With new federal data showing continued, middle-of-the-pack performance by Connecticut schools, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy found the middle ground among competing interests for a landmark education law.
For once, teachers were not front and center in the debate.
A few weeks after carping over what it feared were signals that supporters in the legislature would cave in with a watered-down bill, the education reform advocacy group ConnCAN expressed satisfaction with the end result, as did the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and other groups that promote economic development.
Fed up with continuing problems in schools, new voices are emerging nationally according to the May 16 edition of Education Week, which did not include Connecticut in its analysis of what the publication calls an emerging trend. Malloy pushed through many points in his original blueprint that mirror efforts in other states, particularly in the area of teacher evaluations and access to alternative magnet and charter schools.
“The best case scenario was the bill Governor Malloy offered up on February 8th,” said Patrick Riccards, CEO of ConnCAN. “But I think we ended up pretty close to what the governor proposed.”
”˜All kinds of small fixes”™
In the latest round of National Assessment of Educational Progress science scores released in early May, Connecticut eighth-graders dropped to 25th place nationally from 22nd in 2009.
Connecticut now has the highest achievement gap in the nation between students from relatively wealthy families and those from poor families. Connecticut”™s NEAP performance by low-income students ranks 47th nationally, outperforming students only in Mississippi, California and Alabama. Low-income students in Connecticut were one full grade level behind similar students in Massachusetts, and more than two grade levels behind similar students in the highest-scoring state of Montana.
“Over the past few years we”™ve made changes to the curriculum,” said state Sen. Andrea Stillman, a Waterford resident who chairs the Senate education committee and who previously ran an office supply company in New London. “We”™ve attempted all kinds of small fixes, thinking we can do that ”¦ But we”™ve not attempted something as sweeping as this bill.
“I”™ve been in the legislature for many years and so I”™m well aware of some things we”™ve not been doing and that we should have been doing,” Stillman said.
”˜Change is hard”™
In a May 9 speech to the Connecticut General Assembly, Malloy acknowledged he “ruffled a lot of feathers” in pushing a bill through to keep his promise of making education the focus of this year”™s legislative session, adding “change is hard.”
“We”™re putting more education dollars into our lowest-performing districts, something almost no other state is doing, and we”™re ensuring that those dollars will be spent wisely,” Malloy said. “We”™re creating a thousand additional seats for young children to have a chance at pre-kindergarten learning experiences. And we”™re recognizing and supporting our teachers, administrators, parents and students in ways they”™ve been asking us to for years.”
Perhaps the thorniest issue was teacher and principal evaluations, which Connecticut will implement on a pilot basis in 10 districts. The Connecticut General Assembly will reconsider authorizing a broader rollout in the new, two-year session that begins next January. Teachers must also now earn the right to tenured job guarantees, which previously were based on career longevity; multiple districts will receive funds to recruit fresh young teachers.
“I think it”™s very important as we educate our teachers that they determine if teaching is really what they want to do,” Stillman said. “I think if you can get them in the classroom ”¦ earlier in the education process, then they can make an informed decision as to whether they really want to be a teacher.”
After winning $700 million in the federal Race to the Top program for what at the time was considered innovative new approaches to education, New York has had early struggles attempting to implement its own statewide teacher evaluation system.
Connecticut”™s likely first step will involve the creation of a so-called commissioner”™s network under which the state Department of Education will have the authority to essentially take over administration of up to 25 struggling schools. In a hearing last week, state Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said the process has begun to identify those school districts.
On the flip side, magnet and charter schools will get more funding, and high-performing schools will get freed up from some red tape.
Taking the measure of reform
State Sen. John McKinney of Fairfield complained about the manner in which the final bill materialized in the closing moments of the legislative session.
“I”™m oftentimes ashamed of how things work in this (legislative) building,” McKinney said. “Dropping a 200-page education bill, on one of the most important issues we”™re ever going to debate, at the desks of senators at midnight when no one”™s had a chance to read all 200 pages, is not a process I”™m proud of.”
While recognizing strong elements in the bill, McKinney also sought to deflate Malloy”™s rhetoric in touting the full, final product.
“He”™s focused on things he”™s called ”˜bold,”™ yet things 30, 35 states around the country have done,” McKinney said. “It”™s sad when we say things are bold for Connecticut, when we lag behind so many other states.”
For Riccards part, he sees the bill as a good first step ”“ but like Malloy, McKinney and others, says the state has far more work to do both in implementing the new law as well as following up with other moves for next two-year session that begins next January.
It may be a while before Connecticut families and businesses can give their initial grades on Connecticut”™s initial submission for education reform.
“Ultimately the measure of any reform is going to be how well our students achieve,” Riccards said. “When you look at education research, that takes four to five years of longitudinal data. It”™s not something where we can come next year and say, ”˜Look how we closed the gap.”™”
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