Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

State approves rescue plans for four struggling schools

  • by Robert A. Frahm
  • August 9, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

When state officials approved a plan Thursday to rescue Hartford’s troubled Milner School, they took a leap of faith that the latest strategy would succeed where years of earlier efforts have failed.

The State Board of Education approved turnaround plans for Milner and three other struggling, impoverished urban schools in Bridgeport, New Haven and Norwich — the first schools to be selected for millions of dollars in state assistance and intervention under a new Commissioner’s Network.

The network is an effort proposed by first-year Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor to address the problem of chronic academic failure in the state’s lowest-performing schools.

The four turnaround plans propose a range of strategies, including proposals to strengthen the quality of each school’s staff and to extend the school day and school year. Pryor said the plans “have a real chance of creating momentum at these schools that for too long have not shown progress.”

Of the 50 states, Connecticut has the largest academic achievement gap separating low-income children from their more affluent classmates, and closing that gap is one of Pryor’s biggest challenges.

Earlier this year, the state legislature allocated $7.5 million for the Commissioner’s Network to support reforms at the four schools for the coming year.

Under a new state law, Pryor has authority to intervene in as many as 25 schools over the next three years. He has said he intends to seek additional funds from the state legislature for the remaining school interventions in the following two years. The push to improve the state’s worst schools was a key element of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s education reform package this year.

The turnaround plans — developed by local committees of educators, parents and community leaders — proposed strategies such as bolstering parent involvement, attacking truancy and misbehavior, and, in Milner’s case, establishing a partnership with a promising charter school.

Pryor hailed Milner’s proposed partnership with Jumoke Academy, a charter that has produced encouraging results with children from the same neighborhood. Charter schools often have been viewed as rivals of traditional public schools, and Pryor said such partnerships are rare. Nevertheless, he said, “It’s very important that the charter school movement turn its attention to the large number of low-performing schools that continue to struggle.”

Nowhere is the problem of low performance more evident than at Milner, a school in one of Hartford’s poorest neighborhoods in the city’s North End. City officials have hired a string of principals, enlisted community agencies and tried various strategies to bolster achievement — all to little avail.

Milner was among schools cited as examples of the ills of urban poverty in the Sheff vs. O’Neill school desegregation trial in the early 1990s. It has tried various reading and math strategies and tutoring programs. In 2004, the school established an early intervention team to assist families with problems ranging from drug abuse to teen pregnancy.

The most recent reform effort was a 2008 redesign that revamped curriculum and identified the school as a Core Knowledge Academy, a back-to-basics model emphasizing knowledge of literature, art, mathematics and other subjects with the goal of making students culturally literate. Officials say the results so far have been disappointing.

The scope of the challenge at Milner, which includes children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, is daunting:

  • 95 percent of the school’s students meet poverty guidelines under the federal school lunch program.
  • One of four students is not fluent in English.
  • Of the 37 third-graders who took the state Mastery Test this year, only one met the state goal in reading. None met the goal in math. In other grades, too, students fell well below state and district averages.
  • A state review issued last month cited a range of problems, including high rates of teacher turnover and teacher absenteeism. Substitute teachers are often staff members pulled from other classrooms, the review said.
  • The review cited a 2010-11 report indicating that 298 of the school’s 412 students qualified as truant under state guidelines.

Under the proposed plan, the Jumoke Academy would help manage Milner, using a highly structured model that emphasizes teacher recruitment and training, family involvement, strict attendance guidelines, classroom discipline and smaller class sizes. The plan calls for a longer school day, a series of Saturday classes and the expansion of an afterschool enrichment program.

Like Milner, three other schools won state approval for plans with similar strategies to improve student achievement.

In Bridgeport, officials proposed smaller class sizes and more instructional time at the James J. Curiale Elementary School. The plan calls for staggered work schedules to allow for extending the school day and school year. In addition, the school plans to adopt a curriculum model developed by the National Center for Gifted and Talented Education at the University of Connecticut. The school also recently hired a veteran New York City educator as its new principal.

In New Haven, a union-management partnership proposes a series of reforms at the High School in the Community, including efforts to strengthen ties with the community, require students to demonstrate competence in academic subjects and provide additional classroom time and teacher planning time. The plan also calls for hiring a health specialist with psychiatric experience to help students and families.

And in Norwich, plans call for stronger home-to-school collaboration at the John B. Stanton Elementary School, including the hiring of a parent and family liaison. The school also proposes hiring a literacy specialist, a consultant and an executive coach to assist the principal with the turnaround plan. In addition to lengthening the school day, the plan calls for additional afterschool and summer classes.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert A. Frahm

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Senate leader pitches new state property tax on high-value homes
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The state Senate’s highest-ranking Democrat proposed new taxes on high-value homes and the capital gains of Connecticut's highest earners.

It’s time to standardize arts grants in Connecticut
by Mandi Jackson and Daniel Fitzmaurice

What all arts organizations need most right now is multi-year, unrestricted general operating support with simplified, fair processes for accountability. This would allow the arts community to better respond to the needs of Connecticut residents instead of the political process, lobbyists, or wealthy donors.

Accessory dwelling units are a good thing
by Toni Gold

Connecticut’s large, old houses are a resource that any town should treasure — not just for their charm and historical value, but because of their potential for adaptation. One tool that can help ensure the viability of these structures is zoning, and particularly zoning for accessory dwelling units (ADUs). There’s a movement to  legalize ADUs statewide. It’s a good idea whose time has come.

New Haven and Yale: Giamatti and DiLieto:  A historic moment? Or a model? 
by Neil Thomas Proto

The City of New Haven’s effort today to seek an increase in financial contribution from Yale is more historically justified than is often recognized.

As seniors complain of trouble scheduling COVID vaccines, Connecticut beefs up its appointment phone line
by Jenna Carlesso

Gov. Lamont praised Connecticut's efforts to vaccinate seniors but wasn't as eager to discuss problems with the state's appointment system.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion It’s time to standardize arts grants in Connecticut
by Mandi Jackson and Daniel Fitzmaurice

What all arts organizations need most right now is multi-year, unrestricted general operating support with simplified, fair processes for accountability. This would allow the arts community to better respond to the needs of Connecticut residents instead of the political process, lobbyists, or wealthy donors.

Opinion Accessory dwelling units are a good thing
by Toni Gold

Connecticut’s large, old houses are a resource that any town should treasure — not just for their charm and historical value, but because of their potential for adaptation. One tool that can help ensure the viability of these structures is zoning, and particularly zoning for accessory dwelling units (ADUs). There’s a movement to  legalize ADUs statewide. It’s a good idea whose time has come.

Opinion New Haven and Yale: Giamatti and DiLieto:  A historic moment? Or a model? 
by Neil Thomas Proto

The City of New Haven’s effort today to seek an increase in financial contribution from Yale is more historically justified than is often recognized.

Opinion A call to save arms: is vaccination really the solution?
by Genevieve Diamant

Economic modelling done by professional statisticians is often used to claim that the ounce of prevention provided by a vaccine is much better than the pound of cure that well-funded hospitals, fully staffed with professional nurses and doctors, using effective pharmaceutical remedies, can provide. But is this actually true?

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO