Despite the myriad of challenges that families, students, teachers and policymakers faced in 2021, the momentum to transform education did not waver. New opportunities for students unfolded in more than a dozen states through expanded private and public school choice. An additional 1.7 million students gained eligibility for private choice alone,…

Mayoral control and accountability is one of very few major education reforms that aim at governance coherence in this nation's highly fragmented urban school systems. A primary feature of mayoral governance is that it holds the office of the mayor accountable for school performance. As an institutional redesign, mayoral governance integrates…

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…

When the Connecticut State Department of Education published its first district report cards in 2003, it was obvious that the Hartford Public Schools district was struggling. Fewer than half of its students were proficient on the state reading exam. Math performance was better, but 63 percent of 10th-graders and 43 percent of younger students…

In hiring Daniel A. Domenech, the directors of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) were looking for an advocate who could position the group in the front row of education policy debates in Washington. Domenech, who began his job as the executive director of the AASA in July, has battle scars from years spent in the…

This article explores school districts such as New Haven (Connecticut) Public Schools, whose local union is an American Federation of Teachers (AFT) affiliate and where a shared concern for students has trumped the often adversarial union-management relationship. The author discusses what makes the successful contract negotiations headed by David…

Home buyers exercise school choice when shopping for a private residence due to its location in a public school district or attendance area. In this quantitative study of one Connecticut suburban district, we measure the effect of elementary school test scores and racial composition on home buyers' willingness to purchase single-family homes over…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Since almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs require some postsecondary education, having a high school diploma and the…

This paper presents Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now's (ConnCAN's) annual report for 2008. The pages of this report are filled with the "Faces of Change" in Connecticut education. These students, teachers, principals, community leaders, and parents are working in their own ways to fix Connecticut's public schools. Over the past…

In January 2005, leaders from Connecticut's business, higher education and civic communities came together to create the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN): a nonprofit organization designed to be a catalyst for the fundamental changes needed to move Connecticut from having the largest to having the smallest achievement gap in the…

This workbook, submitted by the State of Connecticut to the U.S. Department of Education, is for State Grants under Title IX, Part C, Section 9302 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Public Law 107-110). By January 31, 2003, States must complete and submit to the Department this Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook.…

For the past decade in Connecticut, public school students have been tested in the fall of grades 4, 6, and 8, and results have been attributed to the school in which students are tested. Some Connecticut elementary schools end at grade 5 (Type I) and some continue to grade 6 or 8 (Type II). Grade 6 results are reported for Type II schools but not…

This report describes a study on Arizona's beginning teacher induction, examining how induction program elements vary statewide. It also examines three induction models: the California Model, the Connecticut Model, and a model for science teachers in Arizona. In 2000, researchers surveyed 197 traditional public school districts regarding their…

A recent court case, Sheff vs. O'Neill has centered Connecticut's attention on the fact that its public schools are largely segregated by race/ethnicity (80% of the state's minority student population are clustered in 18 of 166 school districts while 140 others are more than 90% white). This paper discusses financing the cost of higher standards…

In 1997, the Connecticut State Department of Education awarded a grant Western Michigan University to evaluate Connecticut's charter schools and charter school initiative from 1997-2002. The study used existing databases, site visits, focus groups, and surveys to gather data regarding the movement's effectiveness, progress, and impact, examining…