Students across Connecticut lost ground academically during the pandemic, according to data released by the state Department of Education.
SBAC
Posted inEducation
See how many students in your school system are at grade level in math and English
See how your school system performed on last spring’s standardized English and math tests, which are formally known as the Smarter Balanced Assessments.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Cost of SBAC testing in Connecticut is unconscionable, unnecessary
Education activists have been speaking out and pushing back against the misguided Common Core State Standards and the flawed Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) statewide test protocol for several years now, as they have become more aware of the billionaire-driven, media-complicit, and politically-entrenched “corporate education reform” agenda.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Providing exceptional education to all students requires more accountability, not less
The release of Connecticut’s teacher evaluation results in a school-funding trial has revealed that only 1 percent of teachers were evaluated as either “below standard” or “developing.” Recently, a CT Mirror story covered a discussion among members of the Connecticut Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC) about whether and how to amend the teacher evaluation process. In that story, Connecticut unions represented that the inclusion of a state assessment in the evaluation process is unfair to teachers. But, as a former teacher, principal, and superintendent, and a father of six Connecticut children—it strikes me as somewhat obvious that, quite to the contrary, these results indicate a strong, existing bias in favor of protecting teachers from data.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT Senate bill 175 stifles parents’ right to dissent on standardized testing
There is no rational explanation to support SB 175, a newly-proposed bill with the innocuous title “An Act Concerning Recommendations of the Department of Education”. There is no excuse for elected officials to take away a citizen’s right to peacefully protest and dissent. Vote NO on SB 175!
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The SAT: Should Connecticut students opt out, or not?
Last year, hundreds of 11th-grade students across Connecticut refused to take the mandated SBAC test. Knowing that they had no control over independent-minded 11th-graders, the governor and State Department of Education sought a waiver from Washington, D.C., for permission to offer what they hoped would be a more palatable test: the SAT. It is a test […]
Posted inEducation
Scores plunge as students take new, tougher SBAC test
As expected, the standardized test scores parents are accustomed to seeing for their child’s school have plunged as the state implements a harder test aligned with the controversial Common Core State Standards.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT schools must set a higher standard of achievement
When scores from Connecticut’s new statewide test, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), are released to the public later this month, Connecticut districts, school leaders, community members and families will have a more accurate representation of where our children are with regards to their college and career readiness. As a former educator and Connecticut public school student, I know all too well the importance of standards that effectively prepare for life beyond high school.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Test data matters for Connecticut. Education is a science
Until recent developments, we haven’t had sufficient high-quality data about public education. Is it any surprise that our education system is less than optimal? In Connecticut, we have the widest achievement gap in the nation. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test is an advanced, computer-based assessment that will provide us with the opportunity to collect the most refined student achievement data we’ve ever seen.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Common Core raises question: Who is in charge of education?
The Common Core standards were built on the foundation of No Child Left Behind, which has been a complete failure in many ways.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Buyers beware (of Common Core)
Let’s look the governor, the commissioner of education and the State Board of Education in the eye and say: No Sale.