Connecticut Council for Education Reform
1Feb/120

Educator Evaluations, Part 1: Recent Progress and Hopes for the Future

We are very encouraged by the guidelines that were approved by the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC) this week. PEAC was created to collaborate with the State Board of Education (SBE) in establishing statewide guidelines for the evaluation of educators. They have been meeting for two years and they finally agreed – unanimously – on the following framework:

12Dec/110

The Commissioner’s Role in Turnaround, Part 1

Ramani Ayer, former CEO of Hartford Financial Services Group

In order for Connecticut to close it’s the achievement gap, which is the largest in the nation, the Commissioner must improve the state’s low-achieving schools. It is both an economic and moral imperative for Connecticut to begin aggressively turning around schools that have failed its students year after year, some for as long as 9 and 10 years, and develop them into high-achieving schools that provide every student with the knowledge and skills to achieve success.

The new Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, recently requested $25 million from Governor Malloy’s administration to dedicate toward turning around the state’s lowest-performing districts and schools. As the Commissioner prepares to tackle this important issue, he should focus on three key actions