Summary of proposals

Transforming connecticuts education system

Continuous Improvement Plan from The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents

Our children are precious. Every single one, regardless of ethnic

background, economic situation or cognitive condition, deserves an
equal chance to learn at a high standardthrough vibrant, flexible,
standards-based public education.
For more than 150 years, the public school system in Connecticut has
been successful at providing children with access to a quality education.
But thats no longer enough. Thanks to the dawn of the Information Age,
the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and
the development of a global economy, a new system is needed to best
prepare our children to succeed in 2011 and beyond.
Going forward, public education must integrate services to children
and raise community expectations for higher learning standards. Family
structure must be reinforced on an equitable and consistent basis.
And all students must be educated to be college or career ready with
internationally competitive skills and knowledge.
In short, our public education must be transformed. With effective
leadership and the help of every citizen in Connecticut, CAPSS truly
believes thats possible. This report recommends exactly how we can
benefit all students in our state.

Connecticut, weve got a set of complex problems.

Just like many communities across the nation, Connecticuts public education system faces a series of complex
problemsa mass of challenges that have multiple causes and cannot be solved in a set time period by using
standard techniques and conventional processes. These complex problems include:
International and racial achievement gaps
Low level of student engagement in their education and motivation for learning
Limited measures of assessment and accountability
Inadequate preparation for todays higher education and workforce
Changing U.S. demographics
Little emphasis on modern skills to meet the needs of a global economy
Impact of disruptive innovations
Obviously, solving these problems is not easy. Traditional solutions are inadequate. And to complicate things even further,
many people disagree about the right approach to address them.
The fact is, the only way to work on these problems is to redesign. The public school system must change. It must
embrace creativity, challenge assumptions and tap the ingenuity of those dedicated to success. Only then will we find
the solutions that these problems demandand that our students deserve.

So what can be done?

As the leaders of public schools in Connecticut, the Connecticut Association of Public School
Superintendents (CAPSS) suggests that the system, which has served children well in the past,
must be transformed so that it is able to meet the needs of students in the future. With a new
model that places the learner at the center of all strategy and action, CAPSS has developed a
set of action-oriented recommendations that will address the complex problems we face today,
transform learning and ensure that Connecticuts children receive the best possible education.
Typical Current Practices

VS

Examples of Transformative Practices

Goal is universal access to education

Goal is to educate all students with high standards

Age-based cohorts

Learning/progress-based groupings

Standardized solutions

Customized learning plans and processes

Begins at different ages

Begins at three years of age for all students

Limited choices and options

Many choices and pathways to learning

Patchwork of standards drives educational

organization and processes

Coherent, flexible, research-based, innovation-focused

teaching and learning processes

Highly structured, traditional staffing models

Student-centered, relational staffing featuring professional

partnerships with experts, certified staff, community
resources and mentors

Technology used to make teaching more efficient

Technology used to transform teaching and learning

Educational progress measured by seat time

and credits

Progress toward graduation measured by authentic

learning, using direct measures

Traditional annual school calendar and schedule

Instruction and learning delivered anytime, anywhere,

whenever students are ready to learn

Learning almost exclusively based in schools

Learning occurs where students are; schools serve as

the base from which students and teachers work

We invite you to learn more about these recommendations on the following pages.
For more details, download the full report at www.ctnexted.org.

Recommendations for
Transformation
In order to transform Connecticuts current pre-K
to 12 public school system and address todays
challenges, CAPSS has developed a series of
action-oriented recommendations that all revolve
around the learner.

Learner

This executive summary contains the key

recommendations. To learn more about the
full set of recommendations, please visit
www.ctnexted.org.

Raise the Bar.

Establish globally
competitive, internationally
benchmarked standards
in language arts (reading,
writing, speaking and
listening) science, social
studies, world languages
and the arts.

Make it Personal.

Personalize learning to give

all students the opportunity
to learn at high levels.

|| Establish ambitious, focused and coherent education standards

in all major education disciplines.
|| Ensure that our children will be globally competitive by
benchmarking Connecticuts educational standards to established
international standards.
|| Measure child progress on college and career readiness
standards and get public school systems and postsecondary
institutions to agree on those standards.

|| Build instructional program on student learning needs, styles and

interests.
|| Create multiple learning pathways that enable children to master
essential standards, content and skills, and offer diversity and
choice in the school system.
|| Allow children to advance through school and ultimately graduate
based on their own demonstration of essential knowledge, skills
and dispositionsnot on the amount of time theyve spent in
the classroom.
|| Redefine the use of time (Carnegie unit/calendar) in order to
support a personalized learning system; make achievement the
constant and time the variable. Allow students to learn anytime,
anywhere.

Start with
Early Childhood.

Make quality early childhood

experiences available to all
three- and four-year-olds
in order to get all children
ready to learn as they enter
kindergarten.

Retool
Assessments and
Accountability.

De-emphasize standardized
tests and create new
methods of assessments
to give students choices
for how and when
they demonstrate their
knowledge and skills.

Offer More
Options and
Choices.

Increase diversity, flexibility

and autonomy in school
districts to maximize
resources and better
address the needs and
interests of all students.

|| Make quality preschool education universally available in

Connecticut.
|| Reallocate state funding and alter educational policy so that
programs are positioned for measurable success at raising oral
language, reading and numeracy skills.
|| Establish a structural relationship between preschool and the
K-12 system.
|| Provide a challenging all-day kindergarten program to
all children.
|| Adopt a more varied system of assessment to account for the
fact that students not only learn best in different ways, they also
demonstrate their mastery of information in a variety of ways.
|| Make accountability transparent, tailored to different uses and
able to communicate student progress.
|| Replace instructional state mandatesfocused on inputswith
student learning outcomes.
|| Include rewards/incentives in accountability system.
|| Base accountability on the four core disciplineslanguage arts,
science, mathematics and social studies.

|| Review existing district structures based on 1) the capacity to

provide different options for children to meet education standards;
2) economic, social and geographic factors.
|| Provide students and their parents with a menu of options,
including magnet schools, charter schools and vocationaltechnical schools as well as different schedules and curriculums.
|| Increase capacity for educators to provide options and choices
for children.
|| Structure school districts so that theyre fiscally independent.

Reform
Leadership.

Realign Connecticuts
education system for
success by making
authority and
responsibility equal.

|| Define the role and responsibilities of the Superintendent of Education

(formerly Superintendent of Schools) in state statutes; make authority
commensurate with responsibilities and eliminate ambiguity.
|| Change the state statutes so that:
The Governor appoints the Commissioner of Education with
the statutory authority and responsibility to provide educational
leadership.
The position of the Superintendent of Education provides leadership
to the Board of Education.
The District Board of Education makes decisions only on policy
matters, the annual budget and the hiring, supervision and evaluation
of the Superintendent.
The contract between the District Board of Education and the
Superintendent of Education can be for a five-year period and is
renewable.
|| Restrict authority of the Board of Education to its role as a
representative body for the community it serves.

Boost Quality.

Attract, develop, support

and retain teachers and
principals of the highest
quality.

|| Recruit and retain the best and brightest in the education profession.
|| Require first-year teachers to have extensive clinical experience,
supported by strong coaching from experienced teachers as well as
content knowledge and teaching skills.
|| Support exemplary teacher and school district leadership
development programs and publicize key achievements.
|| Revise tenure law to include a rigorous, standards-based review
process more closely tied to student learning. After educators show
outstanding performance in student learning, they will receive five-year
contracts, which districts may or may not renew.

Involve Students
and Parents.

