Jonathan Kantrowitz

The Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER), a non-profit organization representing business and civic leaders, outlined its legislative priorities today. CCER’s mission is to represent the business and civic voice for comprehensive reform efforts to close the achievement gap while raising academic outcomes for all students in Connecticut.

CCER’s priorities for the 2012 legislative session include:

1. Teacher and leader employment and retention policies that attract the highest quality professionals and insist upon effectiveness as defined by their ability to demonstrate improvement in student performance, not seniority, as the measure of success defined by redesigned evaluation systems.
2. A system of high-quality academic interventions for every K-12 student who is behind in reading and math, which may include summer school or extended learning time, and a high school graduation assessment to ensure that a high school diploma reflects levels of competence.
3. A state strategy for addressing turnaround schools and districts, which includes specific recommendations for increasing authority, accountability, parental choice and funding that follows the child.
4. A chart of common accounts for accountability of state funds to determine the effective use of funds to improve student performance. 
5. A multi-year phase-in process to provide sufficient funding for all low-income three and four year olds to attend a high-quality preschool program.

The second and fourth of these are excellent priorities, as is the first if it can be accomplished with the input and acceptance by teachers.

It’s the third that expresses all that’s wrong with education reform. Funding following the child is code for more money for charter schools and less for local districts. Charter schools and “choice,” will not begin to address the problems identified here in Connecticut, and will harm public schools systems striving to improve .

AFT Connecticut announced their support for Democratic candidate for the Fifth Congressional District Chris Donovan today in Meriden. AFT Connecticut, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, represents more than 28,000 members in more than 90 local unions across Connecticut. AFT Connecticut represents teachers and school related personnel, state and municipal employees, healthcare professionals, and higher education faculty.

“Chris has been one of the strongest supporters of teachers, students and public education in Connecticut, so this was an easy decision for our union to make. We are proud to offer our endorsement to Chris Donovan, and we pledge to work hard for his election to Congress.” said Sharon Palmer, President of AFT Connecticut. “We trust Chris to fight for the issues important to students, parents and teachers – to improve our public schools, for increased access to early childhood education, and to make higher education more affordable. ”

“I thank the members of AFT Connecticut for their support and endorsement, and I’m excited to be working with them. From my experience teaching at the University of Hartford, I know just how difficult the jobs of these hard working teachers are, and how important. We must commit to supporting our students, teachers, and schools, to making early childhood education a reality for all of our children, and to bring higher education within reach for every student,” said Donovan.

AFT Connecticut joins former 5th CD Congressman Jim Maloney, Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Connecticut Working Families Party, the Newtown DTC, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Blue America, AFSCME Council 15, the Connecticut Council of Police, the Connecticut Education Association, the Connecticut State Council of Machinists, the IAFF – Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut, United Auto Workers Region 9A, the Connecticut Laborers District Council, and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 777 in endorsing Chris Donovan as the best candidate to fight for the families of Connecticut’s fifth congressional district.

That about sums him up:

From the Romney campaign, as described here.

A new report by Connecticut Voices for Children finds that the exclusion of thousands of students with disabilities from reported Connecticut Mastery Test results has distorted reported trends in test scores.

Following test scores from year to year in the same grade, the study finds that statewide improvements in standard Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) scores reported by the Connecticut State Department of Education (SDE) between 2008 and 2009 — the period of the largest reported gains — were largely the result of the exclusion of students with disabilities from these standard test results, rather than overall improvements in performance. For example, 84% of the reported improvement in 4th grade math proficiency between 2008 and 2009 and 69% of the improvement in 8th grade reading proficiency could be attributed to the exclusion of these students. Much of the reported improvements in later years could also be attributed to this exclusion, though there were some modest overall gains as well.

