Welcome to the NEERO October 2020 newsletter! In this issue you will find: 

• NEERO 2021: Submissions Overview
• NEERO Events: December Workshop
• NEERO Recommended Resources for Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusivity
• NEERO Awards: Announcing NEERO 2020 Award Winners and Call for Nominations for NEERO 2021 Awards

Please contact us with your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future newsletters.

NEERO received close to 200 submissions for the NEERO 2021 Virtual Conference, comprising research accepted for the NEERO 2020 conference and new submissions for this year. 

New submissions were received from 10 states and 2 countries, including Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Sweden.

Thanks to those who are currently reviewing NEERO 2021 submissions!

Decisions will be shared with contact authors by January 1, 2021. 

Creating Community Using Online Tools: A Discussion and Workshop

Friday, December 11, 2020, 10:30am - 12:00pm

Presenter: Jess L. Gregory, Southern Connecticut State University

Cost: FREE, registration required

Online learning can make classes more didactic, but that does not have to be the case.  This NEERO Circle will coach participants in how to use existing tools (Word for the web or Google Docs) to foster meaningful peer interactions and greater engagement in both synchronous and asynchronous online designs. The presenter will share early mistakes so that participants don’t have to make them, and we will all collaborate in a practice space so that attendees can try out skills and develop strategies as we all plan for the Spring 2021 semester.  

As the Board of the New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO), we are compelled to speak out in response to the murders of Jacob Blake, Daniel Prude, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and a long list of Black people and people of color whose lives have been cut short by senseless acts of brutality, violence, and racism. We share outrage, frustration, and an ongoing commitment to action. Black Lives Matter.

Click below for links and resources that support efforts to advance racial justice, inclusivity, and equity for educators and educational researchers: 

Black Lives Matter and Protest Art Exhibits to View Online: This article provides links and resources for art and other visual resources for viewing, that could be used for teaching. 

McGee, E.O. (2020). Interrogating structural racism in STEM higher education. Educational Researcher (online first). This article examines structural racism in STEM, to expose the marginalization of underrepresented groups, and to improve understanding of the STEM policies, practices, and procedures that allow the foundation of racism to remain intact in higher education. 

Teaching Tolerance: Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

Announcing NEERO 2020 Award Winners

The NEERO Board is thrilled to announce the 2020 Award Winners. Congratulations!

Rubovits Award for Best Paper: Lakshmi Frechette was awarded the Rubovits Award for Best Paper (from the NEERO 2019 Conference) for her paper, "Teacher Candidate Disposition: A Framework for Unpacking and Supporting Intellectual, Cultural, and Moral Dispositions."In addition to being the mother of 5 young children, Lakshmi writes for Lexington Books, an imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. She also designs and presents professional development workshops for teacher candidates and novice educators including K-12 Family Partnerships: Advancing Dispositional  Attributes, LEAN-In Training, and Stop-Action Coaching via Neural Pathway Reinforcement.

Kim Fries Award: Emilie Reagan was awarded the Kim Fries Award for early career distinction. Emilie is Associate Professor of Education at the University of New Hampshire and current NEERO President. Her research focuses on justice-oriented teacher preparation policy and practice.

John Schmitt Award: Kathryn Welby was awarded the Schmitt Award for outstanding research at the graduate level for a paper based on her doctoral dissertation, "The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic on Elementary Schools in Crisis Regions of the Northeastern United States." Kathryn is Assistant Professor of Practice in Special Education and the Director of the K-12 Teacher Preparation Programs at Merrimack College. 

NEERO 2021 Awards Call for Nominations

Please consider nominating a colleague or student for the NEERO 2021 Awards.

Kim Fries Award (Nomination Deadline: December 1, 2020): Established in 2012 in memory of Kim Fries, this award recognizes the work of contributing NEERO members who have demonstrated distinction in the early part of their professional careers. 

John Schmitt Award (Nomination Deadline: December 1, 2020):  This award is recognizes outstanding research at the graduate level for a paper submitted to the NEERO conference.

The NEERO 2020 and 2021 award winners will be honored at the NEERO 2021 Virtual Conference.