Engage parents,
caregivers and community
organizations as partners in
a childs education.

|| Foster a partnership for success among parents, schools and

communities.
|| Help parents and caregivers understand how they make a difference
in a childs education.
|| Provide parents with choices for educating their children.
|| Work with parents and adults to support high expectations for
learning.
|| Utilize community organizations to help families foster reading skills
and produce literate children by grade three.

Leverage
Technology.

Use technology to transform

teaching and learning.

|| Provide educators and students with equal access to technology.

|| Personalize learning with technology-based systems.
|| Ensure broadband access to Internet and wireless connections.
|| Provide on-demand access to learning resources, information and
services 24/7.
|| Integrate technology throughout school districts, facilities,
leadership and management to increase efficiency and safety.

Continue
Transformation.

Ensure that transformation

is a continuous process,
not a one-time event.

|| Keep the educational system flexible to meet changing needs

and expectations.
|| Support innovation in the public school systems. Change state
regulations to promote and reward continued transformation.
|| Create mechanisms for teachers and administrators to propose
and obtain approval for innovative practices that lead to improved
student outcomes.

Learn more.

You can make a difference in transforming Connecticuts education system.

Consider all these ways to get involved:
|| D
 ownload the full CAPSS report and sign up to get more information at www.ctnexted.org.
|| C
 all or write your legislators to find out how theyre addressing the complex problems facing
schools today.
|| T
 alk to the members of your local Board of Education about what theyre doing to
transform education.
|| M
 eet with community leaders or your parent/teacher association, and talk about what can
be done at your school and in your district.

Introduction
The public school system is not meeting the expectation that all children will learn what
they need to know and be able to do in order to lead decent and productive lives.
The major reason for this is that todays public schools are not designed to enable
universal student success. Instead, they are still based on the mid-19th-century
expectation of supplying universal access.
Under the current system, children have 13 years to learn what they are being taught.
As a result, they receive high school diplomas even though there is a wide disparity
among them with respect to what they have actually learned.

The Future of Connecticuts Public Education

Going forward, our education system should be designed to make sure that every child meets a set
standard of learning. No child should be certified as sufficiently educated until he or she can demonstrate
having met the standard of learning. More important, every child should be given the amount of time
needed to meet that standard.
If we try to meet the expectation that every child will learn with a system that is not designed to produce
this result, no amount of effort or improved practices will enable schools to achieve it.
We need to transform the present school system so that it can achieve the overall goal of
universal success.

Whats Necessary for Successful Transformation?

|| Agree on the components of a new system.
|| Make learners the foundation of our education system.
|| Align education with how students learn.
|| Realign support systems with the goal of universal success, not just universal access.
|| Prepare education leaders with the knowledge and skills to lead the process of transformation.

CAPSS: Leading the Effort

As an organization founded to supervise structures that support teaching and learning, the Connecticut
Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) is in a unique position to lead the effort to
transform public education in the state. It assembled a group of 17 of its members, provided these
members access to national experts on transformation issues, and charged the group with developing a
comprehensive report to represent the best-informed thinking of the people who lead Connecticuts public
education system.
This report outlines 10 core recommendations to transform
Connecticuts public school system. These include: driving
achievement, increasing flexibility and choices, involving parents,
retooling assessments and accountability, leveraging technology
and boosting quality.
In support of these recommendations, CAPSS has created
the following:
|| Outreach efforts to other educational stakeholders to explain its
perspective, enlisting others to strengthen its recommendations
and building alliances to implement these recommendations.
|| A legislative agenda that reflects the recommendations in
this report.

Our mission is to lead the

continuous improvement of
public education for all students
by advocating public policy for
children and by developing
and supporting executive
school leaders.
CAPSS

|| A leadership development program designed to help educators

acquire the skills necessary to lead the transformation.
|| A website that supports both public policy/legislative efforts and leadership development activities.

An Exciting Opportunity
CAPSS and its members are excited about the opportunity to help transform the public school system to
ensure that it better meets the needs of children well into the 21st century. We urge you to join us as we
structure a system that will not rest until all children have learned what they need to know and can lead
productive and dignified lives.

Recommendations
CAPSS has outlined 10 major recommendations for transforming education in Connecticut.

1. Raise the Bar.

10

2. Make it Personal.

11

3. Start with Early Childhood.

12

4. Retool Assessments and Accountability.

15

5. Offer More Options and Choices.

17

6. Reform Leadership.

19

Establish globally competitive, internationally benchmarked standards in language arts

(reading, writing, speaking and listening), science, social studies, world languages and the arts.

Personalize learning to give all students the opportunity to learn at high levels.

Make quality early childhood experiences available to all three- and four-year-olds in order to
get all children ready to learn as they enter kindergarten.

De-emphasize standardized tests and create new methods of assessments to give

students choices for how and when they demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

Increase diversity, flexibility and autonomy in school districts to maximize resources

and better address the needs and interests of all students.

Realign Connecticuts education system for success by making authority and

responsibility equal.

7. Boost Quality.

20

8. Involve Students and Parents.

23

9. Leverage Technology.

24

10. Continue the Transformation Process.

25

Attract, develop, support and retain teachers and principals of the highest quality.

Engage parents, caregivers and community organizations as partners in a childs education.

Use technology to transform teaching and learning.

Ensure that transformation is a continuous process, not a one-time event.

Recommendations in Action
A Students Story: Jessica, an Oceanographer-to-Be
Jessica woke up with a start, looked at the alarm clock and panicked briefly before she remembered
it was Tuesday, and she could go into school later because she had taken her Japanese class the
night before.
As she did three times a week, she studied Japanese with her neighbor Mr. Nakamura instead of taking
a language at her high school. She was finally getting comfortable with a language that has been called
one of the hardest in the world. It wasnt pronunciation that was difficult; Japanese was far easier to speak
than words she learned in her sixth-grade French classes. It was the kanji, characters used in Japanese
writing, that she was beginning to recognize more easily.
It was easier for Jessica to learn Japanese with one-on-one tutoring than it would be in a classroom. She
was lucky that her school encouraged her to be creative when it came to taking a foreign language, she
thought. The school accepted Mr. Nakamuras lessons for high school credit.
Right now, shed have to be content with taking biology within her schooland at home. Her biology
classes were no more traditional than her language classes. Jessica watched the biology lecture on her
computer every day, which prepared her to go to school and conduct experiments with a team of students
in the lab all morning.
As Jessica got out of bed she remembered how her father had been worried about the way she was
taking biologylistening to the lectures at home, on the computer! But Jessicas teacher reassured her
dad that students were better prepared when they came to school ready to work in teams, doing handson experiments in the lab with guidance from teachers, than they often were in traditional classrooms.
Even when planning Jessicas sophomore year in high school, her parents were pretty involved. They
helped her choose every detailright down to the way the school would assess her learning in all her
classes, including biology. She knew she didnt want to be graded just on what her team did, so she
chose two other assessments on which she would be tested during the semester. Plus, she would have
to demonstrate that she understood the 10 major standards of her biology course.
Team learning at school wasnt limited to biology, after all. It was the same in geometry, too, with real
problems created by the teachers that she and her fellow students had to answer. They didnt just learn
about geometric shapes in a book!
At the beginning of the school year, Jessica was offered four choices for history: a traditional survey of
American history, a computer-based American history course, an independent study or a seminar format.
She chose the seminar because it gave her the option of interviewing community members about major
events in the 20th century. Ms. Anders, Jessica knew, grew up under segregation, in Louisville, Kentucky,
and Jessica planned to videotape an interview with her concerning her memories of what that era was like.
With such a robust education, Jessica plans on combining all shes learning into her ideal career: an
oceanographer, conducting experimentsperhaps in the Sea of Japan.

10
Raise the Bar.
All students should have a balanced education that includes language arts,
mathematics, science, social studies, world languages and the arts.

