This month, The Education Trust released a forward-thinking report, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Achievement for Low-Income Students and Students of Color,” which tells the story of the achievement gap from a new angle. Most efforts to date have focused the achievement gap between our low-performing students, but The Education Trust’s report points out that achievement gaps also exist between our high-performing students. The Education Trust points out that achieving full equality in America means that we need to make sure that our low-income students and students of color are also represented amongst our high-achieving students. In other words, it’s not enough to raise their performance to proficient; we need to raise the bar even higher.

Using the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), The Education Trust demonstrates this trend by studying the progress that subgroups make in narrowing their gaps over time. For example, if Hispanic students were to narrow their gaps more than White students over an increment of time, then Hispanic students would be deemed to have shown more improvement than their White peers. The interesting twist in this study by The Education Trust, however, is that it distinguishes between gaps at the “low-end” and gaps at the “high-end” of achievement by comparing gaps amongst sub-groups at the Below Basic and Advanced levels, independently.

“This program helps turn around our lowest performing schools.”

On April 19^th, 2013, the Appropriations Committee cut roughly $37 million in necessary funding for education reforms from Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget. This includes $10 million in cuts over the next two years to the Commissioner’s Network.

The Commissioner’s Network was created to turn around our state’s lowest performing schools and provide the support necessary to improve student achievement.

The governor’s proposal of $14.1 million over the biennium was intended to fund the following initiatives within the Commissioner’s Network:

• Increased support for principals and teachers
• 300 hours of extended learning time to schools over the biennium
• Up to five lead partners to manage the schools
• Professional development for coaching on data use
• Community partnerships to provide wraparound services

Currently, four schools are participating in the Commissioner’s Network,[1] and six more schools were invited to develop plans this year:

Under the Governor’s proposal, this initiative would expand to include up to 21 schools by the end of the biennium. However, the Appropriations Committee budget cuts funding for the Commissioner’s Network to only $3.9 million over the biennium, which will reduce the number of schools that can be included in the program from 21 to 12.[2]

We urge state legislators to restore funding for this key program designed to turn around the state’s lowest performing schools.

A better education for thousands of students is at stake.

In April, the Appropriations Committee didn’t just propose to cut new funding for Common Core State Standards; they completely eliminated it.

In 2010, Connecticut became one of the now 46 states that are adopting the Common Core State Standards. Along with standardizing expectations, CCSS encourages depth in learning and mastery of rigorous subject matter while making sure that our students become competent and competitive workers. In essence, CCSS changes the focus of classroom learning from quantity to quality. (Read more about CCSS here.)

Governor Malloy’s original budget proposal included $16.6 million over the biennium to support local implementation of the Common Core State Standards. This money is intended to train teachers and leaders to adopt the new standards in schools, develop aligned assessment tools, and create online reference materials for educators.

The Appropriations Committee’s Budget would be devastating to the progress made towards ensuring a quality education for all students. Without any initial funding for CCSS implementation, educators will not have the support they need to make these vital changes. “The majority of teachers support the Common Core Standards but don’t feel prepared to teach them”, says CCER Executive Director, Rae Ann Knopf. “We need to make sure that teachers are confident in their abilities by providing focused professional development and training if we want to see positive changes in Connecticut Schools.”

We must follow through on our commitments in order to improve.

We must support Connecticut teachers in implementing higher standards and expectations for every student.

We are asking much of Connecticut’s educators, and, in return, CCER is urging legislators to restore funding for Common Core implementation. It is time that we support our teachers and administrators to ensure that ALL students have access to an effective and fulfilling education.

“We must move forward with the statewide educator evaluation system, which supports and develops teachers and principals, and holds educators accountable for their performance.”

The education reform bill passed by the state legislature with overwhelming support last year, and signed into law by the Governor, raises standards for educators by implementing a teacher and principal evaluation and support program.

The Appropriations Committee budget cuts put this essential program at risk.

We urge legislators to restore the $10 million for Talent Development, proposed by Governor Malloy’s budget.

This program is a significant improvement over existing evaluation programs in its potential to provide essential feedback and support to high-performing teachers and principals, make certain that teachers in need of improvement receive the help they need, and allow for swift dismissal of those who consistently fail to improve. Program pilots are underway currently in 10 sites. Upon review of these efforts, the State Board of Education (SBE) approved this program for statewide implementation. The remaining districts have developed plans for evaluation systems similarly informed by effectiveness. The SBE will review these plans for approval this month.

Why is this so important? Research is clear on the long-term positive impacts of effective teachers for kids, as well as the

WFSB 3 Connecticut

This just in: The 2013 Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards
has granted our three-part documentary, Great Expectations: Raising Educational Achievement, a “Gold Plaque Educational/Documentary Series”!

April 11, 2013. Festively dressed in lime green t-shirts, scores of charter school advocates brightened the State Capitol steps as they gathered on a cool lead-gray day to urge state lawmakers to “Keep the Promise” and restore state funding for charter schools.

Last year, as part of the education reform law, public charter schools were promised more equitable funding from the state, starting with this school year. In December, as part of the deficit mitigation plan, charter school funding was reduced, causing schools to scramble to balance their budgets.

This month, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) released new state- and school-level data on graduation rates for the 2010-2011 school year. Before this year, states used a variety of methods to calculate high school graduation rates, so standardizing the formula for all states makes comparing states and individual schools easier and far more accurate. Using the new data system, now anyone can compare graduation rates-from Kemmerer High School in Lincoln County, Wyoming to Sheehan High School in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Making this type of information publicly available is a step towards fostering accountability for the public education system. Tracking accurate, comparable information will also serve to highlight best practices in improving graduation rates.

Last year, the process of passing landmark education reform in Connecticut was uniquely American: messy and confusing, but glorious in its ability to bring diverse peoples together to do the right thing for our children.

Rather than producing incompatible provisions in fits and starts each year, we passed a comprehensive framework of policies to reshape public education in Connecticut—the complex principles shaped around an underlying premise: that providing our children with the best education possible is both a moral imperative and the foundation for our economic revival.

Now, for a host of reasons, attempts are underway to undo some of those critical reforms before they even have a chance to take hold. That means this year is every bit as critical as the last, and the stakes are equally high.

Did you know that in Connecticut’s public schools, 5 out of 6 low-income students, 6 out of 7 black students, and 5 out of 6 Hispanic students in fourth grade do not read at grade level? Many are two or more years behind.

You can hear Rae Ann on NPR, discussing the role that early literacy will play in closing the achievement gap, here!