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Improving Learning Opportunities and Environments

UConn's Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE), housed within the Neag School of Education, produces high-quality research, evaluation, and policy analysis that informs leaders and policymakers on a range of pressing issues, with a particular focus on enhancing social justice and equity across p-20 educational settings in Connecticut and beyond.

Current Center Highlights and Partnerships

Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration

""The Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration (CCERC) is a first-of-its-kind research collaborative of public and private universities across Connecticut. Formerly the Connecticut COVID-19 Education Research Collaborative, the partnership was initially established by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) using federal coronavirus relief funds. Today, the collaboration responds to ongoing evaluation and research needs of the CSDE, provides research opportunities for Connecticut researchers, and fosters collaboration across the state’s institutions of higher education. CEPARE Director Dr. Morgaen Donaldson co-leads the CCERC.

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Rapid Research Briefs for Alliance Districts

""With the support of AERA’s Education Research Service Project (ERSP) funding, CEPARE produces 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. These districts have faced numerous challenges, including student mobility, increasing student poverty, educator turnover, and declines in state funding over time. Many of these challenges were exacerbated by COVID. Alliance districts face unprecedented challenges in the current moment that give rise to numerous, urgent questions.

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UConn Test-Optional Undergraduate Admissions Pilot Program

""Starting with the class that entered in fall 2021, the University of Connecticut has allowed undergraduate applicants to decide whether they wished to submit SAT and/or ACT standardized test scores. Originally started as a three-year pilot program designed to run through the coming application cycle for fall 2023 entry, UConn leaders approved a plan in 2022 to extend the pilot for another three years. This ongoing evaluation of the test-optional undergraduate admissions pilot program is led by CEPARE Director Morgaen Donaldson. The extension will help the University disentangle the effects of the COVID pandemic from the test-optional approach when assessing student success, and eventually provide a better apples-to-apples comparison against earlier cohorts that were required to submit test scores.

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