Why This Recommendation Is Important

Students enter learning from many different perspectives. Some students
are interested in the sciences, others may be interested in the arts.
Providing a balanced education is important because it is the foundation
for the 21st-century learner.

Actions Needed
|| E
 stablish ambitious, focused and cohesive education standards in all major disciplines of Connecticut
public education, including language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, world languages and
the arts.
|| B
 enchmark Connecticuts educational standards to established international standards to ensure our
children will be globally competitive.
|| O
 btain agreement between public schools and postsecondary institutions in Connecticut on the
standards for a child to be college and career ready.

Connecticuts school systems need to measure a childs progress based

on demonstrated competency, not seat time.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Time cannot be the criterion that determines when a child progresses through the education system.
The mastery of skills and knowledge is essential for students to build a foundation for college and career.
Requiring mastery of content and skills ensures that all students will learn at high levels.

Actions Needed
|| E
 nable students to advance through school, and ultimately graduate, based on their demonstration of
essential knowledge, skills and dispositionsnot on the time theyve spent in class.
|| P
 rovide children with the support they need to advance at their own pace to meet educational
requirements.

Connecticut school systems and higher education must agree on the

standards for college and career readiness.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Currently, theres no agreement about the skills and knowledge that students need to enter the workforce
or attend college after graduation. Agreement is essential so that students, parents and teachers know
what is requiredand know how to help students best prepare for their future.

Actions Needed
|| M
 ake sure high school assessments measure student progress on college/career readiness standards.
|| U
 se adopted readiness standards for postsecondary admissions decisions.

|| Address effective teaching of college/career readiness standards in professional development for

pre-K to 12.

Make it Personal.
Student-centered approaches to education are characterized by a
focus on learning and driven by a knowledge of the way children
learn skills and competencies. Student-centered learning bases the
foundation of the educational program on the interests of the child,
the needs of the learner and an understanding of how children learn.

Students advance upon mastery.

The core element of a competency-based approach is that students

progress in school when they demonstrate mastery of standards for
that level. In a competency-based approach, students progress after
demonstrating their ability to apply skills and content to specific tasks.

Why This Recommendation Is Important

By having students progress based on mastery of content and skills, students work at appropriately
challenging learning levels. This also means that students do not end up at higher levels without the skills
and knowledge to tackle that work.

Actions Needed
|| Advance students to higher-level work upon masterynot age. Credits are earned based on
demonstration of mastery, not seat time.
|| Revise state statutes to allow students to earn credits based on mastery rather than seat time.
|| Develop a variety of assessments or projects that allow students to demonstrate mastery of content
and skills.

Develop competency-based pathways based on student interest

and needs.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Personalization is ubiquitous in todays world. This is true everywhereexcept in education. Personalized
instruction is paced to the learning needs of students and tailored to the learning preferences and
specific interests of different learners. In a fully personalized learning environment, objectives, content,
method and pace may all vary. Furthermore, personalized learning not only requires a shift in the design
of schooling, but also depends on leveraging modern technology in support of student learning. Children
learn at different rates and thus require different amounts of time to achieve the same learning objectives.
Significant learning can and does occur outside of school and extends beyond the school day and year.

Actions Needed
|| Design school buildings to allow for year-round instruction and flexible instructional groupings.
|| Make the school year flexible enough to allow students various amounts of time to achieve proficiency
of content and skills.

11

12

|| A
 ccept that learning experiences take place outside of school. This means that learning and teaching
can occur anytime, anywhere.
|| Make access to school resources available year-round and for an expanded period of time each day.
|| E
 stablish flexible work schedules so teachers can work varied days in the school year and at varied times
in the school day.
|| D
 evelop a personalized culture that fosters strong and respectful relationships among children and
adults. The culture should allow for complete understanding of childrens cultural and social contexts,
and advising them over multiple years.
|| D
 esign curriculum and instruction that encourage children to feel responsible for their own learning and
to increasingly be able to assess their own skills and needs.
|| Leverage technology to open up new avenues for child-centered learning.

Start with Early Childhood.

Make preschool available to all three- and four-year-olds to get them ready
to learn.
Brain research reveals that early learning critically impacts the future
development of a child. Therefore, attending to the three dimensions of
executive functionworking memory, inhibitory control and cognitive or
mental flexibilityis key for the social and cognitive development of a child.

Reallocate state funding and alter educational policy to position

programs for measurable success at raising oral language, reading
and numeracy skills.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Research shows that by the time children enter kindergarten, there is already an achievement gap between
middle-class and low-income students. This discrepancy in part stems from the difference in oral literacy
among different groups of children. Researchers estimate, for example, that children from professional
families are exposed to 45 million words by the age of four, while children from working-class families only
hear about 22 million. Children in poverty, however, are exposed to a scant 13 million.1 Furthermore, more
than two-thirds of poverty-stricken households do not possess a single book developmentally appropriate
for a child under age five.

Actions Needed
To ensure that all children in Connecticut benefit from their educational experience, the state should:
|| P
 rovide or reallocate sufficient funding so that all children, ages three to eight, receive appropriate early
education.
|| C
 reate a simplified, coordinated system for supporting early childhood education.
|| S
 upport families with training for literacy and educating young children.
|| Reduce the achievement gap.
|| Establish standards to raise the quality of all learning centers, e.g., daycare, preschool and home.
1 Todd R. Risley and Betty Hart, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children (Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes, 1995).

|| Designate a single agency to set standards and regulate early learning.

|| Require all early childhood service providers to assess childrens reading and language skills as part of
developmental screening to identify children in need of additional services.
|| Strengthen professional development for all early educators and caregivers so they can support language
development.
|| Bring challenging, engaging and developmentally appropriate reading and mathematics curricula into
early education and childcare settings.

Make quality preschool education universally available in Connecticut.

Why This Recommendation Is Important
The availability of preschools and the quality of the preschool experiences are critical factors. They can
help reduce the achievement gap in Connecticut and ensure that all children benefit from their educational
experience.

Actions Needed
|| Ensure fiscal support for high-quality programs for all three- and four-year-olds.
|| Provide challenging all-day kindergarten for all children.
|| Support local communities in developing birth-through-age-eight local councils for planning and
monitoring early childhood services.

Ensure a simplified, coordinated system for supporting early childhood

development and education.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
The primary purposes of early childhood education are to support social and emotional competence, and
improve a childs oral language, numeracy and literacy development. Providing early childhood education
as early as possible in a childs life will best prepare him/her for success later in school, the workplace and
the community.

Actions Needed
|| Eliminate overlapping oversight and support of early childhood education at state and local levels.
|| Provide parents and the community with transparent and understandable information about the quality
of services and programs.
|| Provide models and training to local communities on effective transitions to kindergarten.
|| Provide guidance and support to local communities in raising the quality of early childhood programs
and services.
|| Provide greater capacity for coordination and support services for parents and children.

Strengthen partnerships with families to reinforce childrens learning with a

particular focus on language development.

13

14

Why This Recommendation Is Important

Although research shows that families play the most important role in young childrens lives, responsibility
for school readiness lies with the adults who care for them and the systems that support them. Supportive
relationships and positive learning experiences should be provided, not just at home but also through a
range of services and by a variety of adults.

Actions Needed
Childcare settings, preschools and public schools should:
|| Support family efforts to improve childrens language, emerging literacy, reading and numeracy skills.
|| Capitalize on and strengthen the role of community libraries in promoting family literacy.
|| P
 rovide continuing education to parents to support their childs language, literacy, numeracy and
executive function skill development.
|| U
 se community leaders as conduits for helping families build childrens language, literacy and
numeracy skills.

