Linda Conner Lambeck
Dianna Wentzell didn’t apply to become the state’s education commissioner, and she wasn’t an announced finalist.
But a few weeks ago, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, through his staff, pulled aside Wentzell, the state’s interim commissioner of education, and asked if she would reconsider.
HARTFORD — Dianna L. Wentzell, a 25-year veteran of Connecticut’s public school system, was nominated by the governor Friday as the new state education commissioner.
The state school board took one minute to vote unanimously to approve Wentzell, who has served as interim commissioner since the resignation of former Commissioner Stefan Pryor.
A former classroom teacher, Wentzell is the chief academic officer for the state education department. She has served as an assistant superintendent and deputy chief academic officer in Hartford public schools and worked in South Windsor as the director of literacy, assessment and instructional improvement.
New Haven, Connecticut – Today, Friday, April 17, 2015, Governor Malloy announced that Dianna Roberge-Wentzell will become Connecticut’s permanent Commissioner of Education. Since the departure of Stefan Pryor, Dr. Wentzell has been serving as Interim Commissioner of Education for the state. In response to this announcement, Jeffrey Villar, Executive Director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER), made the following statement:
“Dr. Wentzell has proven herself to be capable of filling this role due to her depth of knowledge, high level of skill, and relationships with district leaders and other stakeholders. We know that she is committed to Connecticut’s children, understands that every child can learn, and believes that all Connecticut students deserve an excellent education-without exception.
“We look forward to working closely with Dr. Wentzell and her team to narrow the achievement gap in Connecticut.”
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About the Connecticut Council for Education Reform
The Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER)-a statewide, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) not- for-profit organization-works to close the achievement gap and raise academic outcomes for all students in Connecticut. The achievement gap is the disparity in academic achievement between children from low-income families and children of color, and their peers. We advocate for state policies and local practices that research shows have the best chance of raising achievement for high-need student populations.
For more information on CCER, go to www.ctedreform.org
By The Editorial Board
Beginning last week, and continuing through the next six to seven weeks, Connecticut elementary, middle school and high school students are taking Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests, computer-based “standardized” tests associated with Connecticut’s Common Core standards, replacing Connecticut Mastery Tests.
Test results are not expected until summer, and it is anticipated that test scores will be 30- to 40-percent lower than last year’s Mastery test scores, likely reigniting the controversy over Common Core.
The Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, however, is not waiting for the results to launch a pre-emptive strike. The union is heavily lobbying lawmakers to enact legislation eliminating the SBAC tests and establish instead a state Mastery Examination Board to identify a progressive monitoring test — or PMT — to replace SBAC.
Subjective measuring
In a meeting with the editorial board recently, union Executive Director Mark Waxenberg argued that SBAC is a single snapshot of a student’s performance at a given time, whereas PMT is a progressive measurement over the course of a school year, thus offering a better assessment of student progress.
The problem, however, is that PMTs are no less subjective — and probably more so — than the SBAC testing, and fall short, in our opinion, of providing the level of accountability that is needed if we are to bring about effective and productive education reform.
SBAC opponents argue that the standardized tests are developed and assessed by third parties, whereas PMT models rely heavily on classroom teachers assessing a student’s skill levels and progress. If student progress, based on test scores, are to be part of teacher evaluations, it strikes us that it is fairer for both teachers and students to have that third party review.
Besides, the Mastery tests were scored by third parties, so this is nothing new.
Pilot program success
In addition to union representatives the editorial board also met with members of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education and Jeffrey Villar, a former school superintendent and now director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, all of whom agreed that the pilot programs run in selected school districts over the last year or so have clearly demonstrated that SBAC and Common Core can work.
On Thursday, March 19th, the Education Committee heard testimony from the general public and public officials during a hearing that ran deep into the night. To read Jeffrey Villar’s written testimony, click here.
The following is a list of the important bills that were heard by the Committee:
1. H.B. No. 7016 (RAISED) AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MORE COMMISSION SPECIAL EDUCATION SELECT WORKING GROUP. (ED)
2. S.B. No. 1099 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSION TO DEVELOP A VISION AND STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE CONNECTICUT EDUCATION SYSTEM. (ED)
3. H.B. No. 7017 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING STUDENT DATA PRIVACY. (ED)
4. S.B. No. 1103 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF INNOVATION. (ED)
5. H.B. No. 7019 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE MINIMUM BUDGET REQUIREMENT. (ED)
6. S.B. No. 1095 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING STUDENTS ASSESSMENTS. (ED)
7. H.B. No. 7020 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS AND INITIATIVES. (ED)
8. S.B. No. 1101 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE OFFICE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. (ED)
9. H.B. No. 7021 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAM EFFICACY. (ED)
10. S.B. No. 1098 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHER CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR SHORTAGE AREAS, INTERSTATE AGREEMENTS FOR TEACHER CERTIFICATION RECIPROCITY, MINORITY TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION AND CULTURAL COMPETENCY INSTRUCTION. (ED)
11. H.B. No. 7018 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION. (ED)
12. S.B. No. 1096 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING CHARTER SCHOOLS. (ED)
13. H.B. No. 7022 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING AUTHORIZATION OF STATE GRANT COMMITMENTS FOR SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS AND CHANGES TO THE STATUTES CONCERNING SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS. (ED)
14. S.B. No. 1097 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING STATE FUNDING FOR EDUCATION. (ED)
15. H.B. No. 7024 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING MEASURES FOR CALCULATING SCHOOL AND DISTRICT PERFORMANCE AND WAIVERS OF FEDERAL LAW SOUGHT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. (ED)
16. S.B. No. 1102 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR BILINGUAL EDUCATORS. (ED)
17. H.B. No. 7023 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING MINOR REVISIONS TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES. (ED)
18. S.B. No. 1100 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE ELIMINATION OF THE REPORTING AND COLLECTION OF CERTAIN STUDENT AND TEACHER DATA. (ED)
By Gregory Hladky
HARTFORD – Connecticut’s largest teachers organization is calling for the elimination of major standardized testing, which the state had planned to use as part of teacher and school performance evaluation. The organization wants to replace it with more flexible “progress testing.”
Officials of the Connecticut Education Association said Monday they commissioned a survey that shows broad public support for placing more emphasis on classroom learning and less on time-consuming standardized tests.
The CEA, which has about 43,000 members, is urging the General Assembly to reform standardized testing. The group is launching a two-week, $250,000 TV ad campaign to encourage public support.
“Over-testing has overtaken our schools,” said CEA President Sheila Cohen, a teacher in Orange. “Over-testing is overwhelming our students.” Cohen said schools and teachers shouldn’t be evaluated simply on how students perform on “high stakes” standardized tests.
Cohen said her organization’s proposal is to phase out the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium standardized testing program that is intended to measure student, teacher and school performance.
“Many of the issues raised [by the CEA proposal] are based on steps the state is already taking,” said Kelly Donnelly, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Education. Donnelly said those include “reducing burdensome testing, developing holistic criteria to improve learning and develop teachers.”
“It’s important to remember these are federally mandated exams,” Donnelly added. “Without a singular, objective statewide assessment, parents, educators and policymakers would be unable to compare performance of students and specific underserved groups of students across the state.”
The amount of time Connecticut students spend on preparing for and taking standardized tests has come in for criticism from educators, parents and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. But the state’s new testing program also has its defenders.
Jeffrey Villar is executive director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, a nonprofit organization backed by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and funded in part by Connecticut corporations, which has a goal of closing the achievement gap between students in wealthier suburban schools and kids in poor urban districts. Villar said the proposal to eliminate the current testing “fails to acknowledge the quality of the standardized testing.” He said the current test has been proven “to be accurate and reliable.”
Villar said the CEA’s proposal is clearly aimed at protecting teachers. “The CEA exists for the purpose of protecting its members,” Villar said.
By Kathy Megan
He’s often said that education is a top priority, but now some advocates are saying that the swipes Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made at higher education funding and the continued flat funding for schools districts could be a serious setback.
University of Connecticut officials said that Malloy’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2016 would leave them $40 million short of what they need to operate in the budget year that starts July 1. Similarly, the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system would be $38 million short of its target.
Higher education administrators said that such reductions would require significant cuts and could lead to greater increases in tuition than planned.
