ConnCAN's Education News Roundup

November 1, 2007

ConnCAN in the News - Television

“Dropout Factories”
WTNH News Channel 8
October 30, 2007

“We're the state with the largest achievement gap in the country which means that we have some students that are performing great and some students whose scores place them near the bottom of the nation.”

Marc Porter Magee is director of research for the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, which just published its study of Connecticut schools. He says there are schools like Troup magnet middle school in New Haven that are closing the gap.

“What it takes to turn it around is a school that organizes itself around catching kids up, around reaching every child.”

(Click on “Click for QuickView” to view the television segments.)

E-Newsletters

Report Review: The State of Connecticut Public Education

By Coby Loup, The Education Gadfly, The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, November 1, 2007

ConnCAN's second annual report on Connecticut's public schools is pretty gloomy. To start, only a third of minority and low-income students are meeting state goals on the Connecticut Mastery Test, compared with two-thirds of middle-class white students. And the gap is widening.

Although pupils in all subgroups made similar gains on the state test in elementary school last year, by middle school low-income and minority students had fallen behind their white peers. In terms of income, Connecticut's 8th-grade gaps in reading and math are the widest in the country.

Thankfully, a few daisies sprout through the weeds. The state's handful of charter schools, for instance, which serve substantially more minority and low-income students than traditional schools, made greater overall gains on the state test last year.

Newspapers

Handful of city schools among Top 10 for student improvement
By Marie Garriga, The New Haven Register, October 30, 2007

Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, a nonprofit agency dedicated to closing the achievement gap between poor and "non-poor" students, issued its 2007 Report Card on 1,000 Connecticut Schools and a set of Top 10 lists for schools that raise student achievement.

New Haven’s Amistad Academy and Elm City Preparatory School made their usual strong appearance in the Top 10 lists for middle schools. New Haven’s magnet schools, including Lincoln-Basset International Baccalaureate Magnet School and Troup Magnet Academy of Sciences in New Haven, also won spots.

"A number of outstanding educators in a variety of public schools across Connecticut are blazing a trail and delivering dramatic gains in student achievement," said Alex Johnston, ConnCAN’s executive director. "These Top 10 Schools are a great place to start in looking for broader solutions in the effort to close our state’s achievement gap."

Hamilton Ave. among schools rewarded by town firm for significant achievement
By Wynne Parry, Greenwich Times, October 31 2007

Five Fairfield County elementary schools that have made progress erasing gaps in achievement while pushing all students forward were honored last night at an awards ceremony at Norwalk Community College. The top winner was Rogers Magnet Elementary School in Stamford.

Twenty percent of Rogers students improved their standardized test performance to reach the state's goal range from 2006 to 2007, according to the nonprofit group ConnCAN's school report card.

Hamilton Avenue School has had similar success. Four years ago, it was ranked at the bottom among schools in its district, according to Principal Damaris Rau. Now it is ranked third in the state for most improved elementary, according to ConnCAN.

News Articles

'Parent report card' proposal draws national attention, local opposition
By Christine McCluskey, The Journal Inquirer

MANCHESTER - The parent report card proposal Board of Education member Steven "Moose" Edwards outlined last week gained national attention this morning with a feature on NBC's "Today" show.

The point isn't to punish parents, Edwards says, but to identify the families who could most benefit from school-based assistance programs. An example might be extra tutoring for students whose parents can't help with homework, he has said.

But the proposal has generated strong criticism both in Manchester and elsewhere.

It's "absolutely the worst idea I've ever heard," said Democratic school board member Michael E. Pohl, who also is on the ballot next week. Pohl said a parent report card could be used in a custody battle as evidence against a parent and would be unfair to single parents who have to work more than one job.

Official Proposes Grading Parents: Report Cards Pitched For Moms And Dads
By Jim Farrell, The Hartford Courant, October 29, 2007

He knows the experiment quickly failed when it was tried in Chicago seven years ago, but a school board member in Manchester is nonetheless suggesting that his district institute a parent report card program.

Edwards wants parents and guardians to be evaluated in areas that include whether they ensure that their child gets to school on time, with homework completed, and properly nourished and dressed for the weather.

He said the program would not be punitive, but instead would help the district identify struggling parents who might need support.