Remembering Newtown
At a time when I might normally be sending out a lighthearted message reminding you to take time with family over the holidays, I find myself wrestling with the right words to write in the wake of this horrific tragedy. As I try to balance the need to celebrate all that we have with the depth of grief over what we have lost, I remember how quickly life can turn from one to the other—from gains to losses, from celebration to grief. Our hearts go out to the students, parents, family members, educators, administrators and community members of Newtown, who have been so deeply affected in the wake of these tragic events.
There are no easy answers for how we keep a tragedy, that for so many of us seems unthinkable, from occurring. For one child to grow into a young person so tormented is heartbreaking in and of itself, but that he then fixated on and succeeded in destroying the lives of so many young children and adults is beyond comprehension. In a matter of a few minutes, he was able to strike fear in the hearts of millions, by destroying that which we hold most dear. We will never know all the things that led up to this moment, but in the end this is a human problem. One lost soul, holding power over the hearts and minds of many. We must pull together, put our minds together and find ways to create greater safety in our schools and our communities. We must find ways to reach young a person so deeply troubled, to keep them from driving us to the very isolation that breeds such horrifying acts.
Toward this end, we must celebrate and recognize the heroes of this day, and every day. There are people, young and old, who rise to the occasion to ensure that the children across our state and in this country receive whatever protection and educational, social, and mental health services they may need. We must support them in doing this most difficult work.
As you close out this year and head into the next, whether you are with family, friends, or co-workers, take time out to listen, to show them that you care. It can make all the difference.
Thank you for all you have done to make sure all Connecticut children have an exceptional education. We are grateful to you for your support and encouragement and look forward to working with you in the coming year.
Warmest wishes in the New Year,
Rae Ann
Resources: Our friends at ConnCAN have also created an online list of resources that may be of assistance to you in supporting the Newtown community or talking to members of your own family or community.
Secretary Arne Duncan thanks the Educators of Sandy Hook Elementary
Weekly Update: Resources for Schools and Parents--and a Thank You to the Nation’s Educators
We ask a lot of our nation’s teachers, Secretary Duncan said in a video message to the educators of Sandy Hook Elementary School. “But no one could possibly ask for this kind of sacrifice,” he said of the courage shown by educators during last week’s tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
In his video message, Secretary Duncan expressed his deep gratitude to teachers, school leaders, and school administrators for the “quiet heroism” they have shown since the Sandy Hook shootings in responding to students’ concerns and seeking to restore a sense of safety and normalcy in our nation’s schools, despite their own feelings of fragility.
Secretary Duncan will visit Newtown on Wednesday, Dec. 19, to talk with Sandy Hook staff and to attend the wake of Principal Dawn Hochsprung.
Watch the Secretary’s message below, and click here to read the text.
We at CCER extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the victims, their families, the students and staff of Newtown Public Schools and all those affected by today's terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
New SPIs: Do You Know Your Score?
Parents got a helpful holiday present from the State Department of Education (SDE) this week! With little fanfare, the SDE rolled out the School Performance Index (SPI), which provides families with a snapshot of how their schools are performing.
The SPI is a single number that encapsulates the overall achievement level of the entire school. Every school is awarded points based on its students’ standardized test scores-- 100 points for every student scoring at Advanced or Goal levels, 67 points for Proficient scores, 33 points for Basic, and 0 points for Below Basic. Then, all of the points are added together and averaged to assign each school a single metric, the SPI. (In other words, if the majority of students score at Goal or Advanced levels, the SPI will be higher.)
This new system of monitoring whole-school progress is part of Connecticut’s brand spanking new accountability system, which will help us tier schools within a framework of interventions. The SDE has promised, as part of its ESEA waiver, to try to start moving districts towards an 88 SPI score. And while there are some schools in Connecticut with high SPIs, there are far too many with SPIs in the 30s and 40s, which means that student achievement in those schools is far below proficiency.
Hartford Schools To Receive $5 Million From Gates Foundation
Congratulations to Christina Kishimoto and the students of the Hartford school district!
Today, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it has awarded Hartford a $4,996,773 grant after the district signed a District Charter Collaboration Compact. The three-year grant will fund a new leadership academy that will train Hartford principals, in a program headed up by the Achievement First charter network. Funding will also support Jumoke Academy (which has partnered with the Milner School as part of the Commissioner’s Network of Schools) in taking on the turnaround of two more Hartford schools.
Of the seven cities (including New Orleans, Boston, Denver, Spring Branch, Philadelphia, New York City) to win a piece of this education grant, Hartford was granted the largest award.
So Just What Are the Common Core Standards?
Did you know that when a student is “proficient” in math or reading in State A, that student is not necessarily also “proficient” in the same subject in State B? Lack of consistency in expectations is a serious problem we face as a nation, and it is one of the many challenges that the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards are designed to solve.
The Problem, Exemplified
Just take a look at the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP). This is the only assessment of academic subjects that is administered across the nation on an ongoing basis in every state. Look at last year, for example, in which a number of states showed lower percentages of proficiency on the national test than they did on their own state tests. For instance, Connecticut students taking Math on the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) showed 86% proficiency, far higher than New Hampshire students taking the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), which found 66% of students taking the test to be proficient. However, when you gave Connecticut and New Hampshire students the same test (NAEP), the results showed that New Hampshire students had higher rates of proficiency than Connecticut students.
