State lawmakers and child care advocates are proposing creation of a new state agency to fix what they call a confusing, expensive and burdensome hodgepodge of preschool and child care programs. State Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, is drawing up legislation to establish a Department of Early Childhood Education that would consolidate programs currently operated […]

BRIDGEPORT–Long before lunch hour begins, the cafeteria at Harding High School fills with students sitting idly around tables. Some chat on cell phones. Others slump in chairs. Not a book in sight. Most are chronic class-skippers, rounded up by hallway monitors working for a private New York City-based consulting firm charged with trying to turn […]

NEW BRITAIN–Despite a sobering national report released today about the state of science education in the United States, some schools are proving that science can inspire students even in the most unlikely of places. Such is the case at New Britain High School, where students are conducting sophisticated, prize-winning science projects in a city plagued […]

Susan Herbst, the first woman to be named president of the University of Connecticut, will take office later this year as the state and the university confront the most serious financial crisis in decades. In a wide-ranging telephone interview with The Mirror, Herbst talked about that challenge, as well as her views on high-profile athletic […]

The State Board of Education selected a veteran educator Wednesday to fill in as state education commissioner until the job is filled permanently by Gov. Dan Malloy. George A. Coleman, deputy commissioner at the State Department of Education, was appointed to replace Mark McQuillan, who resigned unexpectedly last month. The appointment comes as the education […]

Even in the checkout lane at the supermarket, Richard C. Cole can’t ignore his mission to change a mindset that causes too many young people to give up on math and science. When a teenage clerk mistakenly overcharged him recently and told him she would call the store manager to figure out how much he […]

State Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan is expected to get a temporary extension as the state’s top education official today, but his long-term status under Gov.-elect Dan Malloy remains uncertain. Malloy said Tuesday he has heard from several prospective applicants for the job, including some with national credentials, but he was noncommittal about McQuillan’s future. “I […]

Manchester Community College student Tina Gilbert plans to get a degree someday, possibly as early as next year, but she still faces one obstacle that stops many college students in their tracks: remedial math. “I struggle with math–the fractions,” said Gilbert, who graduated from Windsor High School more than two decades ago and is one […]

Connecticut’s high school seniors from last spring’s graduating class scored above average on a nationwide test of reading and mathematics–the first such measure of the state’s 12th-graders against their counterparts across the country. Overall, America’s 12th-graders have made modest gains in reading and mathematics performance since 2005, according to results released today on the National […]

NORWICH – When this cash-strapped town closed its schools for spring vacation last April, it still had to pay to keep school buses rolling. The school district continued operating buses for students attending programs outside the district, including a New London magnet school and state-run technical and agricultural high schools. Norwich school bus: Transportation is […]

DANBURY–After months of criticism, Connecticut State University System officials Thursday rescinded a controversial policy that was used to remove Southern Connecticut State University’s president last year. The policy, which had given CSU Chancellor David G. Carter authority to remove presidents without a vote of the Board of Trustees, was ruled illegal earlier this month by Attorney […]

At a private screening of the movie “Waiting for Superman” in Hartford over the weekend, many parents already were familiar with the film’s central message that the odds of getting a good education often are stacked against them. The provocative film by director Davis Guggenheim paints a bleak picture of the nation’s urban public schools […]

A federal education strategy of rewarding aggressive school reform efforts has brought Hartford its largest competitive grant ever–$13.3 million for an anti-dropout program. After restructuring its high schools three years ago and gradually improving a dismal graduation rate, Hartford won the grant in part because the school system has shown encouraging progress so far, officials […]

WILLIMANTIC – Students like biology major Kyle Rockett, working in state-of-the-art laboratories, are fueling a surge in interest in science careers at the Connecticut State University System. The number of students majoring in science grew by nearly one-third over the past five years at the system’s four universities, with the biggest increases at campuses that […]

When Connecticut twice failed to qualify for millions of dollars in school aid under the federal Race to the Top program this year, some critics blamed Gov. M. Jodi Rell for not taking a more active role in pushing school reform. The candidates running to replace Rell in the November election say it won’t happen […]