It is critical and past due that Gov. Dannel Malloy and especially Connecticut Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell look at the inequity in funding of the students who attend the Bridgeport Public Schools as compared to the more affluent suburban school districts in Connecticut.
Common Core
Posted inEducation
Congress’ approval of education bill allows CT to overhaul K-12 system
Washington — The Senate voted overwhelmingly to repeal the controversial No Child Left Behind and sent President Obama a bill that will eliminate most federal mandates and give states like Connecticut broad authority to change their K-12 education systems.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Will Connecticut follow Massachusetts on Common Core?
Massachusetts, one of the leading states on education reform in the nation, in a monumental decision has abandoned Common Core testing. The Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, Michael Chester, in a stunning reversal, has walked away from the very test he helped to create. Now it remains to be seen if other states in the nation, including Connecticut, will follow Massachusetts, a state that is considered to be “the gold standard” in successful education reform.
Posted inEducation
House overwhelmingly votes to replace No Child Left Behind
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives approved a new federal education bill Wednesday that would replace No Child Left Behind and turn back much authority over K-12 educational policy back to the states.
Posted inEducation
U.S. education bill may spell new clash between Malloy, teachers
WASHINGTON — Since the new federal education bill would end many requirements of No Child Left Behind and give states broad authority to fashion their own education policy, Connecticut’s teachers unions are pressing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to take advantage of the new freedoms. But Malloy has not indicated whether he would do so.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Don’t write off impoverished kids
This latest round of test results simply reinforces the fact that we need to change our educational system if we want to improve student learning. A student’s address does not need to define his or her future. And that’s not a truth that is hard for parents to get behind.
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
SBAC: Failing most Connecticut children in more ways than one
The Connecticut SBAC scores will be released by the State Department of Education any day now. The scores will be low. You will be told that the low scores are because the SBAC tests are rigorous and our students don’t measure up. Don’t believe it. … It is our job as citizens and parents to tell students the truth about SBAC. It is our job as educators to keep teaching and assessing students in real and honest ways. Otherwise, we adults are the failures.
Posted inEducation, Politics
CT lawmakers join other Dems in opposing House education bill
WASHINGTON — A bill that would overhaul federal education law and replace the controversial No Child Left Behind Act was approved in the House of Representatives Thursday without a single Democratic vote. Rep Elizabeth Esty said the bill “guts education funding…and turns our back on our schools, our communities, and our children.”
Posted inEducation
Senate votes to drop Smarter Balanced test for high school students
The Senate voted Thursday to do away with the requirement that every high school junior take the Smarter Balanced Assessments, the controversial exams aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Instead, every student would take either the SAT or ACT college-entrance exam. But not everyone is convinced it’s a good idea.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
For this Connecticut parent, piano lessons raise questions of a different scale
A parent asks himself whether the pressures to achieve we put on children of privilege today — with piano lessons, soccer practice, and many many other pursuits — will produce the success and happiness we hope for, or something we would rather they not have to experience.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s lawmakers must see through the ‘edu-profiteers’ and testing mania
I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it is, as a public school employee and practicing school psychologist, to have federal legislation written that continues to allow our students to be assessed by an unproven and invalid standardized test process and also enables the charter school industry to take funds allocated for public school students and divert them to their own private business interests.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s SBAC testing will bring an egregious contradiction
Generalizations like “efficiency,” “accountability,” and “reliability” have been used time and again to describe the benefits of standardized tests. SBAC is no different. However, before Connecticut lawmakers authorize SBAC testing in Connecticut, they should understand what those terms mean for the parents, teachers, and, most significantly, students who will, day in, day out, live with the realities these terms eschew.
Posted inEducation
What you should know about this year’s standardized testing
Thousands of students across Connecticut will begin taking controversial new standardized tests today that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Here is what parents and students should know.
Posted inEducation
Special Report: Education, Diversity and Change in Fairfield County
Fairfield County, a region marked by sharp disparities in income and in urban and suburban life, faces particular challenges in assuring all its residents a quality education. Today, a special report, “Education, Diversity and Change in Fairfield County,” explores the issue through in-depth policy reporting, interactive maps and charts, photo galleries and opinion pieces written by teachers from the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University.