by | Mar 7, 2012 4:24 pm | Comments (5)
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Mayo: The Comer Model works.
In a dispute that will determine whether New Haven must overhaul the way it engages parents, Superintendent Reggie Mayo said he was “shocked” to find out that the state has rejected the district’s attempt to opt out of a new law requiring new parent-teacher school governance groups.
by | Mar 5, 2012 8:51 am | Comments (8)
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As anxiety rippled through the hallways in anticipation of the high-stakes Connecticut Mastery Test, Principal Sabrina Breland popped into an 8th grade classroom and delivered a dose of confidence and laughter to nervous students.
by | Mar 2, 2012 9:06 am | Comments (4)
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When guidance counselor Brian Flanagan met his caseload of 333 freshmen on the first day of school at Wilbur Cross, he found many of them at his door, still struggling with mismatched schedules.
Continue reading ‘Guidance Team Seeks Smoother Freshman Year’
by | Feb 28, 2012 12:01 pm | Comments (7)
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Parent leader Tim Holahan greets supporter Kris Sainsbury.
Before parents could storm the Board of Education in search of more transparency in pre‑K admissions, they had to find the hearing room.
by | Feb 21, 2012 9:29 pm | Comments (6)
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A New Haven mom who dropped out of high school headed to the state Capitol Tuesday with her 7‑year-old son to lobby for a bill that would tighten teacher evaluations — and, she argued, help her son avoid her fate.
Continue reading ‘Hearing Focuses On Meaning Of “Tenure” Reform’
by | Feb 20, 2012 3:27 pm | Comments (0)
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“Make no mistake. This is no bake sale. You have lawyers, we have lawyers, you have lobbyists, we have lobbyists. The one with the loudest voice gets heard.”
by | Feb 20, 2012 12:08 pm | Comments (8)
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A year and a half after students welcomed the Teach For America recruit with a flash flood in her classroom, Kaitlyn Shorrock is emerging as a model teacher — and weighing whether to continue her job at one of the city’s most challenging schools.
by | Feb 16, 2012 8:13 pm | Comments (0)
New Haven’s breakthrough teachers contract helped New York City reach a new schools settlement Thursday.
by | Feb 16, 2012 9:18 am | Comments (0)
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Tenure is perhaps the most misunderstood topic in public education. Renewed cries to change or abolish tenure have surfaced once again. It is widely believed that tenure provides lifetime job security for teachers. And this erroneous belief is almost universal, misunderstood by educators as well as by the public. The simple fact is no such protection exists. Ironically just the opposite is true. The “tenure” law, which is CT State Statue 10 – 151, actually delineates how a tenured teacher can be fired. There is not a single word which even mentions a guarantee of employment. The reason for the misunderstanding is because at the college level, tenure does provide guarantees of employment for professors. Public school teachers through grade 12 enjoy no such protection. The term tenure is unfortunately shared and has created the ridiculous notion that teachers in Connecticut have some mythical and absolute job security.
by | Feb 15, 2012 1:04 pm | Comments (0)
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Promisee Ivan Gusman is still enrolled at Gateway.
As the city’s much-watched college scholarship program enters its second semester, 105 New Haven Promise students are persisting in college thanks to a partial scholarship, and 10 have put their studies on hold.
Continue reading
‘105 Promise Grads
Stay Enrolled In College’
by | Feb 13, 2012 4:31 pm | Comments (0)
“You got this. Just relax,” Hillhouse’s valedictorian coaxed a timid 4th-grader who had just kicked a second foul ball.
Continue reading ‘A K-8 “Turnaround” Enlists Hillhouse Seniors’
by | Feb 10, 2012 9:26 am | Comments (0)
The Hartford Courant quickly removed a controversial statement from its longtime cartoonist from the web, but not before New Haven’s mayor and schools chief saw it — and pounced back.
by | Feb 8, 2012 5:16 pm | Comments (0)
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Reggie Mayo starred as a Malloy invitee Wednesday.
As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy launches the Year of School Reform, he announced he plans to send an extra $3.8 million to New Haven Public Schools — though half of that would go to charter schools. That didn’t make local officials happy.
by | Feb 6, 2012 9:46 pm | Comments (9)
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DeStefano & Fair Haven Alderwoman Migdalia Castro at the speech.
Another 20 walking cops. A new “one-stop” city-run “jobs pipeline.”
Mayor John DeStefano unveiled those new plans in his annual State of the City address Monday night. But he spent more time reaffirming — and re-selling — an existing top priority: New Haven’s school-reform drive.
Continue reading ‘Mayor: “State Of The City” Hinges On Schools’
by | Feb 6, 2012 2:48 pm | Comments (9)
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Budding cardiothoracic surgeon Karla Hicks (center).
Students from the Engineering and Science University Magnet School, like ninth-grader Karla Hicks, will be able to attend the University of New Haven for half the cost or even free assuming they keep up their grades — and they want to go.
by | Feb 3, 2012 4:33 pm | Comments (18)
Mayor John DeStefano is sending home dispatches from his trip to Seattle to attend a school reform conference sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Following is his third of three dispatches, sent as he headed back to New Haven Friday.
Continue reading ‘Pre-Dawn Coffee? No. Post-Katrina Buzz? Yes’
by | Feb 3, 2012 9:29 am | Comments (13)
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Mayor John DeStefano is sending home dispatches from his trip to Seattle to attend a school reform conference sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Following is his second dispatch, sent Thursday:
Continue reading
‘"Maybe We Need A
Marshall Plan For Our Kids"’
by | Feb 2, 2012 9:04 am | Comments (12)
Mayor John DeStefano is sending home dispatches from his trip to Seattle to attend a school reform conference. Following is his first dispatch, sent Wednesday:
I am off to Seattle at the invitation of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to participate in a convention on mayors in education. Gates is flying about a dozen mayors out to its Seattle headquarters to promote a principal interest of theirs and mine: public school education.
by | Jan 30, 2012 8:46 am | Comments (26)
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Principal Karen Lott evaluates a teacher at Brennan/Rogers.
ConnCAN’s new leader wants the state to replicate New Haven’s way of grading teachers — and take it to the next level.
by | Jan 27, 2012 11:09 am | Comments (22)
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As the school district released report cards for its 43 schools, the teachers union president called on the superintendent to “take a breath” before restructuring any more low-performing schools.
by | Jan 25, 2012 10:30 am | Comments (28)
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Sue Weisselberg reunites with Superintendent Reggie Mayo.
She rebuilt the schools. Now she’s returning to New Haven in the hopes of rebuilding kids’ connections to social services.
by | Jan 17, 2012 9:18 am | Comments (67)
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The Amistad Orchestra
New Haven-bred Achievement First came under independent scrutiny across the board — and fared so-so.
by | Jan 11, 2012 3:37 pm | Comments (36)
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Elementary school students arrive at Amistad by bus.
Of the 96 students in Amistad Academy’s kindergarten class, only 12 live in the neighborhood. The charter school staff promised to change that — by giving Dwight kids first dibs at open seats.
by | Jan 11, 2012 9:02 am | Comments (67)
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Greer welcomes Malloy to Edgewood Tuesday night.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy knew what New Haven’s Jewish leaders wanted him to say. He didn’t say it.
by | Jan 10, 2012 9:08 am | Comments (82)
As a probe into allegations of grade tampering at Hillhouse High continues, parents, students, and alumni stormed the school board to defend their principal and the reputation of their school.