Require programs, providers and professionals that serve babies and

young children to assess language and reading development as part of
screening processes. Identify those in need of additional services.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Reading is the cornerstone of academic success. There is a limited window of time to prevent reading
difficulties and promote reading achievement. For most children what happens (or doesnt happen)
from infancy through age nine is critical. By third grade, reading struggles are strongly linked to later
difficulties in school as well as to behavioral problems, depression and dysfunctional and/or negative peer
relationships.1 Whats more, research indicates that 74 percent of children whose reading skills are less
than sufficient by third grade have a drastically reduced likelihood of graduating from high school.2 As a
result, these children are unlikely to develop the skills essential for participating fully in a knowledge-based
economy and for experiencing life success.3

Actions Needed
|| R
 equire healthcare practices and early education programs to initially screen and continually assess
language and reading skills.
|| O
 utfit school districts with a pre-K to grade three early literacy (including language), numeracy and
executive function skills assessment system.
|| M
 odify the information-sharing limitations of privacy regulations (HIPAA) so that the state can create a
database to track a childs history of development, including program enrollment.

Enhance professional education to increase adult capacity to assess and

support a childs language development.
1 Gregg, N., Hoy, C., King, W.M., Moreland, C.M. & Jagota, M. (1992). The MMPI-2 profile of individuals with learning disabilities at a rehabilitative setting. Journal of
Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 23, 52-59; Snow, C., Burns, M.S. & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading disabilities in young children. Washington, D.C.: National
Research Council. Waldie, K., & Spreen, O. (1993). The relationship between learning disabilities and persisting delinquency. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 26, 417-423.
2 Fletcher, J.M., & Lyon, G.R. (1998). Reading: A research-based approach. In W.M. Evers (Ed.), Whats gone wrong in Americas classrooms (49-90). Stanford, CA:
Hoover Institution Press.
3 Fletcher, J.M., & Lyon, G.R. (1998). Reading: A research-based approach. In W.M. Evers (Ed.), Whats gone wrong in Americas classrooms (49-90). Stanford, CA:
Hoover Institution Press.

Why This Recommendation Is Important

Strong oral language skills are essential for young children to have in order to learn how to read. Experts
recommend that greater effort be given to improving the quality of infants and childrens language
environments.

Actions Needed
|| Provide early educators, care providers and healthcare professionals with training on how to support
language, reading, numeracy and executive function skill development.
|| Provide a multiyear professional development plan for the workforce to comply with state law and
national certification requirements.
|| Provide health, mental health and education consultation to preschool programs to enhance the skills of
directors and teachers for meeting the comprehensive needs of children.

Bring challenging, language-rich, developmentally appropriate reading and

mathematics curricula to early education and care settings.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Extensive research shows that the first five years are a critical developmental period in a young childs life.
The quality of a childs early environment and experiences has long-term effects on the brain, building the
foundation for important outcomes, including academic achievement.

Actions Needed
The state should:
|| Provide ongoing guidance on curriculum selection and implementation in early education and care
settings, as well as in pre-K to grade three classrooms.
|| Require principals and program administrators to increase their knowledge of childrens language,
reading, numeracy and executive function skills.
|| Develop a system of accountability for providing language-rich, challenging, developmentally appropriate
and engaging reading and mathematics curricula.
|| Require school districts to provide supplemental instruction that matches the curriculum for children who
are not making sufficient progress.

Retool Assessments and

Accountability.
De-emphasize standardized tests. Create new methods of assessments to give
students choices for how and when theyre tested.
In the past century, evaluation of student learning has been primarily focused
on determining the level of student achievement through traditional testing.
However, research suggests that, while important, this type of assessment has
little or no influence on student learning. Experts today believe that we need
to rethink assessment so that it becomes a tool for learning rather than an
indicator of learning.

15

16

Adopt a more equitable system of assessment to account for the fact

that students not only learn in different ways, they also demonstrate their
mastery of information in a variety of ways.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Current models of assessment and accountability are usually based on paper-and-pencil testing, which
offers limited educational value and typically reflects a low level of proficiency in the skills that students
need to master.
Even more disheartening is that the process of test construction, determination of content and the
use of only one methodmultiple-choice testsall build in cultural biases that favor some ways of
understanding and demonstrating knowledge more than others. Not surprisingly, the Partners in
Education Transformation (Intel, Microsoft and Cisco, 2008) contend that existing models of assessment
typically fail to measure the skills, knowledge, attitudes and characteristics of self-directed and
collaborative learning that are increasingly important for our global economy and fast-changing world.4

Actions Needed
Use a variety of assessment opportunities to determine student success in learning.
|| S
 chedule an assessment whenever an individual child is ready to be assessedrather than having all
children in the class assessed at the same time.
|| L
 everage technology not only to give assessments, but to provide quicker results to students and
ongoing data to teachers.
|| Incorporate standards-based grading as part of assessments. Provide information on progress, which
will allow teachers to adjust instruction to respond to any weaknesses, if necessary.
|| U
 se performance-based assessments instead of selected-response questions in state-mandated testing
to better measure depth of understanding and problem-solving skills.
|| Involve teachers in the design and scoring of assessments to increase their commitment to and
understanding of state tests and ensure their teaching reflects requirements for mastery.

Make accountability transparent, tailored to different uses and able to

communicate student progress.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Today, the accountability system for schools is punitive and fails to recognize and reward success. It is
primarily focused on year-to-year standardized test results and fails to consider other types of factors
that impact schools and districts, such as instruction, leadership, resources and parental involvement.
In addition, it is not implemented consistently across all schools and districts, and it doesnt address
progress in reducing the achievement gap in the state.

Actions Needed
|| D
 evelop a comprehensive, statewide accountability system based on clearly stated goals for
transforming public education.
|| B
 ase academic accountability on language arts, mathematics, social studies and science, and on all
other disciplines considered necessary for students to learn.

4 Intel, Microsoft and Cisco Taskforce (2008). Transforming Education: Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills. Retrieved February 26, 2011, from
http://education2020.wikispaces.com file/view/Transformative_AssessmentA_Call_to_Action_and_Action.pdf.

|| Base school accountability on the success of students at the next level. For example, elementary school
accountability should be based partially on student success in middle school.
|| Include rewards/incentives for schools in the state accountability system based on student performance
and reduction in the achievement gap.
|| Align accountability systems for schools with state education goals.

Offer More Options and Choices.

Increase diversity, flexibility and autonomy in school districts to maximize
resources, and better address the needs and interests of all students.
Efficient state mandates must be coordinated with local school district
governance in order to close the gap between idealistic goals for education
and the reality of schoolingand affect long-lasting educational change.
Going forward, school districts should have the flexibility to organize to take
advantage of economies of scale and allocate the majority of resources so
they can deliver high-quality services to students as cost-efficiently
as possible.

Review existing school districts based on: 1) the capacity to provide

different options for children to meet educational standards; 2) economic,
social and geographic factors.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Local school boards are not being utilized to their fullest extent in the current system, due to the influence
of local politics and a lack of alignment between local and state governing structures. In addition, the
present division of local school districts into 165 separate entities with some regional arrangements is
economically inefficient and fosters economic, racial and ethnic isolation.

Actions Needed
|| Make local school boards directly accountable both to the people who live in those districts and to the
Commissioner of Education.
|| Create districts with sufficient authority and flexibility to implement programs and strategies designed to
meet state student learning mandates.
|| Allow students and their parents to choose from a menu of options, including magnet schools, charter
schools and vocational-technical schools as well as different schedules and curriculums, all within the
jurisdiction of the local district.
|| Structure school districts so that theyre fiscally independent and allow districts to adopt multiyear
budgets.

