team builder in the office, instigating office lunches, holiday parties, birthday parties, and being one of the “special ingredients” that have made the office fun and familial. Erin leaves a lasting mark on the program and with whom she has worked. Thank you, Erin, for all that you have done to support the program and the people who make the program.