CT legislature undermining the future of its higher education system
Gov. Dannel Malloy announced last week that TheDream.US, the largest privately funded national scholarship program, will be dispersing hundreds of scholarships to undocumented immigrant students to...
View Article‘Starvation mode’ for Connecticut, our nation’s richest state?
“CT legislature undermining the future of its higher education system” by CCSU Professor John O’Connor makes a lot of sense. However, I object to the title because it may be wrong to indict our...
View ArticleEntrepreneurship is alive, well and expanding among Connecticut’s youth
Yesterday, 55 kids from grades 4-12 – winners of the Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC) here in Connecticut -- were sent off by Gov. Dannel Malloy, well-wishing parents and others to the inaugural...
View ArticleConnecticut — where there is less for every student
For nine years, Connecticut was one of the very few states in the country that did not reduce state funding for public education. In 2016, that very praiseworthy policy ended. The impact of reduced...
View ArticleOn their 20th anniversary, Connecticut’s charter schools deserve support
Twenty years ago this weekend, Gov. John Rowland signed a bill into law and by doing so changed the trajectory of the lives of thousands of Connecticut children. The bill he signed established public...
View ArticleAn education revolution beckons. In Connecticut, who will lead?
Recently I had the opportunity to testify before the Education Committee of the Connecticut Legislature. I commented that education policy in our state sadly resembles the phenomenon of the “Macarena.”...
View ArticleTime for adult responsibility at Connecticut Juvenile Training School
At the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS), workers compensation claims are soaring, mostly because staff is frequently injured putting youth in physical restraints. The Department of Children...
View ArticleIt is time to demand more for Connecticut children
For working parents, finding and affording quality child care can be a source of significant stress and serious economic burden. Research shows that the birth of a child is one of the leading triggers...
View ArticleCost of SBAC testing in Connecticut is unconscionable, unnecessary
Education activists have been speaking out and pushing back against the misguided Common Core State Standards and the flawed Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) statewide test protocol for...
View ArticleThree of 10 ‘Slices of Justice’ is a good start
After a season of campaigning, we, the Grow Hartford Youth, are proud to announce that three of our 10 slices in our “10 Slices of Justice” campaign to improve Hartford Public High School lunches will...
View ArticleAdvice for CSCU students: manage your time, earn better grades
This fall approximately 28,674 students will be entering and or returning to our Connecticut State University System. For example, about 960 freshmen will be entering Eastern Connecticut State...
View ArticleFrivolous spending or best training for Hartford educators?
Despite news reports and editorials criticizing Hartford's spending of $61,000 on a teacher training conference in Miami, The Magnet Schools of America organization and its offerings have played a...
View ArticleCREC at 50: Larger, more effective, but mission unchanged
CREC is celebrating its 50th birthday, and it has been my honor to spend the past 19 years as part of this wonderful organization. ... When I first began at CREC in 1997, we had a staff of about 400,...
View ArticleCT colleges must do more to stop campus sexual assault
The statistics of sexual assault on Connecticut's college campuses are alarming. Almost every day, the news reports distressing issues of campus sexual assault. The numbers, which loudly speak for...
View ArticleGov. Malloy’s story resonates with this Connecticut mother
Putting aside politics altogether, I was moved by Gov. Dannel Malloy’s speech at the Democratic Convention this past week. His brief, but powerful recitation of his early years as a child with learning...
View ArticleEducation funding equity must start at the early grades
As Connecticut awaits the decision by Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher on the educational equity funding lawsuit, let’s not forget that many of the children in Connecticut’s low-income school...
View ArticleConnecticut needs a new way to identify low-income students
Connecticut’s low-income students need and deserve an equitable school finance system that recognizes, and takes into account, the variety of challenges they may face that can impact their educational...
View ArticleAt Yale, a graduate student union vote at last
As a graduate teacher in Political Science at Yale, I study how activists, politicians, and philosophers in the world’s two largest democracies—India and the United States—have thought about democratic...
View ArticleA school funding inequity solution: Better housing policy
A state Superior Court judge heard final arguments last month on the limits of the state's responsibility in financing the education of all students, including those with low incomes living largely in...
View ArticleState board of ed must scrutinize charters more independently
The Connecticut State Board of Education will meet on tomorrow morning, Sept. 7, to kick off the new school year. One of the issues held over from the previous board meeting is contract approvals of...
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