White children are still twice as likely to hit the proficiency benchmarks on the test as their black and Hispanic peers.
Connecticut State Department of Education
Posted inEducation
State board names education bureau chief as new interim commissioner
State officials are preparing to name a second interim Department of Education commissioner Friday as the search for a permanent leader heads into its seventh month.
Posted inEducation
State reports the number of students sanctioned for vaping is way up
While suspensions and expulsions in Connecticut schools are on the decline, the incidence of such disciplinary action in connection with vaping is increasing.
Posted inEducation
The winding road to the next education commissioner
Lamont needs the board’s recommendation before he can appoint a new leader
Posted inPolitics
Feds give Connecticut $10.6 million for districts with displaced students
The United States Department of Education has announced it will allocate Connecticut $10.6 million for school districts that took in displaced students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria wreaked widespread devastation last fall.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Feds providing CT schools with money for new students from Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON — After months of fighting over aid to last summer’s hurricane-hit communities, Congress finally approved a compromise budget bill earlier this month that will provide millions of dollars to help schools care for displaced students.
Posted inEducation
State watchdog launches investigation into vo-tech contracts
The watchdog board that oversees state contracts will investigate whether Connecticut’s vocational-technical school system improperly spent millions of dollars over the past three years on marketing and consulting contracts with two Rocky Hill-based firms.
Posted inEducation, Politics
CT joins lobbying fray over new federal education rule
WASHINGTON – Connecticut has joined a lobbying effort to change how federal money for schools with large populations of poor or disadvantaged students is distributed. The new regulation would bar school districts from “supplanting” the money they give to schools with poor students with federal money aimed at “supplementing” local funding.
Posted inNews
Bridgeport schools leader says she asked the state for help
The superintendent of one of the state’s lowest-performing districts said Thursday the state had declined her request to mandate training for the rancorous, locally elected school board.
Posted inEducation
Student suspensions can add to a downward spiral, data suggest
Students need to be at school to learn, but new state data show that many children expelled or suspended because they act out are among those likely to miss the most school and perform less well academically. “”Suspensions and expulsions may exacerbate academic deterioration,” reads a presentation prepared for the State Board of Education.
Posted inEducation
State releases grades for every school
Grading schools on more than just tests scores has been a long time in the works. But the State Department of Education has now released a zero-to-100 rating for every school in the state based on 19 different measures.
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
Connecticut charter schools not really getting a funding increase
Let’s set the record straight. Public charter school students do not receive a funding increase in Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposed budget. They will still receive the same state per-pupil grant that they have received for several years. Put simply: all public schools are flat-funded across the board. A recent story by the CT Mirror suggested otherwise, and we want to ensure the facts are front and center.
Posted inEducation
Schools redirecting money intended for reforms, officials say
A considerable amount of the $132.9 million the state provided the lowest-performing districts to pay for improvements like extending the school day or offering free preschool was “inappropriately” used last year to close budget deficits districts were facing, state education leaders said Wednesday.
Posted inEducation, Money
Defining education — Does it include preschool?
An empty preschool classroom in Bridgeport There’s agreement that too few children in Connecticut have access to quality preschool programs, but top state officials are butting heads with a coalition of parents and educators on how to put a near-universal system in place. Attorney General George Jepsen argues that whether the state pays for universal preschool is an issue that should remain […]