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.
Connecticut State Department of Education
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 […]
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
Achievement gap an issue as Congress considers new ed bill
WASHINGTON – Connecticut elementary students have among the highest reading and math scores in the nation, but a stubborn achievement gap persists between the state’s highest- and lowest-performing schools, said a White House report issued Monday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut education: Getting it right in the future
The bad news for education in Connecticut is that in the state budget, which takes effect on July 1, money will be spent on charter schools for 2 percent of Connecticut children that would have been better spent on the other 98 percent of Connecticut children. The good news is if the Connecticut legislature wants to address that kind of injustice, it now has the power to do so.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut should provide bilingual education for all
We need to embrace the fact that speaking more than one language is a 21st-century skill that all American students should have, yet our state is lagging behind others in its adoption of bilingual education programs. So, people of Connecticut, its time that we demand that our state takes the lead on providing quality bilingual education for all children, K-12.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Parent explains why she can’t allow her children to take the SBAC test
After doing her own research for months, a Fairfield parent explains why she has no confidence in the state’s use of the SBAC test or that student privacy is adequately protected in the use of the test data. She has elected for her children not to take the test.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
When we suspend them, we fail our youngest students
Several bills before the legislature would ban out-of-school suspension for children younger than 8. These proposals recognize that young children with problem behavior are often in need of help, that being excluded from school sets them up for academic failure, and that a culture of exclusionary discipline harms every child in a school.