In 2009, state and federal policy changes enabled school districts to offer a modified assessment (MAS) to students with disabilities that the districts determined would not have passed the CMT in math and/or reading. As a result of these policy changes, the share of students taking the regular CMT declined substantially. Prior to 2009, students who did not reach the proficient level on the CMT because of their disabilities were included in statewide CMT results. In 2009, thousands of low-scoring students were assigned to take the MAS test instead of the standard CMT, and these students were not included in the CMT results. Thus, CMT scores reported by the State Department of Education appeared to improve in large part because these low-scoring students were no longer included in the calculations.

The analysis by Connecticut Voices for Children, a research-based think tank, focused on 4th and 8th grade CMT scores and also finds:

· Across school districts, there was a very strong correlation between a declining percentage of students taking the standard CMT and increasing percentages of students reported as reaching proficient scores – ie, as more students with disabilities were excluded from score results, more students were reported as reaching the proficiency level.

· If students with disabilities that took the modified assessment in reading and math in 2009 to 2011 were included in the total sample of 4th and 8th grade test takers, then the revised percentages of students at or above the proficient level would be two to three percentage points lower than the state reported. There were some modest improvements in scores, but not to the degree that the state initially reported.

· The percentage of students who were assigned to take the MAS rather than the standard CMT varied substantially across school districts – from 0% to 12.8%. Most districts had some participation on the modified assessment that affected their test score data.

To ensure more valid, “apples to apples” comparisons of trends over time, Connecticut Voices recommends that state officials clarify the impact of the exclusion of students with disabilities when reporting on changes in CMT scores over time. Further, the organization suggests that policymakers:
· use a variety of indicators, not just standardized test scores, to evaluate improvements in public education; and
· reconsider policies that assign rewards and punishments based on these test scores.

Connecticut Voices is a research-based think tank that works to advance policies that benefit the state’s children, youth, and families. The report, “Addition through Subtraction: Are Rising Test Scores in Connecticut School Districts Related to the Exclusion of Students with Disabilities?,” can be found on the organization’s website at ctkidslink.org.

The report includes district-level data on 4th and 8th grade CMT scores, the percentage of local students who took the CMT and MAS, and a recalculation of district test scores that includes students with disabilities (see appendices F and G for local 2011 data).

The Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE), a coalition of leading civil rights and education advocacy organizations, is calling on President Obama to fully commit to investing in education reforms that are critical to the success of the country’s future workforce. Sustainable U.S. economic growth will require meaningful support of policies that ensure all of America’s students graduate high school prepared to drive innovation in critical sectors like manufacturing, health care, educational services, and alternative energy.

“We cannot afford to tolerate a climate in which the students of color, the very ones who will make up the bulk of the nation’s future workforce, have the least access to high-quality public education,” said Michael Wotorson, executive director of CHSE. “American companies cannot be expected to bring jobs back home, if our workforce is not prepared to claim them. President Obama’s recognition of the need to prioritize high school graduation rates is very encouraging. Still his administration must do more than the president revealed in the State of the Union address to lead essential education reforms that provide the strategic investment of the resources necessary to ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed.”

CHSE’s Plan for Success is a blueprint for the administration and Congress that’s designed to ensure that America leads the world in educating its people. The Plan for Success provides a comprehensive set of recommendations designed to strengthen public schools, support effective teaching and offer every student a pathway to graduation and beyond. Specifically, the Plan for Success calls for policies that:

Make all students proficient and prepared for college and career;

Hold schools accountable for student success;

Provide students with the excellent leaders and teachers they need to succeed;

Invest communities in student success;

Provide equitable learning conditions for all students; and

Provide students with expanded learning opportunities.

CHSE is also calling for the meaningful engagement of communities of color to ensure that all students-including English language learners, and students with diverse learning needs, have access to the high-quality educational content and teachers who have been trained to effectively teach students from under-resourced communities by using methods that research demonstrates are essential to success in college and career.

“The current level of investment in public education is completely inadequate to meet the demands of a knowledge-based economy. If America is truly committed to building a strong and sustainable economy, then we must recognize that all of our students are the building blocks,” said Wotorson.

