State education finance sets the stage for what is possible in schools. Too many state education finance systems today are inequitable, outdated, and inadequate, and there are often significant political barriers to change. Advocates for educational equity can and should play an essential role in shaping the allocation and structure of state…

In 2021, Connecticut passed Right to Read legislation with the intent of improving reading outcomes for all students. This was passed in a national environment heavily influenced by the neoliberal education reform agenda, such as an emphasis on accountability. This study focused on the discourse surrounding the legislation and its implementation…

Over the past few years, leaders and educators at East Hartford High School in East Hartford, Connecticut, have sought out and tested ways to ensure that each of their 1,700 students have opportunities to form meaningful relationships with adults, engage in rigorous instruction, and receive tailored support. They have prioritized initiatives aimed…

In this article, I describe a few personal favorite contributions of Dr. Marcia Gentry, one of the most successful graduates from our doctoral program at the University of Connecticut, as well as a dear friend and collaborator. Marcia focused her life's work on the need to serve underserved and often-neglected populations in our field and…

In the upper northeast corner of the United States, the commitment to competency education has grown so strong that entire states are embracing it through high-leverage comprehensive policies. Of the six New England states -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- four have established comprehensive state…

Economic inequality across the country is growing, and its impact on students' access to educational opportunities is significant. To explore the role teachers can play (and are playing) in ensuring that public education continues to be a forceful driver of social equity and in disrupting the structures, cultures, and practices that effectively…

Despite growing momentum to overhaul teacher evaluation policies and practices, scant research examines how educators at the street level of such reform--principals and teachers--make sense of them, and almost no research examines the implications of current evaluation reforms for equity. This article provides findings based on a study of 14…

Schools should be safe, nurturing, and welcoming environments for all students. Frequently, exclusionary school discipline practices, which remove students from the classroom--even for minor infractions of school rules--through suspension or expulsion, prevent students from participating fully in their education. Suspensions, expulsions, and other…

This report analyzes the data on changes in patterns of racial segregation and their education consequences over a quarter century, from l987 to 2012. It examines a major transition in the racial and ethnic composition of Connecticut and the changes in integration and segregation in the schools of the state and its urban communities and it…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

"From the Courtroom to the Classroom" examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. As the editors note, it comes at a time marked by a "general downplaying of race and ethnicity as criteria for the allocation of public resources, as well as a weakening of the political forces that support…

Magnet schools, created, sponsored, and regulated by states and public school districts, embody a top-down organizational philosophy. Charter schools, started by parents and teachers with distinct minority educational views and sponsored by various agencies, represent bottom-up, innovative philosophies. Connecticut's 1996 law allows only local…

This article discusses the educational achievement status of racial and ethnic minorities, specifically African Americans and Latinos as compared to their Caucasian peers. In addition, this article describes several long-standing federal educational initiatives designed to improve educational equity and access on the part of low-income and…

This policy plan presents Connecticut's revised Statewide Educational Goals for Students for 1991-95. The plan includes goals of what students are expected to learn as well as how the education system can be held accountable to the public. The plan contains eight goals. Goal one is that students will be motivated to learn and to meet the higher…

Argues that the following steps will effectuate educational reform: (1) provision of more latitude and flexibility in school governance; (2) business commitment to using and upgrading the inner-city workforce; (3) consumer understanding of rights and options available within public education; and (4) government understanding of the danger of…