The Role of the Community in Ed-Reform: Part 1, The Business Role
Peyton R. Patterson, Chair of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform. Former President & CEO of New Alliance Bank.
We are fortunate to live in one of the wealthiest states in the country. However, we are here today because we also live in the state with the widest achievement gap in the country. This gap has an enormous impact on our state’s low-income students, 40% of whom do not graduate from high school in four years. Studies have shown that high school dropouts have an unemployment rate that is nearly two-and-a half times the rate for high school graduates. They also earn a mere 2/3 of the income of high school graduates, and each cost the state more than $500,000 in net fiscal lifetime benefits. These results are not acceptable outcomes for the state's students or their parents. They also do not bode well for Connecticut’s business and economic viability.
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.
Lowest Achieving Schools, Part 1: What is a Low-Achieving School?
What is a low-achieving school and what are the lowest-achieving schools in Connecticut? It’s a common question that we hear at CCER. Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer to that seemingly simple question.
The CT State Department of Education currently uses two different metrics to categorize schools by academic performance.