CHSE is a coalition of leading civil rights organizations representing communities of color that are- focused on high school education reform. Members include the National Urban League, National Council of La Raza, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, Alliance for Excellent Education, National Indian Education Association, and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.

by Jon Pelto, from Wait, What

When it comes to putting Connecticut’s fiscal house in order, mark this one as the single most important proposal Governor Dannel Malloy has made since taking office.

Imagine having a 30-year mortgage that had relatively low payments for the first twenty years and then massive payments for the last ten. Payments that were so large that you knew, beyond any reasonable doubt, there was any way you could possibly make the payments so you would lose the house, and you were essentially living on borrowed time.

That is exactly what Connecticut has been facing. That’s the way Connecticut has been paying its obligation to the State Employee Pension Fund.

Yesterday, Governor Malloy announced his plan to fulfill the state’s funding obligation the right way.

His plan would look much more like a mortgage that paid significantly more of the costs in the earlier years. In this way the State Employee Pension Fund and taxpayers would benefit from the compounding effect, which in turn, would save taxpayer’s literally billions over the long run.

According to financial experts, pension funds should be financed at about 80 percent of their total liability. In 1991, Connecticut’s State Employee Pension Fund was funded at 63 percent of the total liability. Nineteen years later, the state’s failure to make payments and losses in the stock market meant the pension fund were funded at only 44 percent of its total liability, one of the lowest ratios of any state in the nation.

As the result of an impressive return on investments and changes from the Malloy/SEBAC agreement, a new actuarial report found that the State Employee Pension Fund is now at 48 percent funded – still well below what is considered a healthy funding ratio.

Governor Malloy’s new plan is to dramatically increase payments to the State Employee Pension Fund starting with an “extra” $123 million payment next year and then continue, each year, to increase the amount of money going into the Fund.

By paying now, instead of having a State Employee Fund that was bankrupting the state by 2030, the Fund would be well on the way to self-sufficiency guaranteeing that retirees get the pensions they are legally entitled to and allowing the state to redirect future funds to vital services.

The two primary challenges standing in the way of Malloy’s new pension fund plan is where to come up with the extra money and the significant challenge posed by the State Spending Cap.

While this year’s budget is $1 million under the spending cap and next year’s is scheduled to be $195 million under the spending cap, FY 14 is on track to be $653 million over the cap and the year after that, FY 15, the budget is projected to be $1.2 billion over the cap.

Governor Malloy’s new plan would be to change the law and make additional pension fund payments exempt from the spending cap limitation.

The Governor was less clear about where the extra funds would come from.

His plan, which would require the approval of the General Assembly, the state employee unions and the State’s Retirement Commission, drew praise Monday from labor leaders.

Since it would be a win – win – win for the state, the employees and the long-term interests of the taxpayers, approval would be likely.

For more information check CTNewjunkie and CTMirror.

Note: Meanwhile, with the state going from a projected surplus to a likely deficit in the last few days, Governor Malloy today announced nearly $79 million in new, emergency spending cuts. With limited areas in which to cut, one of the prime targets was, once again, Connecticut’s public colleges and universities which Malloy had already targeted for the deepest cuts in Connecticut history. Earlier this week, the Connecticut State Universities and Community Colleges announced tuition and fee increases to address what was already impossible to achieve spending cuts to the institutions.

In its annual report released Monday by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University, Connecticut ranks seventh in cutting higher education funding from last year to this year. While the average cut in other states was 4.1 percent, Connecticut’s public colleges and universities took a 12.2 percent funding cut this fiscal year.

I know I should be very happy that Newt is kicking Mitt’s butt. He certainly seems like a weaker opponent than Mitt for Obama. But I’m not so sure that’s true. Anyhow, I’ve had a lot of fun with Republican attacks on Romney, so I can’t wait for the anti-Newt fusillade. Here’s a beginning: