ConnCAN's Education News Roundup

ConnCAN in the News

State's scores stable as others rise
By, Maria Garriga, New Haven Register, September 26, 2007

Connecticut students, whose scores this year on a national test administered by the National Assessment for Educational Progress left national averages in the dust, but improved little over state children who took the test in 2005.

The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, an education research and advocacy group, concluded NAEP results showed Connecticut's achievement gap has grown although it was already the widest in the nation. Research Director Marc Porter Magee said the gap in reading between poor and "non-poor" fourth-graders grew from 3.3 to 3.8 grade levels, and in math from 2.6 to 3 grade levels. In eighth grade, the achievement gap in reading grew from 2.9 to 3. In math, however, the achievement gap among eighth-graders shrank from 3.7 to 3.6.

Mayor Takes On School Critics
By Paul Bass, New Haven Independent, September 24, 2007

Who should meet with whom? That's one unresolved question in a testy exchange of letters between local education reformers and the mayor and schools superintendent.

The exchange is the latest chapter in ongoing tensions growing out of criticism of the city's school system by a New Haven-based advocacy group called Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN). Mayor DeStefano accuses the group of being basically a front for charter schools. The group calls itself a constructive independent voice for closing the achievement gap through better-performing schools of all kinds.

Is ConnCAN failing to offer constructive criticism? Or can the school system's leaders not accept constructive criticism?

News Articles

Schoolkids Post Modest Gains In National Test; NAEP Scores Are Up Since '05, But Persistent Gaps Fuel Fight Over No Child Left Behind
By John Hechinger, The Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2007

Yesterday, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, showed an increase in math and reading achievement among U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders from 2005 to 2007.

Supporters of No Child Left Behind immediately hailed the results as showing the success of the law, which is up for renewal this year and aims to bring students from all backgrounds up to minimum education standards. But despite improving performance among most racial groups, the lagging performance of minority students, often called the "achievement gap," persisted from past years. In addition, despite some improvement in math scores since No Child Left Behind took effect in 2002, reading results among eighth-graders have actually declined since then. Those results give ammunition to those who want to change the federal education law.

Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, pointed out that NAEP scores have been improving for more than 15 years. In a fact sure to be cited by opponents of No Child Left Behind, Mr. Jennings noted that gains were sharper immediately before the law took effect than afterward. "That finding is going to be one of the most explosive," he said.

New Haven Launching 4 New Magnets
By Allan Appel, The New Haven Independent, September 26, 2007

The Board of Ed received word late Tuesday that it has received a three-year $6-7 million grant to help create one new magnet school and convert three other schools to magnets.

One of those, Ross/Woodward, is going to have the classics as a theme. The two other schools, Beecher and John Daniels, will have museum studies and international learning and Spanish language for all students, respectively, as themes. The grant will also help to underwrite the creation of a new school, the University of New Haven Science and Engineering High School,

Math Scores Rise, but Reading Is Mixed
By, Sam Dillon, The New York Times, September 26, 2007

America’s public school students are doing significantly better in math since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002, but gains in reading achievement have been marginal, with performance declining among eighth graders, according to results of nationwide reading and math tests released Tuesday.

The results also showed that the nation had made only incremental progress in narrowing historic gaps in achievement between white and minority students, a fundamental goal of the federal law.

Legislators considering bill that would mandate later school start date
By, Robin Walluk, The Wilton Bulletin, September 24, 2007

“In recent years state guidelines regarding the school year have been blurred beyond recognition to allow the mandatory 180 days, interrupted by everything from professional development days to the prospect for bad weather, and it’s gotten to the point where more direction is needed,” said Mr. Gaffey in a press release. “I’d like the school calendar to be adjusted and integrated to have uniformity statewide.”

“In light of the many serious issues facing education today, I am surprised to learn that the Connecticut General Assembly would take time to focus on mandating a start date for schools,” Dr. Richards said. “I would respectfully submit that their time would be better spent on addressing issues such as the growing shortage of teachers, the need to prepare students for life in a rapidly changing world and the school facilities challenges in the state of Connecticut.”

Legislators representing Wilton don’t agree with Mr. Gaffey’s assessment.

Cross Country: Mass. Testing
By, Guy Darst, The Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2007

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s biggest surprise is a planned overhaul of what is probably the nation's best public school system -- a reform effort he calls his "Readiness Project." He has asked for reports on 66 proposals ranging from making school days longer to dropping tuition in community colleges. The fear is that he's about to emasculate testing requirements put in place more than a decade ago.

Back in the 1992-93 school year, the Bay State instituted rigorous testing requirements, including exams 10th-graders must pass in order to graduate from high school. Massachusetts students usually do well on the exams of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. But fourth-graders and eighth-graders in the past two years came in first, or statistically tied for first, in both English and mathematics on the NAEP. No state had ever done that.

The anti-testers, however, aren't happy. "In states throughout the country, student assessment is done with multiple measures including course work, projects, in-depth study and grades, along with standardized test scores," two of them wrote earlier this year. Gov. [Deval Patrick] insists he supports MCAS as one measure of achievement. In announcing his "Readiness Project" in June, he said, "Being ready means public education that is about the whole child, not just success on a single standardized test." That's the kind of language that can be code for junking standardized tests.