17

18
Recommendations in Action
A Students Story: Max, a Fifth Grader
What did Robert E. Lee see at the Battle of Gettysburg? Mrs. Canna asked her fifth-grade class. On
July 2, 1863, Confederate General Lee climbed to the top of a Lutheran Seminary to get a better view of
the battle. His decisions there caused his first major defeatand eventually helped the Union win the war.
So what did he seeor what didnt he see? Youll each get software to help with this homework, she
said, distributing DVDs to the class.
Max couldnt wait to start working on the assignment, part of the students yearlong study of the Civil War.
At home that night, he downloaded the software, which combined geography with historical information
to recreate the topography of Gettysburg during the famous battle, onto his computer. He immediately
realized what Lee could not see from even the high vantage point of the seminarys cupolathousands of
Union troops, just beyond the generals sight, stretched out for more than three miles on the eastern side
of the battlefield. Whoa! Mom, youve got to see this! Max said.
Max showed his mother the reconstruction of that crucial scene. Lee could only see a small portion of the
Union troops, Max said.
I guess Lee didnt know what he didnt know, Maxs mom said. Not to distract you from your
homework, but I picked this book up for you at the library today, she said. Max opened the book on the
solar system, admiring its colorful, foldout photos of the planets. He had worked on experiments with
rocketry during a summer camp and wrote a story about space travel for the school newspaper, drawing
pictures for the article on the iPad in his classroom. This will help me with my next newspaper article on
space, Max said.
Max had much more flexibility on reading and writing than many other students in his class because he
had mastered all the standards for his age group in language arts. Like his fellow students, Max took state
assessment exams when he and his teacher decided he was ready. Because he had scored so high on
language arts tests and because his projects had achieved grades at the top of the scale, he was able to
choose his own reading and writing assignments for the rest of the year.
But Maxs scores in math werent high enough for him to achieve mastery in that subject. At a meeting a few
days before, his parents, his teacher and Max discussed his math skills. Seeing a tutor two times per week
hadnt helped him master the math standards. But now he had three options to help him improve: getting
extra help after school, attending a Saturday class or going to an enrichment program during the summer.
They decided that the summer program would help the most. In the meantime, his parents would help him.
Look on page 43, Maxs mother said. Max opened the book to that page, which showed a chart of
mathematical equations to help students figure out how long it would take to get to different planets
and how much they would weigh once they got there. Max was fascinated by the chart. He weighed
75 pounds. But he could see with some quick calculations that he would weigh a lot moreor less
depending on the different gravity of each planet. Id weigh almost 200 pounds on Jupiter but less than
30 pounds on Mars! Max said.
Ill show this to the others working on the newspaper, he said. Were supposed to meet after school
tomorrow to talk about ideas for the next issue. Maybe we could print the chart as part of another article,
he said.
Not tomorrow afternoon. You wont have time, his mother said.
Why not? he asked.
Maxs mother smiled. Band practice. Your trumpet playing has improved so much that the head of the
music department asked if youd be interested in joining the band. If you do, the first practice is tomorrow.
Yes! Max said, pumping his fist in the air.

Reform Leadership.
Realign Connecticuts educational system for success.
Currently, organization and policy making for education are based on
bureaucratic assumptions of hierarchy, centralized decision making,
standardization and inspection. These characteristics limit individual
discretion, depress creativity and foster stasis, not change.
For local school administrators, this model has produced ever-increasing
constraints. Today, less bureaucracy is needed in order for schools and
districts to invent, adapt and change to local conditions, guide activity, and
encourage initiative and innovation to reform the state of public education.

Clarify the states role in governing the education system.

Why This Recommendation Is Important
In a transformed system of education, the state has an important role to play. It must define the goals for
the entire system, provide the technical assistance necessary and holding schools accountable for meeting
those goals. The state must also create policies that ensure the equitable distribution of human and
financial resources to guarantee that all students have the opportunity to meet the goals set by the state.

Actions Needed
|| Allow the Governor to appoint the Commissioner of Education with authority to provide educational
leadership and fulfill statutory responsibilities, and have the Commissioner report directly to the Governor.
|| Redirect the efforts of the State Department of Education (SDE) to meet the most immediate needs of
Connecticuts school districts.
|| Replace all instructional regulatory state mandates with ones that emphasize student learning outcomes.
|| Tie state funding to incentives for meeting and exceeding child learning outcomes.

Clearly define the role and responsibility of the Superintendent of

Education in statute.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Effective school and district leadership makes a positive difference in student achievement. If there is to
be effective leadership in a learner-centered education system, there can be no ambiguity about who is
responsible for what. Leaders must have authority commensurate with their responsibilities.

Actions Needed
|| Make the authority of the Superintendent of Education commensurate with responsibilities.
|| Put systemic efforts in place so that the school system can lead transformation.
|| Base evaluation of school systems not only on success in schooling but also on progress in leading
transformation efforts.
|| Define the role of school boards so that they are solely focused on policy issues and hiring and evaluating
the Superintendent.
|| Remove statutory limits on Superintendents contracts.

19

20
Boost Quality.
Attract, train, develop and support new teachers and principals.
Without high-quality teachers and leaders, even the best-designed
curriculum or most robust assessment system will not increase
learning or achievement. In fact, there is increasing evidence that of
all school resources, teachers have the greatest impact on student
achievement. Therefore, the transformation of Connecticuts schools
hinges on preparing, retaining and developing excellent teachers and
leaders.

Recruit teachers and leaders who have the knowledge, skills and
dispositions to transform education.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
As children come to school with increased learning and health needs, teachers and leaders are asked
to perform an expanding array of tasks. These teachers and leaders, also known as human capital,
will take on increased importance as we work to make students learning more rigorous and relevant.
We must tap the knowledge and skills of all capable individuals who are committed to transforming
students learning. In addition, we must improve human capital in our system by making substantial
changes to school and district recruitment, preparation, retention and development. This systematic
approach to improving human capital will result in enhanced learning and increased achievement
for children.

Actions Needed
|| D
 evelop multiple paths to teacher, school and district leader certification to reduce barriers to becoming
an educator without lowering standards or responding to supply and demand fluctuations.
|| G
 rant certification to teachers and school and district leaders based on demonstrated competency,
not on degrees earned.
|| A
 ctively recruit and provide incentives to attract underrepresented populations to teaching and
leadership positions.

Prepare teachers and leaders through forward-thinking programs that

emphasize how to teach, learn and lead in a transformed system and
assign them to positions that capitalize on their strengths.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
For too long, many educator preparation programs have failed to:
|| E
 quip teachers and leaders with the skills they need to prepare students for the complex demands of
living in the 21st century.
|| P
 repare teachers to meet the needs of a shifting population of students.
|| A
 ssign personnel to positions based on skills and competencies.
In order to transform education in Connecticut, preparation programs must be adapted to meet the
changing needs of society and the demands on teachers, classrooms and schools.

Actions Needed
|| Provide significant amount of clinical experiences for prospective teachers and principals in training.
|| Focus teacher preparation on richer instructional and leadership skills as well as on meeting the needs of
children with diverse backgrounds.
|| Make sure training includes how to create conditions for high-quality instruction that results in children
achieving standards.
|| Structure the first year in a teaching or leadership position as an internship with strong, consistent
coaching by experienced professionals committed to transformation.
|| Make professional learning opportunities for teachers and school or district leaders part of their jobs.
Configure schedules to give teachers time to collaborate with peers on student performance and share
effective teaching or leadership practices.
|| Ensure that the state provides districts and schools with the working conditions and resources to support
a transformed educational system. In particular, working conditions and resources must serve lowincome children and should be on par with those in settings that serve higher-income peers.
|| Make sure teachers and education leaders receive competitive compensation and incentives in order to
attract and retain talented individuals who are sought by other sectors.
|| Create incentives for teachers and school and district leaders who successfully work in systems that
serve a high percentage of low-income children.

