by | Sep 20, 2011 8:15 am | Comments (34)
Melissa Bailey File Photo
After the school district turned over his “failing” school to a private company, Principal Leroy Williams has set to work on a new challenge at Hillhouse High.
by | Sep 20, 2011 8:04 am | Comments (3)
Lincoln-Bassett school made enough progress on standardized tests to lift off a federal watch list for failing schools, while two dozen remain.
Continue reading ‘Lincoln-Bassett School Graduates From Watch List’
by | Sep 16, 2011 1:32 pm | Comments (90)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Deposed President-Elect Isaiah Lee: Students weren’t asked about revamping their own group.
The student council at Wilbur Cross High School returned this fall to find out the principal had dissolved the group and created new rules to rebuild it as a more “inclusive” organization — without consulting students.
by | Sep 13, 2011 8:07 am | Comments (27)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
At Iline Tracey’s school, 2 tenured teachers left; 1 improved and kept her job.
New Haven’s new method of grading teachers spurred low performers to improve their game — and led 34 others to leave the school district, officials announced Monday in the first test of a nationally watched component of the city’s school reform drive.
by | Sep 9, 2011 8:02 am | Comments (36)
Melissa Bailey Photo
From right: Graves, DeStefano, Kerekes, Dawson, Aponte.
The question of how to get parents involved emerged as the biggest unsolved challenge of the city’s school reform drive as four would-be mayors debated for the last time.
by | Sep 7, 2011 9:01 am | Comments (14)
City of Newark
New Haven has a new direct connection to the Malloy administration for school reform — a connection that began in City Hall.
by | Aug 23, 2011 8:04 am | Comments (13)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Longtime King/Robinson Principal Iline Tracey (left) kisses her replacement, Nadine Gannon.
Just eight days before school starts, new principals are stepping in Tuesday to take over Co-op High and King/Robinson schools.
Continue reading ‘Last-Minute Shuffle At 2 Schools; Layoffs Averted’
by | Aug 17, 2011 11:00 am | Comments (4)
As the school district renews a contract with a charter group to run a middle school for troubled kids, it’s focusing on how to find the right students to fill the classes — and make sure they stay there.
by | Aug 16, 2011 7:54 am | Comments (13)
Melissa Bailey Photos
A fast-growing charter school found new footing on old stone floors, as students at Amistad Academy held their first day of class at the old — and new — Dwight School.
Continue reading ‘Past Meets Future At “Amistadized” Dwight’
by | Aug 4, 2011 7:52 am | Comments (33)
Contributed Photo
As 75 percent of teachers depart Clemente school, 22-year-old Larissa Spreng is moving to New Haven to teach her new students to be scientists at school reform’s newest experimental lab.
by | Aug 2, 2011 3:38 pm | Comments (39)
Teachers and administrators are slated to get pink slips over the next week as the culmination of a new approach to evaluating how they do their jobs.
by | Jul 28, 2011 7:58 am | Comments (3)
National policymakers continue to show keen interest in how New Haven is pioneering school reform — especially the role played by the teachers union. New Haven teachers union President David Cicarella accepted an invitation Wednesday to testify before a Congressional committee about his local’s participation in the city school system’s experiments.
Continue reading
‘School Reform Goes
To Washington -- Again’
by | Jul 13, 2011 3:01 pm | Comments (17)
Melissa Bailey Photo
From left: English-language learning supervisor Pedro Mendia Landa, Hill Central Principal Glen Worthy, & Superintendent Mayo.
New Haven thought it found a new way to get little kids to read — and three years later, newly released test scores showed the idea working.
by | Jul 13, 2011 11:31 am | Comments (5)
The district has whittled down a $14 million budget hole to $8 million, but schools Superintendent Reginald Mayo said he will soon recommend another round of up to 150 layoffs to close the gap.
by | Jul 12, 2011 12:30 pm | Comments (62)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Officials claim CAPT scores vindicate principal Peggy Moore.
Pop quiz: If test scores at Wilbur Cross High School go up, but the number of test-takers drops by 200 — or by more than 50 percent, with many low performers gone — should the district tout “extraordinary” gains?
by | Jul 5, 2011 3:35 pm | Comments (7)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Warren Wicks, Jr. and Jada Miller set to work Tuesday on their first day at college, as Southern Connecticut State University launched a new program to tackle the achievement gap. They may be going to college for eight years, and for free.
by | Jul 5, 2011 11:19 am | Comments (23)
Melissa Bailey Photo
ESUMS parent leader Dawn Gibson-Brehon recently brought concerns to school board member Alex Johnston.
The city’s high-performing science magnet school will remain on State Street next year, after parents protested moving their kids near drug addicts and sex offenders on Ella Grasso Boulevard. Another school, Domus Academy, will head to the Boulevard instead.
Continue reading ‘After Parents Fight Move, ESUMS Stays Put’
by | Jun 30, 2011 8:33 am | Comments (27)
Melissa Bailey Photos
Moore, Carolina.
After two new principals took over the city’s largest high schools this year, one started lifting his institution out of the basement, while another earned low grades across the board, according to a round of new surveys of parents, teachers and students.
Continue reading ‘Surveys Reveal 2 High School “Climate” Changes’
by | Jun 29, 2011 11:42 am | Comments (10)
Jacob Cohn Photo
Nilda Aponte and N’Zinga Shani discuss “The Educational Agenda.”
Nilda Aponte offered four reasons she loves New Haven Promise: Her four children in New Haven public schools. She wants to send them to college.
Continue reading ‘Parents Urged To Seize School Opportunities’
by | Jun 28, 2011 3:45 pm | Comments (4)
Melissa Bailey Photo
After serving two years as a link between the city’s public university and its school reform drive, Selase Williams said farewell to the New Haven Board of Education Monday.
by | Jun 28, 2011 7:46 am | Comments (34)
Melissa Bailey Photo
One principal is revamping report cards, and another is chopping the school year into two, as four high schools prepare for a “transformation” in the fall.
Continue reading ‘Goodbye Letter Grades, Hello College Semesters’
by | Jun 27, 2011 4:06 pm | Comments (7)
Jacob Cohn Photo
Ringwood (right) speaks with a Newhallville parent.
Michelle Sepulveda and Jordan Ringwood were waiting for a school parent to come to the door so they could make a pitch. They noticed a teenage girl peeking from an open door to a nearby apartment. Sepulveda pounced.
by | Jun 24, 2011 11:08 am | Comments (10)
Chantal McHayle earned her first varsity letter after four years on the team — the math team, not the basketball team.
Continue reading ‘Hillhouse Rolls Out New Graduation Tradition’
by | Jun 23, 2011 11:24 am | Comments (6)
Melissa Bailey Photo
After getting kicked out of traditional schools and labeled as a “special needs” kid, Christian Pabon defied expectations by shaking that label — and then walking down the aisle at his 8th grade graduation.
by | Jun 22, 2011 7:44 am | Comments (101)
Melissa Bailey Photos
Isaiah Lee (L), Peggy Moore.
Wilbur Cross High School Principal Peggy Moore gave students a parting lesson in democracy as the academic year came to a close: After an outspoken junior won an election, she added new rules and nullified the results.
Continue reading ‘Cross Principal Vetoes Student Election Results’