Education key to future work force

The Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) strongly endorses Connecticut”™s application for Race To The Top grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Our 10,000 member companies, which include small businesses as well as the state”™s largest corporations, are extremely concerned about maintaining a highly skilled work force. The quality of Connecticut”™s work force is directly dependent upon the quality of the outcomes obtained by Connecticut”™s students. ?We are also very pleased that Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed legislation passed by the Connecticut General Assembly that will raise graduation standards, provide incentives for innovative school reform, including the removal of caps on the number of charter schools and the number of high achieving students enrolled in those schools, expanding Advanced Placement opportunities and improving educational data systems to include student growth measures. These and many other reforms contained in the bill are necessary if we are to close Connecticut”™s achievement gap.  ?Connecticut has the unenviable reputation of having the largest achievement gap between white and minority students in the country. Because of our New England roots, our small state has 167 separate, locally controlled school districts that include high-performing suburban school districts, small rural schools and core urban centers. Our urban schools educate some of the poorest students in the nation, leading to large disparities in educational outcomes in our growing African-American and Hispanic student populations.

 

Despite decades of school reform efforts, our achievement gaps persist, although we have magnet and charter schools that have significantly outperformed their peers in more traditional settings. We do have some school successes in our traditional schools, but much more needs to be done if we are to achieve acceptable educational outcomes for all of Connecticut”™s schoolchildren. ?CBIA is pleased with the direction of Connecticut”™s application for Race To The Top funds. We believe that this holds the promise for educational success for many of the state”™s students. Turning around low-performing schools, improving teacher quality and ensuring that high-quality educators are teaching in needy districts throughout the state, and improving Connecticut’s student data tracking system, and the use of assessments are all areas that CBIA endorses and the business community supports. ?We have been a partner with the state of Connecticut on many initiatives throughout the years. CBIA”™s Education Foundation is a leader in promoting and developing public-private partnerships to improve public education. We are pleased that the National Math and Science Initiative”™s, Project Opening Doors, which has been obtaining dramatic results in advanced placement in math, science and English for underrepresented student populations is included as a component of Connecticut”™s plan. ?We all have to be ready to assist in any way possible to help Connecticut school districts achieve high levels of performance for all their students. We look forward to a positive response from Washington to leverage and accelerate the efforts already underway.

 

John R. Rathgeber is president and CEO of the CBIA.