Retain quality teachers and leaders through mentoring, ongoing learning

opportunities and appropriate compensation.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
The learning curve for new teachers and district leaders is considerable. Yet, mentoring for new teachers
and leaders, which could reduce this learning curve, is often haphazard and provides few supports for
novices. A strong program of mentoring and ongoing support would enable beginning teachers and
leaders to become high-quality instructors more rapidly.
Teacher compensation should also be reviewed. For years, teachers have been recognized and rewarded
for endurance, not effectiveness. To attract and retain individuals whose skills are valued, we must
offer compensation thats not only competitive but also differentiated based on demonstrated skills,
competencies and results.

Actions Needed
|| Structure first-year teaching and leadership positions as internships with strong, consistent coaching by
experienced teachers and leaders committed to transformation.
|| Support professional learning and collaboration opportunities for teachers and school/district leaders to
share effective teaching and leadership practices.
|| Link evaluations for professional educators to incentives for high performers and consequences for
low performers.
|| Dismiss teachers and leaders whose performance is consistently poorand transition these individuals
out of education for the benefit of other districts and students.
|| Base reduction-in-force decisions for teachers or leaders on performance, student achievement and
professional activitynot solely on seniority.
|| Expand opportunities for educators to have access to technology-based content, resources and tools
where and when they need them.

21

22

Evaluate and supervise teachers and leaders to provide accurate

information about their performance.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Transforming education to a more learner-centered process will require that all educators perform at
highly competent levels. Unfortunately, the current system of evaluation calls for infrequent observations,
poor feedback from administrators and the absence of consequences. To exert the greatest influence on
teaching and learning, observations and evaluations should: 1) be more frequent, 2) result in higher-quality
feedback and 3) entail real consequences. Teachers and leaders who perform at high levels should be
recognized and rewarded; those who dont should receive sanctions.

Actions Needed
|| C
 reate a standards-based evaluation system for teachers and leaders that includes regular reviews
of performance based on standards.
|| Tie evaluations directly to growth in student learning and the demonstration of professional skills.
|| G
 ive peer review of performance a role in the evaluation systems for teachers and school and
district leaders.

Revise tenure law to include a rigorous, standards-based review process

more closely tied to student learning.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
In the current system, tenure is a lifetime contract that districts can terminate only if they can prove to an
arbitration panel and judge that an educator is incompetent, immoral and/or insubordinate. The contracts
of educators whose performance is competent but mediocre are difficult to terminateand those
educators remain in the classroom.
Pre-tenure years must include a standards-based performance appraisal conducted by a well-trained
supervisor and peer evaluator. Tenure would then be granted based on high-level performance. Renewable
contracts would give districts the opportunity to remove educators whose performance does not rise
above the mediocre level.

Action Needed
|| O
 ffer educators five-year contracts, which districts may or may not renew, after they show outstanding
performance in child learning.

Take advantage of technology to advance professional learning.

Why This Recommendation Is Important
The importance of using technology to support personalized learning and motivate students continues to
increase with each new class of students. Therefore, special attention must be given to all teachers and
leaders to ensure that they are comfortable with and skilled in using technology.

Actions Needed
|| E
 xpand opportunities for educators to have technology-based content, resources and tools where and
when they need them.
|| Use social networking to enhance career-long learning for educators within and across schools.

|| Provide all learners with online access to effective teaching and better learning options, particularly in
places where they are not otherwise available.

Involve Students and Parents.

Encourage parents, caregivers and community organizations to be
partners in a childs education.
It is essential that parents remain engaged in their childs education.
As stated earlier in this report, families play the most important
role in childrens lives. Any effective program needs to focus on the
relationships among family, community members and school staff as
well as on understanding and respect for families needs, class and
cultural differences.

Foster a partnership for success among

parents, schools and communities.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Independent research shows that meaningful involvement of all stakeholders has a positive impact on
improved student learning.

Actions Needed
|| Direct resources and programmatic efforts to help families adopt effective strategies to support
student learning.
|| Develop leaders (educators and non-educators) to help focus the work and coalesce resources.
|| Build infrastructure that frames and supports family involvement efforts through a variety of
outreach strategies.
|| Solicit family reactions and perspectives.
|| Create structures that encourage family involvement.

Help parents and caregivers understand how they make a difference in a

childs education.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Parental understanding that high expectations and effort make a significant difference in a childs education
is essential for success.

Actions Needed
|| Promote an understanding of the effects that a familys beliefs, self-efficiency, knowledge and perceived
abilities have on their childrens education.
|| Engage parents as partners in their childrens education.
|| Create a mechanism in each community that collectively cares for and supports children.

23

24

Work with parents and adults to support high expectations for learning.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
Effective school-family connections prepare educators and non-educators to engage in two-way
partnerships that remove barriers to purposeful family involvement while simultaneously creating
opportunities to encourage and maintain family support for student learning.

Actions Needed
|| Utilize community to help families foster reading skills and produce literate children by grade three.
|| Help parents understand their options for educating their children.
|| Educate parents on the importance of high expectations and effort in producing educated students.

Leverage Technology.
Use technology to transform teaching and learning.
The implementation of technology in education has the potential to be one
of the most powerful, dynamic forces to transform student learning and the
quality of school systems.

Provide educators and students with equal access to

technology.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
The use of technology in teaching and learning can be an important factor in engaging childrenand
transforming education. So equity of access to technology resources should be a requirement of any
school, district and state.

Actions Needed
|| D
 evelop technological infrastructures in schools and communities to support 24/7, anywhere/anytime
learning, a diversity of platforms and operating systems, and students using their own devices.
|| E
 nsure children and educators have broadband access to the Internet and adequate wireless
connectivity both in and out of school.
|| B
 uild knowledge and resources for evolving an infrastructure for technology-supported education with
updated standards that will support robust learning.
|| E
 liminate barriers in the education system that inhibit leveraging technology to improve learning.

Integrate technology throughout school districts, facilities, leadership

and management.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
With adequate, state-of-the-art technology, school systems will operate more efficiently, effectively
and safely.

Actions Needed
|| Provide on-demand access to learning experiences, resources, information, community systems and
services 24/7.
|| Leverage online environments that offer multiple opportunities for two-way communication, feedback and
collaboration with family members and community.
|| Develop plans to upgrade infrastructure to support technology-facilitated learning.
|| Use technology to keep facilities safe and manage energy utilization.

Continue the Transformation

Process.
Make education transformation a fluid, continuous process.
Transformation is not a single event at a specific point in time. Rather,
it is a continuous process that may be punctuated by breakthrough
events. Therefore, there must be flexibility in our school systems to
allow for constant creative thinking about how to respond to change
and improve ways to meet outcomes.

Keep the educational systems flexible to meet changing needs

and expectations.
Why This Recommendation Is Important
The pace of change in todays society will continue to reshape the understanding and skills students will
need to be successful. Greater flexibility will allow school systems to respond to changing expectations
and conditions, and help continuously improve student learning.

Actions Needed
At the state level:
|| Modify regulations and statutes to encourage and reward innovation in improving learning outcomes and
opportunities for children.
|| Appropriate funds for R&D to support innovation in public education to reduce the achievement gaps
related to poverty and globalization as well as to raise learning outcomes.
|| Waive statutes and regulations for an extended period (three-five years) based on promising proposals to
foster innovation and increase child outcomes.
At the district level:
|| Develop streamlined mechanisms for teachers and administrators to propose and receive approval for
innovative practices that have the potential to improve student outcomes.
|| Offer incentives to promote continuing transformation to improve student outcomes.
|| Develop an R&D fund that is a minimum of one percent of the school district budget and is governed by
a group that includes the Board of Education and representatives of stakeholders including teachers,
administrators and parents.
|| Upgrade technology and learning resources as needed to remain current.