Makes no sense right? It’s because we have different standards and expectations between states.
Connecticut Leading the Way in Expanded Learning Time
After an impressive year in education reform, we’re continuing to set national trends in Connecticut! Today, the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), the Ford Foundation, and Connecticut leaders announced that we will be one of 5 states (along with Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee), to collaborate in a new program to develop expanded-time models for schools. We all realize that it’s time to revamp the antiquated model of learning time in schools; and this is our chance in Connecticut to re-imagine that variable as an important facet of reforming public education!
This effort, called the Time for Innovation Matters in Education (TIME) Collaborative, is funded by Ford and supported by NCTL.
What does this mean for CT?
It means that, starting in 2013, select public schools in East Hartford, Meriden, and New London will receive support to add 300 hours to the school day, annually! Over 3,000 CT students will be participating in this initiative. Each participating school will engage in a year of planning with its district, school, unions, teachers, community partners, and parents. Each school will be asked to use the extra time to develop a rounded curriculum with individualized attention, data-driven instruction, and lots of enrichment opportunities.
Governor Malloy observed: “Our reform bill had a number of objectives. For districts that are succeeding, we want state government to get out of the way. And for districts that are falling behind, we wanted to give them the ability to implement the reforms that we know achieve results for students. The additional funding we’re announcing today will allow for the intensive turnaround models that will help us close the nation’s largest achievement gap.”
We expect to see great things from the TIME Collaborative!
You can read the NCTL’s study on expanded learning time here.
The Good News and Bad News about Our High School Graduation Rates
So what can we learn from the federal Department of Education’s publication of the nation’s graduation rates this week? On the new and more rigorous metrics used by the DOE, Connecticut’s overall graduation rate was amongst the top five in the nation. That’s the good news. Here’s the bad news. Although Connecticut did relatively well overall (with an 83% statewide graduation rate), our low-income students ranked in the bottom ten states. Perhaps that’s not surprising, in light of the fact that Connecticut has the largest achievement gap in the nation.
But it certainly underscores the need to narrow the gap. Amongst New England states, Connecticut’s low-income students had the lowest graduation rates.
And it just isn’t fair to pretend that these disappointing results are because it’s impossible to teach low-income students, either.
Just look at Massachusetts-- the only New England state that is demographically comparable to Connecticut. Both states have minority populations of over 30%, and identical percentages of low-income populations. Massachusetts also shows the same graduation rate as Connecticut overall; however, Massachusetts’ low-income students graduate at a higher rate than Connecticut’s. The numbers are giving us a clear message: overcoming socioeconomic diversity is a significant challenge, but not an impossible one!
Connecticut has an economic and moral imperative to concentrate on closing its achievement gap. It’s time we start taking this challenge seriously.
Education Reform Funding Must Be Protected Despite Budget Shortfalls
Each November 15th, the Connecticut budget office projects state revenues and expenditures for the next few years. This year, the news was bad. A $1.2 billion hole has been projected in the state budget.
Governor Malloy said he would not raise taxes to plug the hole. What this means is that the expenditure side of the budget must be reduced.
Two-thirds of the most expensive programs in the state budget are either politically or legally untouchable. They include:
- Medical services for children, poor adults, the elderly and the disabled;
- State employee salaries and benefits (Union employees cannot be laid off.);
- Teachers’ Retirement Contributions (untouchable because legally required);
- The Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant; and
- Payments on the state’s debt (also legally required)
That means that the remaining one-third of the budget will have to bear a significant portion of the cuts. It is time for education advocates to take a stand: the education reform initiatives that Governor Malloy put into the FY 2013 budget are far too important for them to become a part of any reduction scenario created to balance the state budget.
As an illustrative example, the new Commissioner’s Network of schools currently includes only four schools. Over the next two years, the Commissioner’s Network is supposed to expand to at least twenty-five schools. Limiting funding for this essential education reform program would have a chilling effect on the state’s capacity to turn around its lowest-achieving schools, a critical component of Connecticut’s efforts to narrow the achievement gap in our state.
We do not have another year to waste; we must move forward with the impressive reform agenda that was advanced by Governor Malloy during the Year of Education Reform and that was embraced with bi-partisan support. The long-term financial stability of our state and the futures of our children depend on today’s financial support for education reform.
Governor Malloy Pushes for an Early Childhood Quality-Rating System
This month, the Early Childhood Cabinet--along with a plethora of providers and advocates, as well as the occasional journalist--gathered to hear from a working group about the early childhood Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). In 2008, the Cabinet had embraced a version of the QRIS, but the economic downturn and lack of state funding—coupled with a more fundamental lack of government support for the QRIS--doomed the program to languish in oblivion.
Now, QRIS is back. And this time, Governor Malloy wants to make sure it is a success. Governor Malloy’s envoy to the cabinet, Dr. Myra Jones-Taylor, gave the cabinet a deadline to give the governor a QRIS framework from which