ConnCAN's Education News Roundup

ConnCAN in the News

Portland school ranked No. 1 for mastery test improvement
By Jeff Mill, The Middletown Press, November 17, 2007

Sally E. Doyen got her "report card" this week. Her response? "We're thrilled!" the superintendent of schools said, after learning that the Portland Middle School has been judged a winner by education officials.

The school was ranked number-one in the state for "performance gains" on the 2006-07 mastery test results, Doyen said. What's more, Portland also ranked number eight for most improved, according to an analysis compiled by ConnCAN, a statewide education advocacy and outreach group.

Doyen left no doubt about who deserves the credit for the school's success."This is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of the staff and the students," she said. "We spent a lot of time over the last three years aligning our curriculum and developing both consistent goals and consistent expectations," she added. "And now, we have gotten this wonderful payoff!"

Middle School Honored
The Hartford Courant, November 16, 2007

Portland Middle School was ranked No. 1 by the state in the area of "Performance Gains" for the 2006-07 mastery test results comparisons.

The rating appeared in "The State of Connecticut Public Education," a 2007 report card for elementary and middle schools provided by the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now. Portland was also ranked No. 8 in the state for "Most Improved."

Pursue magnet school plan for town
The Stamford Advocate, November 18, 2007

Opponents of the plan to turn New Lebanon School into a magnet program say the Board of Education should apply the brakes until new questions are answered about requirements involving race and school diversity.

But many educators, including those at New Lebanon, where test scores are lagging, believe diversity achieved through magnet schools helps all students to learn. And there is evidence to bear them out, including a recent report by ConnCAN, an education advocacy organization. Among other findings, the report rated Stamford's Rogers Elementary School -- a magnet school -- among the state's top five schools in terms of raising student performance and closing the achievement gap between white and minority, and poor and nonpoor students.

Opinions and Editorials

Money Should Follow City Kids To Suburbs
By Rick Green, The Hartford Courant, November 9, 2007

We've got over 100,000 seats in public school classrooms in suburbs around Hartford and there's room for just 1,000 city kids. One percent. That's so pathetic it's embarrassing to even say.

Our affluent and middle class towns say they don't have space for more than this. Fine, but there are consequences here - be prepared for the day when we can't find enough skilled workers or bunks in our prisons.

As it turns out, there's a reason for this limited success: Most of the money doesn't follow the kid to the suburbs.

"The grant that follows the child is woefully insufficient," said Bruce Douglas, director of the Capitol Region Education Council, which runs Project Choice.

So, for example, the state of Connecticut - which is under a court order to desegregate metropolitan Hartford schools - gives Avon about $2,500 for each of the 41 children it takes. The district, however, spends about $11,000 per child. This is no education crisis, it's a taxpayer rip-off.

One percent. We need a judge, a governor or an education commissioner with the backbone to tackle this.

News Articles

High School May Get Harder
By Arielle Levin Becker and Rachel Gottlieb, The Hartford Courant, November 16, 2007

High school students would be required to pass end-of-course exams, complete a yearlong independent study project and earn 24 credits in specific areas to graduate from any public school in Connecticut under a set of recommendations being considered by the State Board of Education.

The recommendations, put together by a committee that included teachers, school officials and representatives of business and higher education, are part of a high school redesign effort intended to address stagnating test scores, wide achievement gaps and concerns that a growing number of state students graduate high school unprepared for college or the workforce.

It will be years before any recommendations are adopted; state education officials will spend much of the next year soliciting public comment, and the legislature must authorize any changes in graduation requirements.