Our New Executive Director Shares What Excites Her About Working at CCER in CT
Rae Ann Knopf recently joined the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER) as its new Executive Director. After formally introducing her at CCER’s press conference at the State Capital yesterday, we’ve asked Rae Ann to share her thoughts on assuming the leadership role at CCER and what excites her about CCER’s role in supporting education reform efforts in the state.
This is, perhaps, the most exciting time in education that our country has ever known: it’s a time when the citizens of this nation have openly begun to demand a dynamic education system that will ensure a transformative learning experience for every child.
In particular, the circumstances in Connecticut this year make it ripe for educational reform because we have two of the key ingredients necessary to propel the needed changes:
What is the ECS Task Force?
The Education Cost Sharing (ECS) Task Force was created in legislation that passed during the 2011 Legislative Session. Over the last few months, the ECS Task Force has been studying how Connecticut distributes education grant funds across the state. The current formula is more than twenty years old, and has, by all admissions, become too complicated. The ECS Task Force's charge is to develop recommendations on ways to change how education funding is allocated to each municipality.
The ECS Task Force members have spent the last few months learning about the ECS formula and all of the changes, additions and compromises that have been made to it over time. Under
Commissioner’s Role in Turnaround, Part 2: New Authority Needed
Recently, the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER) highlighted Massachusetts’ five-tiered Framework for District and School Accountability, and explained why it might be a useful model for Connecticut. Given the importance of a clearly defined and effective intervention framework for Connecticut, we’ve asked Jesse Dixon, the Director of the Office of District and School Turnaround in Massachusetts, to share three main takeaways from Massachusetts’ process and success with their school-turnaround plan and intervention framework.
In 2010, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education began a partnership with nine districts to turn around the Commonwealth’s lowest performing 34 schools. A new law was passed in January that gave flexibilities to superintendents to turn around the schools, but required each school to turn around in three years or face state takeover.
Welcome!
Welcome to the Blog for the Connecticut Council for Education Reform! We at CCER want this to be a platform for you to keep abreast of important education issues and the "go to place" for education events, to expand your awareness of particular education topics, and to share the knowledge you already have! This space will provide you with: