New Haven’s ambitious school reform drive is not expected to benefit from the first round of a federal money “race” whose deadline fell Tuesday, because Connecticut lags behind other states in education reform.
That was one analysis as the state sent off an application to the first round of funding from President Obama’s $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” initiative, the largest pool of discretionary funding ever allotted for education reform.
Connecticut is applying for a $175 million grant, of which New Haven qualifies for about $10 million.
The money is targeted to support reforms in four areas: preparing kids for college; building data systems to measure student progress; recruiting and retaining quality staff; and turning around lowest-achieving schools.
Race to the Top’s goals are aligned with New Haven’s plan to cut the dropout rate in half, eliminate the achievement gap in five years, and turn around its poorest-performing schools. A $10 million grant would move New Haven towards Mayor John DeStefano’s stated goal of raising $100 million for school reform from public and private sources.
However, two local education reformers, ConnCAN CEO Alex Johnston and school reform czar Garth Harries, indicated they do not expect the money to come through this round.
While New Haven has gained national accolades for launching a campaign that shares the goals of the Race to the Top, Connecticut has a lot of catching up to do, said Johnston, who sits on New Haven’s school board.
“Connecticut is like a C student applying early admission to Yale,” said Johnston (pictured) Tuesday.
Harries, an assistant superintendent in the New Haven school system, echoed that prediction last week. He said education observers do not expect Connecticut to be among the handful of states that win the first leg of the Race to the Top. He expects the state to apply again, with better odds, in June. New Haven is also expected to apply for $5 million from the federal Invest in Innovation (i3) program, which will go directly to districts.
In a show of commitment to Race to the Top program, Obama announced Tuesday he intends to add $1.3 billion to the Race to the Top pot. Johnston’s group launched a campaign to whip Connecticut into shape in time for the next Race to the Top application deadline in June. ConnCAN, a statewide education watchdog group that advocates for charter schools, announced the campaign on its website.
“This is really a critical time for us to catch up,” Johnston said. “We have three months during the upcoming state legislative session to get our education reform grades up.”
Connecticut is eligible for the grant, but is unlikely to win because other states have made more progress in creating an environment conducive to education reform, he said.
Some states, like Illinois, Delaware, Massachusetts, quickly made statewide changes in anticipation of Tuesday’s deadline. Connecticut has lagged behind, Johnston charged: the state Board of Education is drafting proposed legislation to address some Race to the Top goals, but no laws have changed yet.
The state legislature, which has been in the off-season, meets again for a three-month session starting on Feb. 3.
In a report released Tuesday to coincide with the Race to the Top deadline, ConnCAN outlined four changes the state needs to make before June:
1. Establish a “growth model” that measures student progress — and use it to evaluate teachers and principals.
2. Develop and adopt academic standards that are “in-ternationally benchmarked and shared by multiple states” by August 2010.
3. Create alternative pathways for our classroom teachers to become principals. Connecticut has alternate certification for non-traditional candidates to become teachers, but not for teachers to become “school leaders,” Johnston said.
4. Change charter school funding so that the “money follows the child.” Currently, when a student leaves a public district school to attend a public charter school, the funding does not follow. Charter schools are paid for by line items in the state budget — a system Johnston called the third-most restrictive funding system in the nation. Changing the funding system would lift what has become an “effective cap on charter school students,” Johnston said.
State education department spokesman Tom Murphy said the state is already moving towards these four goals.
“We’ve been working on these things. These are not new ideas,” Murphy said.
The state is currently building up its “longitudinal data system,” which measures student performance over time. The state is committed to finding “common standards.” To do so, it is collaborating with 48 other states through the Chief State School Officers Association, he said.
The Board meets next Wednesday to consider a proposal on how to fund charter schools. The board will consider a proposal, endorsed by ConnCAN, that would shift the state to a “money follows the child” model gradually over four years, to give school districts the chance to adjust to the loss of funding.
Murphy said the Board of Education is examining this idea, but is not committed to it. While ConnCAN advocates for charter schools, the Board of Ed must look out for school districts, too, he said.
Murphy refuted ConnCAN’s bleak prognosis about Race to the Top.
“While we don’t think we’re a shoe-in, we think we have a strong application,” he said.
Murphy said he believes Connecticut does have a strong environment for reform. He said the state has an expansive charter school system, and is open to reforming how they’re funded.
The state’s application is strengthened, he added, by strong support among school districts. A total 123 of the state’s 167 school districts have signed off on the application. Most towns included signatures from the town’s union president, school board president and superintendent, he said.
Meanwhile, ConnCAN is looking to the next round of funding. ConnCAN plans to mobilize a network of education activists to lobby for its proposed changes at the state Capitol.
If the changes are made, Connecticut will be in a good position to win the second round of Race to the Top grants, Johnston said.
That could make a big difference for New Haven.
The $10 million would amount to only a small percent of the New Haven Board of Education’s $173 million operating budget. But the grant could have a large impact, said Johnston, because the money would be directed specifically to innovation, rather than being absorbed into operating costs. Typically, Boards of Education spend 80 percent of their budgets on staff, he said.
“Money allocated specifically to advance reform is incredibly valuable,” said Johnston.
New Haven’s cutting-edge reform campaign may prove a big help in the state’s quest for federal funds, Johnston and Harries have said. (Harries couldn’t be reached for comment for this story.)
“There’s no question that New Haven is leading the way in terms of developing a framework” for the reforms called for by the federal Department of Education, Johnston said. New Haven teachers recently ratified a contract that outlines reforms; committees are now hashing out the details.
“If that contract were in place across the state, we’d be in fantastic shape,” Johnston said.
Some previous stories about New Haven’s school reform drive:
• Reform Drive Looks Beyond Test Scores
• She Made Time To Get Off Work
• New Leaders Sought For City High Schools
• Report Card Night Revamped
• Parents Challenged To Join Reform Drive
• Where Do Bad Teachers Go?
• Reform Committees Set
• Mayo Extends Olive Branch
• School Board Makes Mom Cry
• Next Term Will Determine Mayor’s Legacy
• Reading Target Set: 90% By February
• Teacher Pact Applauded; Will $$ Follow?
• Mayor “Not Scared” By $100M
• Useful Applause: Duncan, AFT Praise City
• Reformer Moves Inside
• After Teacher Vote, Mayo Seeks “Grand Slam”
• Will Teacher Contract Bring D.C. Reward?
• What About The Parents?
• Teachers, City Reach Tentative Pact
• Philanthropists Join School Reform Drive
• Wanted: Great Teachers
• “Class of 2026” Gets Started
• Principal Keeps School On The Move
• With National Push, Reform Talks Advance
• Nice New School! Now Do Your Homework
• Mayo Unveils Discipline Plan
• Mayor Launches “School Change” Campaign
• Reform Drive Snags “New Teacher” Team
• Can He Work School Reform Magic?
• Some Parental Non-Involvement Is OK, Too
• Mayor: Close Failing Schools
• Union Chief: Don’t Blame The Teachers
• 3‑Tiered School Reform Comes Into Focus
• At NAACP, Mayo Outlines School Reform
• Post Created To Bring In School Reform
• Board of Ed Assembles Legal Team