The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/author/jkara/)
Jacqueline won two first prizes from the national Education Writers Association for her work in 2012 – one in beat reporting for her overall education coverage, and the other in investigative reporting on a series of stories revealing questionable monetary and personnel actions taken by the Board of Regents for Higher Education. In 2016, she was a finalist in the EWA competition for single-topic coverage for her reporting on how schools are funded in Connecticut. Before coming to The Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. She has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and the Toledo Free Press. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College. She and her husband, son and two dogs live in Hartford.
Connecticut’s performance this year on the so-called ‘Nation’s Report Card,’ the country’s most comprehensive assessment of what students know, was remarkably the same as it was the last time the test was given two years ago. The average student’s performance and the gaping gaps in achievement between different groups of students were largely unchanged. Continue Reading →
The report is one of two outside assessments commissioned under Correction Commissioner Scott Semple, and it could shed light on the quality of health care inmates are receiving at a time when prison health care has come under close scrutiny. Continue Reading →
Three Republican lawmakers Wednesday called for a public hearing and “full transparency” to assess allegations of poor health care in state prisons. Continue Reading →
Using more detailed ethnic categories in student and health data could allow policymakers to better serve small populations, but some people in those small populations are anxious about extra scrutiny, the possibility of discrimination and being labeled as other than American. Continue Reading →
The state system of providing healthcare to nearly 14,000 inmates in state prisons is on a path to “inadequate staffing” and “untimely healthcare,” according to consultants hired by the state Department of Correction. The consultants recommend a transition to a “hybrid” model of care that relies more heavily on private providers. Continue Reading →
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded more than 1,000 accidental overdose deaths for the first time in the last six years, and overall drug deaths in the state have nearly tripled in that time. Continue Reading →
See how many applicants from Hartford and surrounding suburban areas chose each school as a first choice and how many seats were offered for the 2017-18 school year. Continue Reading →
The confusion surrounding who wins the lottery – or doesn’t – has fueled displeasure and distrust among many Hartford residents concerned that the vast network of magnet schools has created a two-tiered education system where thousands of struggling city students are stuck in underperforming neighborhood schools. Continue Reading →
Connecticut has more firearms-related law provisions than almost any other state. In 2017, the state had 89 such provisions, placing it behind only California (106) and Massachusetts (100), according to an inventory maintained by the Boston University School of Public Health. Continue Reading →
Inmates released in 2014 were arrested, convicted and sentenced for new crimes at lower rates than past groups, continuing a positive trend in those post-prison outcomes, but returns to prison are not declining at the same rate. Continue Reading →
The grading system is based on more than a dozen measures. However standardized test scores still account for 80 percent of the grade. Continue Reading →
The large majority of public schools and school districts in the state earned worse grades this year than last on the state’s annual assessment of school performance, according to data released Friday by the State Department of Education. Continue Reading →
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget for 2018-19 aims to redistribute education funding more aggressively to the state’s lowest-performing school districts than is currently budgeted. Overall state municipal aid would be cut by about $97 million, or 4 percent. Continue Reading →
Though Connecticut’s gasoline taxes still exceed U.S. average, they no longer are the national outlier they were a decade ago when motorists pumped 52 cents per gallon into the state’s coffers. Continue Reading →
Here are the year-end summaries of fundraising by exploratory and candidate campaign committees raising money for state office elections in 2018. Continue Reading →