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Why Should You Inspire Hartford’s Celebration of Students at the XL Center, May 4th?

Seeing Hartford students cite some new inventions, demonstrate engineering prowess, transition math and reading into performing arts, and consider the connections between brain function and bodily health, are what we look forward to seeing at the Inspire Hartford event at the XL Center this coming Wednesday, May 4th.  What can be gained from this event?

Since Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream fame is a keynoter, we can hear his views on how business impacts social issues.  Also, we expect to gain an understanding of what makes the most sense, going forward, to support youth who want to be inventors and innovators.

But above all this is an opportunity for diverse stakeholders to come together and re-imagine education as we inspire a culture of education excellence in our capital city.


State Commissioners Speak Frankly about Assessing Critical Thinking

CT Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell and her counterpart in Rhode Island, Ken Wagner, recently offered salient ideas about how their states are ahead of the curve on assessing students’ performance according to the Common Core State Standards – and how assessment is changing for the better.  It’s all about executing and communicating well.

In a very frank discussion April 8th at the Yale School of Management’s annual Education Leadership Conference, Dr. Wentzell and Dr. Wagner shared the view that the assessments of critical thinking in connection with the Common Core eliminate time-consuming test prep activities because the exams are no longer multiple-choice, process of elimination exercises.

Whereas there was once a logic to test prep under previous State tests, those activities are now “kind of silly,” Dr. Wagner said.

The more rigorous Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) assessments that Connecticut uses require students to interpret evidence from their reading, the kinds of academic activities that are useful for Advanced Placement and career experiences, Dr. Wentzell said.  Student improvement will stem from making sure they receive great instruction, she added.  “There’s no shortcut.”

Prior to becoming CT’s education commissioner, Dr. Wentzell served as the Hartford Public Schools’ assistant superintendent of Pre-K-12 education and also led the HPS transition to the Common Core beginning in 2010.

Bridging the Honesty Gap

The State’s transition to SBAC, now in its second year following adoption of the Common Core in 2010, also “bridges the honesty gap,” Dr. Wenzell told a packed room at the conference.  Connecticut’s previous State tests were developed prior to State standards and hence were not aligned to them, she explained.  “We had a 30-year record of lying to our families as to how their kids were being tested.  This is a movement to honesty.”

Indeed, “The previous assessments weren’t telling the complete story of grade-level readiness,” she said, adding that there was no great conspiracy; it was just the way things were done.

With the more rigorous Common Core State Standards, Yale panelists from Chicago and New Haven confirmed, predictably lower scores have inspired a backlash from parents and pundits critical of the tougher assessments.

“We must continue to communicate well that these are new standards,” Dr. Wentzell advised.  “This is a new baseline, a different approach, and the scores look different.”

“Persisting through difficulty is what education is all about,” Rhode Island Commissioner Wagner added.

CT students will take the SBAC through June and then the State will report baseline results later in the summer.


District Responds to Flat City Funding with Layoffs and School Consolidation

Hartford Schools are preparing to cut the Fiscal 2017 budget by $19.3 million, jettisoning some 236 positions, consolidating Bulkeley Upper and Lower High Schools, and discontinuing planned renovations at the Clark and Martin Luther King Schools, all to deal with the ramifications of the State and City budget crises.

That 4.4 percent cut comes in tandem with some $20 million in increased costs, including contractual salary increases of $6.7 million, a difficult balancing act.  The District sends 82 percent of funds to schools – and her central office leadership team has been cut by 30 percent, Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez said.

The budget calls for 20 positions to be cut from central office as well as some 96 teacher positions to be eliminated.  Given staff attrition over the summer (teachers retiring or moving away, etc.), teaching jobs will open up, hence it is impossible at this time to say just how many actual layoffs will occur.  As of April 19, all but 40 of the certified staff (teachers and administrators) affected by the budget cuts had found positions, the superintendent said.

Here are the video of the April 19 Hartford Board of Education workshop on the budget and the slides presented by Dr. Narvaez.  The full recommended budget document is here.

A Board Finance Committee Meeting to Remember

Chaired by Board Member Craig Stallings and joined by (fellow committee members) Board Chair Richard Wareing and Board Member Beth Taylor, the Hartford Board of Education’s Finance and Audit Committee this past Monday examined shifts in enrollment and the reasons for them.  Here are some highlights of the discussion:

  • Some 20 percent of Hartford students at the high school level attend technical high schools including Prince Tech; another 20 percent attend CREC magnet schools, Chief Data and Accountability Officer Jeron Campbell reported.  “We should start talking to those kids” in focus groups, Board Chair Richard Wareing suggested, noting that the tech schools “are eating our lunch.”

“Yes, in a major way,” Dr. Campbell replied.  School camaraderie, athletic programs, and even how much fun students are having, as indicated by social media posts, are all factors.  “I would love to know what’s driving students on such a consistent basis,” Mr. Wareing said.

  • Looking at the increasing costs (rising by $3.9 million next year) for special education services, Dr. Taylor asked whether nearby school districts are willing to work to regionalize services for students with disabilities.  “I’d like to see a five-to-10-year plan,” she said.  Many superintendents are discussing the possibilities, Dr. Narvaez said, and the District is conducting an audit of the programs.

Regional purchasing is happening, Chief Financial Officer Paula Altieri told the committee, but “Getting people to kind of let go and share services is hard.”

The Bottom Line.  The District faces a new reality with the deep budget challenges upon us, with the thoughtful strategic plan – and emphasis on equity – hanging in the balance as adjustments are made to implement it with dwindling resources.  Dr. Taylor suggested a workshop be held to closely examine the issues surrounding out-of-district placement costs for special education, which, for residential care, can be $67,000 per pupil.  That examination as well as the probe of why students tend to opt out of Hartford could be enormously helpful in long-term sustainability planning.  Like the city, the District has structural issues that now need to become this Board’s priority for their entire term, starting now.


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