25

26 Appendix
This appendix contains all the recommendations of the Educational
Transformation Project. The background and narrative can be
found and downloaded from the project website.

RAISE THE BAR

Guiding Principles
All students are capable of learning at high levels.
Students should graduate college and/or be career ready.
Students should have knowledge and skills to compete in a
global economy.
Key Issue 1: In a transformed school system, Connecticut needs
to develop more robust curricular standards that are aligned with
instructional and assessment systems, focused on higher-order
thinking, benchmarked against globally competitive or established
international standards, and aligned with the skills, knowledge and
dispositions required for success in postsecondary settings.
Recommendation 1: Connecticut must establish ambitious,
focused and coherent education standards in all major disciplines,
language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, world
languages and the arts, that are shared across the system and
aligned with major assessments and instructional systems.
Recommendation 2: Connecticut must benchmark Connecticuts
educational standards to globally competitive or established
international standards to ensure that our children will be
globally competitive.
Recommendation 3: Public school systems and postsecondary
institutions in Connecticut must establish agreement on the
standards for a child to be college/career ready.
Recommendation 4: High school assessments must measure
child progress on college/career readiness standards.
Recommendation 5: Postsecondary admissions decisions must
use the adopted readiness standards.
Recommendation 6: Professional development for pre-K-12 must
address effective teaching of college/career readiness standards.
Key Issue 2: Children in Connecticuts schools must demonstrate
the key knowledge, skills and dispositions to prosper as individuals
in a transforming society and contribute to the future success of
their communities, the state, and the nation and world.
Recommendation 7: Schooling must increase childrens abilities
to think flexibly, critically and creatively by consistently requiring
students to complete complex, open-ended tasks.
Recommendation 8: Schooling must increase childrens
motivation and capacity to learn deeply by consistently providing
authentic, real-world learning experiences.
Recommendation 9: Schooling must strengthen childrens global
literacy by dedicating a significant portion of the curriculum to
learning about global cultures, geography, histories and languages.
Schooling must ensure all students exposure/competence in
two languages.
Recommendation 10: Schooling must increase childrens
capacity to learn and work across dimensions of difference by
teaching them about the perspectives held by other cultures and
how to appreciate multiple points of view.
Recommendation 11: Schools must strengthen childrens abilities
to work productively with others by teaching them inter- and
intrapersonal skills, including communication, conflict resolution
and problem-solving skills.

Recommendation 12: Schools must capitalize on advances in

social media and technology to reach a broader portion of the
child population and teach children to use these in responsible,
productive and creative ways.

MAKE IT PERSONAL
Guiding Principles
Child-centered approaches to education are characterized
by a focus on learning and are driven by the knowledge of
developmental trajectories, skills, interests, goals and needs
of children.
The full range of learning experiencesat all times of the day,
week and yearare harnessed to provide learning opportunities
and meet the educational needs and interests of all children. Use
of time is flexible.
Schools provide a variety of standards-based, applied, multidisciplinary learning opportunities for children inside and outside
of school. These opportunities may include project-based
learning, internships, experiential education, career technical
education, peer learning and apprenticeships.
An effective child-centered learning environment embraces rigor
in the form of high standards and multiple, valid assessments of
childrens mastery in regard to these expectations.
Progress is primarily based on acquisition of competencies,
rather than a childrens age, hours on task or credits. The current
configuration of schools, where pace and progress typically
occur in grade-level lockstep, and the focus is on teaching facts
and procedures will not result in the depth and breadth of
knowledge necessary for success.
With a focus on learning, as opposed to teaching, educators
take on the roles of facilitators and advisors in addition to
content experts.
Schools have a personalized culture that fosters strong and
respectful relationships amongst children and adults. Adults
understand childrens cultural and social contexts, know them
well and often work with children across multiple years in advisory
capacities. Children feel responsible for their own learning and are
increasingly able to assess their skills and learning needs.
Technology can open up new avenues for child-centered
learning.
Source: Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Emerging Principles of
Student-Centered Learning, 2010.
Key Issue 1: A students progress is based on demonstrated
competency, not seated time.
Recommendation 13: Students progress to more advanced
work upon demonstration of learning by applying specific skills and
content.
Recommendation 14: Children should advance through school
and ultimately graduate based on their demonstration of essential
knowledge, skills and dispositions, not on the time they have spent
in classes.
Recommendation 15: School systems must offer children various
forms of support to advance at their own pace to meet established
competencies.
Recommendation 16: Time should be the variable and learning
the constant. It will take different amounts of time for different
students to master the skills and content.
Key Issue 2: Connecticut needs to offer children multiple routes
through which children learn essential knowledge and dispositions.
Recommendation 17: Students learning pathways should be
determined by a combination of what a student needs to know
and be able to do, learning style and student interests.

Recommendation 18: School systems should create multiple

pathways that enable children to master essential content and
skills. Therefore, school systems should be constructed and
organized to offer diversity and choice in learning pathways.

Recommendation 27: The school systems should expand and

strengthen partnerships with families through or with community
organizations and schools to focus on childrens learning with an
emphasis on oral language development.

Recommendation 19: Students should work on levels that are

appropriately challenging.

A) Early education, care settings and schools should link family

engagement efforts to childrens language, emergent literacy,
reading and numeracy.

Recommendation 20: The state, districts and others should

develop and implement learning resources that use technology
and embody design principles from the learning sciences.
Recommendation 21: The state, districts and others should
develop and implement learning resources that exploit the flexibility
and power of technology to reach all learners anytime, anywhere
and with anyone.
Recommendation 22: Use advances in learning sciences and
technology to enhance learning, and develop, adopt and evaluate
new methodologies with the potential to inspire and enable all
learners to excel.
Recommendation 23: School, district, and state policies and
regulations should be conducive to technology-based teaching
and learning initiatives. Structural barriers to implementation of
technology-based learning should be eliminated.
Recommendation 24: Children must receive instruction in how
technology can enhance the learning experience while also being
wary of its potential threats. This includes being responsible, not
only at school but also at home, and having lessons in digital
footprints, illegal downloading and plagiarizing, and understanding
what is okay to share and what should be kept private. In short,
children should understand the components of being good
digital citizens.
Recommendation 25: Acceptance of technology-based learning
toward graduation or for CEUs must be based on assessments of
whether student or teacher learned the defined outcomes. Control
of inputs such as certification and minimum time (Carnegie units)
and CEUs should be eliminated.

START WITH EARLY CHILDHOOD

Guiding Principles
Responsibility for childrens readiness lies not with children,
but with the adults who care for them and the systems that
support them.
Families play the most important role in young childrens lives.
The first five years are a critical development period.
All domains of development are highly interrelated.
Each child has an individual trajectory of development within
parameters.
Dispositions for learning and executive functioning skills must
be cultivated in the early years.
The achievement gap will not be reduced significantly unless
the literacy gap during the first five years is seriously addressed.
The literacy (and numeracy) gap is largely due to lack of
background knowledgeexposure to experiences and
vocabulary development.