“While we don’t yet know its full impact, this level of spending reduction will almost certainly require a significant increase in student tuition and changes to how [Connecticut State Colleges & Universities] conducts its operations,” said Gregory Gray, president of the CSCU system.
That said, Gray emphasized that he would try to keep the cuts “as far away from the students and the instructional process as possible.” But he added, “There’s a line there. We are getting very close to that line where we simply cannot operate in the way that we need to operate.”
A statement from University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst said that “managing a reduction of that size will necessitate deep and significant cuts throughout the university.”
On the budget proposal for primary and secondary school education, legislators say they were pleased that Malloy did not cut funding in the state’s education cost-sharing system, but they raised questions about the additional funding targeted for charter and magnet schools.
According to Malloy’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year, $36 million more would be allotted for 1,800 more seats in magnet schools and an additional $12 million would go for 1,250 new charter school seats. In addition, $7.9 million in fiscal year 2017 would go for an additional 612 charter seats.
The budget also includes a $4.7 million reduction in funding for low-performing schools targeted for additional resources through the Commissioner’s Network.
‘Doesn’t Quite Add Up’
Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, and co-chairman of the legislature’s education committee, said he was concerned that the budget has “significant increases for magnet schools and charters, but at the same time talks about level funding [in Education Cost Sharing] and reducing dollars for the Commissioner’s Network, which includes the state’s neediest schools. All of that doesn’t quite add up to me.”
Fleischmann said he would have to examine the budget in greater detail. “To the extent that we find additional dollars for education, it seems to me those dollars should be going to ECS first and foremost.”
Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, the co-chairwoman of the education committee, said: “It’s terrific that there aren’t cuts [in ECS funding], but on the other hand, to see the numbers increase so dramatically for non-traditional schools, but leave the schools where the majority of our kids are without additional funding is of concern to me.”
Jeffrey Villar, executive director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, said he was concerned that progress made by the state’s low-performing 30 Alliance Districts — also targeted for extra resources under the Malloy administration — would slide backward without an increase to reflect the districts’ increase in costs.
“The position I would take is that flat funding for the Alliance Districts represents between 2 [percent] and 3 percent in cuts because of the increase in costs they experience year over year,” Villar said.
He said the budget also includes a $6.7 million cut to struggling school districts to cover the cost of extended day programs and summer school to help raise achievement.
Villar said that Malloy’s budget does include bright spots, such as his call for full-day kindergarten by the fall of 2017. However, he said, “[W]e are disappointed that the [proposed budget] does not seem to make education a top priority in 2015.”
CCER: Education Remains Best Investment for Connecticut’s Future
New Haven, Connecticut – Today, February 18, 2015, Governor Malloy delivered his biennial budget address. In response, Jeffrey Villar, Executive Director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER), made the following statement:
“We are pleased that the Governor’s proposal prioritizes capital investments in the Alliance Districts, emphasizes the importance of full-day Kindergarten, and continues state funding for preschool. Investing early will save us money in the long run by setting students up for success.
“However, we should also be strategically investing now in programs that bring the best and brightest in the teaching profession to the lowest-performing districts. For example, if we want every classroom to have an exceptional teacher, we need to invest in incentives that will attract and retain them in the neediest public schools.
“The proposed budget also outlines a hiring freeze. We recognize that this is an important measure because of the impending budget deficit. However, we need to ensure that the next Commissioner of Education is able to staff the State Department of Education with enough capacity to provide high-quality technical support to our neediest districts, and hold them accountable for results. We are concerned that a hiring freeze may impede an incoming Commissioner’s ability to effectively narrow the achievement gap.
“Narrowing Connecticut’s widest-in-the-nation achievement gap is of incredible moral importance, but it is also an economic imperative for this state. We need to continue our commitment to a long-term investment in improving outcomes for our students if we want to ensure Connecticut’s economic viability.”
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About the Connecticut Council for Education Reform
The Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER)-a statewide, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) not- for-profit organization-works to close the achievement gap and raise academic outcomes for all students in Connecticut. The achievement gap is the disparity in academic achievement between children from low-income families and children of color, and their peers. We advocate for state policies and local practices that research shows have the best chance of raising achievement for high-need student populations.
For more information on CCER, go to www.ctedreform.org
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