ConnCAN News Release
State Budget Funds Key Programs for Closing Achievement Gap
Three key provisions of ConnCAN’s “Great Schools for All” plan for closing Connecticut’s achievement gap—expanding high-quality preschool, creating innovative new public schools, and ensuring greater accountability for results—received a significant boost with $123 million in new funding over two years in the State Budget.
News Articles
Schools Must Ignore Race in Placing Pupils, Justices Say
Associated Press, New York Times, June 28, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected school assignment plans that take account of students' race in two major public school districts. The decisions could imperil similar plans nationwide.
The rulings in cases affecting schools in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle leave public school systems with a limited arsenal to maintain racial diversity.
The court split, 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts announcing the court's judgment. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent that was joined by the court's other three liberals.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote a concurring opinion in which he said race may be a component of school district plans designed to achieve diversity.
Union to Help Charter Firm Start School in the Bronx
By Jennifer Medina, New York Times, June 28, 2007
Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school operator from Los Angeles, is seeking to expand into New York with the cooperation of the teachers' union.
Under the proposal, Green Dot, which is heavily financed by the billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, would open a high school in the South Bronx. The school, which must be approved by the state, would become one of only a handful of charter schools in the city to use a union contract.
The cooperation of the union, the United Federation of Teachers, is unusual. It has been lukewarm toward charter schools, many of which actively oppose unions. The schools are publicly financed but are largely free from the control of local school districts.
By Andrew Shaw, Greenwich Time, June 26, 2007
Greenwich Public Schools students are getting better at using technology, and classroom performance should improve with the addition of more technological tools, school administrators say. Fifth- and eighth-graders were tested several times this year to gauge their computer skills, and the results showed that when teaching methods were adjusted to address their weak spots, the students improved, John Curtin, assistant superintendent of curriculum, research and evaluation, and Fran Kompar, director of library and media, told the Board of Education at a recent meeting
The increase in skills was noticeable for all elementary and middle schools, but it was most marked from those schools on the western side of Greenwich, especially New Lebanon School.
"This is a definite closing of the achievement gap," Kompar said.
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