 ConnCAN Education News Roundup: February 19-February 25, 2010
To recommend an article for next week’s News Roundup, email me at karen.rutzick@conncan.org.
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Take Action: Tell your state legislators to make Race to the Top a legislative priority  The Race to the Top is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Connecticut to secure up to $200 million in federal dollars for education. But to have a chance of winning, Connecticut must make critical reforms now. Tell your state senator and representative to support Connecticut's Race to the Top by making education reform a priority this legislative session.
Write your state legislators and tell them to get Connecticut into the Race! |
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Spotlight Story: ConnCAN In the News: Officials worry state may miss out on Race to the Top funds  By Wynne Parry, Stamford Advocate, February 24, 2010
States expect to learn in early March if they made the first cut for federal Race to the Top funding. However, some officials aren't expecting good news for education in Connecticut.
The nonprofit advocacy group ConnCAN has also urged state leaders to enact more reforms to make the state more competitive.
"I fear that Connecticut will not be competitive, and it is a very real fear," said U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.
Himes said he is concerned about weaknesses in the state's application for $193 million to fund educational reform and innovation. Specifically, he referred to blank charts in the application related to performance measures for teachers and principals, the lack of an explicit plan to incorporate student data into teacher evaluations and insufficient student data collection.
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ConnCAN in the News: Rell declines invitation to Washington Governors Meeting By John Dankosky, Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, February 23, 2010
President Barack Obama addressed the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington Monday. The topics included health reform, stimulus funding, and the President's plan to improve education. As WNPR's John Dankosky reports, Governor Rell was one of only six Governors not to attend.
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The President called on governors to boost educational standards, as part of his "Race to the Top" reform efforts. Some state lawmakers have been critical of Connecticut's attempt to get funds from this project. The reform group ConnCan said Monday that the state handed in an "incomplete application."
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ConnCAN in the News: Rell refutes criticism that grant application incomplete By Paul Choiniere, The Day, February 23, 2010
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney took a lot of heat from the Rell administration last week for concluding that the state's application for $192.7 million in federal education funding had little chance of gaining approval.
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Now comes information on how lacking in detail is the state's application. ConnCAN, a state education advocacy group, compared the state's application with those from Colorado, Delaware and Florida. ConnCAN also does not expect Connecticut to win any first-round funding.
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ConnCAN In the News: Worth your attention By Andy Smarick, Flypaper, February 22, 2010
ConnCan–the excellent reform organization in CT–takes the state to task for leaving 120 blanks in its RTT application.
“It’s as if Connecticut were a high school student applying to college with a transcript full of incompletes,” said Alex Johnston, ConnCAN Chief Executive Officer.
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ConnCAN in the News: 29 Governors meet on health care, education, economy; Rell stays home By John Dankosky, Where We Blog, February 22, 2010
President Barack Obama addressed the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington Monday...And despite criticism of the state’s inability to get federal money for transportation projects, Governor Jodi Rell decided to skip the gathering.
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The President called on governors to boost educational standards, especially in math and science, as part of his “Race to the Top” reform efforts. Some state lawmakers have been critical of Connecticut’s attempt to get funds from this project. Congressman Joe Courtney told The Day of New London that the state’s plan was “kind of cobbled together pretty last-minute.” And the education reform group ConnCan said Monday that the state handed in an “incomplete application” with 120 spaces left blank. ConnCan CEO Alex Johnson used the report to call for “collaboration between the executive and legislative branches” to enact the type of education reforms spelled out by the Obama administration.
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ConnCAN in the News: Connecticut leaves 120 blanks in Race to the Top By Jonathan Kantrowitz, Connecticut Post, February 22, 2010
A new analysis released today by the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), reveals that Connecticut left 120 blanks in its Round 1 Race to the Top application, underscoring the need for lawmakers to pass reforms to improve the state’s standing before Round 2.
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ConnCAN in the News: Will Connecticut blow it again with Obama stimulus $$$? By Rick Green, Hartford Courant, February 22, 2010
In the wake of Connecticut whiffing on federal transportation money, a school reform group has taken a look at our application for Obama's school reform initiative known as the Race To The Top.
ConnCan likens Connecticut's application to a C student shooting for Yale.
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Brooklyn charter school has too many rules, distraught parents say By Rachel Monahan, NY Daily News, February 25, 2010
No touching the walls. No resting your chin in your hand. No talking in the hallways between classes. Timed bathroom breaks.
With rules like these, the Achievement First Endeavor Charter School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, could be the city's toughest school - but some distraught parents and former staffers say the overzealous discipline has left kids fearful.
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Charter schools: a debate over integration and education By Robert Frahm, The Connecticut Mirror, February 24, 2010
At Jumoke Academy, a nearly all-black charter school in one of Hartford's poorest neighborhoods, Monique Griffin, the mother of four students, scoffs at the idea the school would be considered a failure.y-like atmosphere, after-school programs and encouraging academic record...Nevertheless, a controversial new report takes direct aim at schools such as Jumoke, saying that charters are among America's most racially segregated schools and "a civil rights failure.
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As US aid grows, oversight is urged for charter schools By Sam Dillon, New York Times, February 24, 2010
The Obama administration plans to significantly expand the flow of federal aid to charter schools, money that has driven a 15-year expansion of their numbers, from just a few dozen in the early 1990s to some 5,000 today.
But in the first Congressional hearing on rewriting the No Child Left Behind law, lawmakers on Wednesday heard experts, all of them charter school advocates, testify that Washington should also make sure charter schools are properly monitored for their admissions procedures, academic standards and financial stewardship.
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Every Central Falls teacher fired, labor outraged By Jennifer Jordan, Providence Journal, February 24, 2010
The full force of organized labor showed up in Central Falls Tuesday, with several hundred union members rallying in support of the city’s teachers and bringing plenty of harsh words for the education officials who were about to fire the entire teaching staff at Central Falls High School.
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Criteria ok'd for grading--and closing--schools By Melissa Bailey, New Haven Independent, February 23, 2010
Will each school get a number grade, or a letter from A to F?
Neither, said Garth Harries. The schools’ first report cards, which are due March 15, will look more like a 3-D matrix.
Harries, matrix mastermind and school reform czar, painted the picture at Monday’s meeting of New Haven’s Board of Education.
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Fire the teacher? Anderson Cooper, CNN, February 23, 2010
A school in Rhode Island is considering firing every teacher above a certain pay grade in response to bad grades. Steve Perry, CNN Education Contributor, and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, debate the decision.
Watch the video... |
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Editor's Choice Connecticut Mirror, February 23, 2010
The state was shut out of federal transportation stimulus money last week, and its prospects of getting "Race to the Top" education funding are questionable, but Gov. M. Jodi Rell decided to skip a chance for face time with President Obama this week, John Dankosky reports at WNPR's Where We Blog. Her office cites the governor's ban on out-of-state travel as the reason for her passing on the National Governors Association winter meeting. (Expedia offers non-stop round-trip airfare from Hartford and two nights at the conference hotel for less than $1,800; the state is asking for $193 million in its "Race to the Top" application.)
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Obama wants education benchmarks to meet higher standard By Nick Anderson, Washington Post, February 22, 2010
President Obama will seek to raise academic standards across the country by requiring states to certify that their benchmarks for reading and mathematics put students on track for college or a career, administration officials said Sunday.
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Layoffs loom for teachers: education secretary By Lisa Lambert, Washington Post, February 21, 2010
Many teachers and educators across the United States are at risk of losing their jobs in the next few months, the nation's education secretary told a meeting of the National Governors Association on Sunday.
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