B) Capitalize on and strengthen the role of community libraries and

other community resources in promoting family literacy practices.
C) Provide continuing education to parents to support their
childs language, literacy, numeracy and executive function
skills development.
D) Use community leaders as conduits for helping families build
childrens language, literacy and numeracy skills.
Recommendation 28: The state should require programs, care
providers and medical professionals serving babies, preschoolers
and school-age children to assess language and reading
development as part of developmental screening to identify children
in need.
A) Healthcare clinics and practices, and early education programs
should implement initial screening and ongoing assessment of
language and reading skills.
B) School districts must have a pre-K to grade three early literacy
(including language), numeracy and executive function skills
assessment system.
C) Create a statewide database to track childrens history, including
development and their program enrollment. The limitations of
HIPAA should be modified or addressed to allow this sharing of
information in a single database.
Recommendation 29: The state should strengthen professional
education to increase adults capacity to assess and support
childrens language development.
A) Provide early education and care providers and healthcare
professionals with training focused on supporting childrens
language, reading, numeracy and executive function skills
development. Training should require mastery of information
and skills.
B) Provide multiyear early childhood workforce professional
development plan to ensure compliance with state law and
selected national certification programs.
C) Provide health, mental health and education consultation to
preschool programs to enhance the skills of directors and teachers
for meeting the comprehensive needs of children.
Recommendation 30: Bring language-rich, challenging,
developmentally appropriate and engaging reading and
mathematics curricula into early education and care settings, as
well as pre-K to grade three classrooms.
A) The state should provide ongoing guidance on curriculum
selection and use in early education and care settings, as well as
pre-K to grade three classrooms.
B) The state should require principals and program administrators
to understand childrens language, reading, numeracy and
executive function skills to strengthen their instructional leadership.

Recommendation 26: The state legislature should ensure a

simplified, coordinated system for supporting Early Childhood
Development and Education.

C) Accountability for language-rich, challenging, developmentally

appropriate and engaging reading and mathematics curricula
should be linked to licensure and ratings programs.

A) Eliminate overlapping oversight and support of early childhood

education at state and local levels.

D) Districts should provide schools that are ready to work with

children based on their knowledge, skills and dispositions as they
enter school.

B) Provide transparent and understandable information about the

quality of services and programs to parents and the community.
C) Provide models and training to local communities on effective
transitions to kindergarten.
D) Provide guidance and support to local communities in raising
the quality of early childhood programs and services.

E) For children who are not demonstrating sufficient progress, the

school district must provide supplemental instruction that matches
the curriculum.

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F) The district should align early learning programs and services

with integrated K-12 strategies to strengthen literacy, numeracy
and academics.
Recommendation 31: The state should provide or reallocate
funds, and alter policy to ensure programs are delivered with
sufficient intensity and measurable success in childrens language,
reading and numeracy.
The availability of preschools and the quality of the preschool
experience is a critical factor in reducing the achievement gap
and ensuring that all children can benefit from their educational
experiences.

RETOOL ASSESSMENTS & ACCOUNTABILITY

Guiding Principles
Assessment can improve learning when it is individualized and
identifies a childs strengths and weaknesses.
Assessment literacy and the effective use of data from
assessments are key professional skills for teachers. Assessment
results can and should inform instruction, helping teachers to
identify what works, what doesnt work and what needs to be
retaught differently.
Assessment can be an effective motivator for children.

A) Ensure fiscal support for high-quality preschools for all

three- and four-year-olds.

Assessment should include childrens self-assessment of their

own learning progress.

B) Provide a challenging all-day kindergarten program to

all children.

Assessment should be ongoing, and learning progress should be

analyzed over time.

C) Support local communities in developing birth-through-age-eight

local councils for planning and monitoring early childhood services.

Assessment of children should ensure fairness, including multiple

measures that reflect a diverse student population.

MAKE IT PERSONAL BY DESIGN

Assessment should provide as broad a view of childrens skills

and understanding as possible.

Guiding Principles
Mastery of learning objectives and not seat time (i.e., the
amount of time spent in class) should be the major criterion
for success in school.

Accountability in a learning system provides useful, actionable

feedback regarding both the individual childs progress and the
systems ability to achieve its goals of high-quality education for
all children.

Children learn at different rates and thus require different

amounts of time to achieve the same learning objectives.

Students do not all learn at the same rate and thus should have
the opportunity to demonstrate mastery when they are ready,
not once a year at testing time, and should have multiple
opportunities to demonstrate mastery.

Significant learning can and does occur outside of school and

outside of the school day and year.
To meet the needs of and be appropriate for all students and
all communities, we will need to develop multiple organizational
models for schools.
Key Issue 1: American education continues to reflect assemblyline learning in which all children are expected to learn in the same
way as well as at the same time and in the same amount of time.
The length of the school year and school day limit the availability
of school resources and inhibit individualization of learning.
Recommendation 32: Access to school resources should be
available year-round and for an expanded period of time each day.
Recommendation 33: Flexible work schedules should be
established to allow different teachers to work varying numbers
of days in a school year and at varying times during the day.
Recommendation 34: The design of school buildings should
allow for year-round instruction and flexible instructional groupings.
Recommendation 35: The school year should be flexible enough
to allow students to have varying amounts of time to achieve
proficiency of basic skills and mastery of key understandings before
they move to the next level of learning.
Recommendation 36: Schools should accept credits for learning
experiences that take place outside of school as meeting school
learning requirements.
Key Issue 2: Success in school is more likely to be measured
by time spent in school rather than by the amount a student
has learned.
Recommendation 37: Students in schools should be
organized primarily based on skill proficiency and mastery of key
understandings.
Recommendation 38: Completion of schooling should be based
on skill and mastery of key understandings rather than on a
predefined number of years.
Recommendation 39: The Carnegie unit, which is based on time
spent in class (i.e., year or semester), should be replaced by a
system that is based on mastery of understanding and proficiency
of skills.

Good accountability systems are transparent, clear and tailored

to different uses.
A good accountability system communicates learning progress
with equity.
An accountability system should include a system of rewards and
incentives as well as sanctions.
Key Issue 1: Assessment should be ongoing to provide continuing
information about what a child has and has not mastered. With this
information, a teacher can modify instruction, and a child can focus
on that which has not yet been learned. However, assessment
often results in a single letter or number grade, which does not
provide feedback that will result in improving understanding
or mastery, and extraneous factors (e.g., attendance, class
participation and effort) are often included in the grade. Also,
classroom assessment has traditionally consisted of selected
response questions (e.g., multiple choice, true/false, etc.),
which usually measure lower-level thinking. Assessment usually
occurs at the end of a unit of instruction rather than throughout
the instruction.
Recommendation 40: A variety of assessment opportunities
should be used throughout schooling to measure the variety of
ways children learn.
Recommendation 41: Formative assessment should be used for
informing children of their progress on an ongoing basis during the
learning process so that they can have the opportunity to reflect on
and evaluate their own work, and then to manage and adjust their
own learning. Formative assessment also provides teachers with
the information needed to monitor and adjust their instruction as
necessary and desirable.
Recommendation 42: Teachers should use performance
assessment to determine childrens progress in developing higherlevel thinking skills and to assess their ability to transfer skills to
real-life situations.
Recommendation 43: Assessment should occur whenever it
is deemed that an individual child is ready rather than having all
children in a class assessed at the same time.
Recommendation 44: Technology-based classroom assessments
should become the norm to provide quicker, if not immediate,

results for children. This would facilitate their self-monitoring of their

learning and help them to recognize and respond to their strengths
and weaknesses. Technology-based assessments would also
provide teachers with ongoing data, allowing for more immediate
adjustments to instruction when needed.

The accountability system does not take into account other key
factors that impact school and district effectiveness, such as
instruction, leadership, resources, and parental involvement and
support. It also does not address progress or lack of progress in
reducing the achievement gap in the state, a major state goal.

Recommendation 45: Standards-based grading should be

part of classroom assessment and reporting. Standards-based
grading will provide information on child progress toward a number
of learning targets that are aligned with established curriculum
standards. With this information, the teacher would be able to
adjust instruction to respond to weaknesses in child learning, and
children would know where they need to focus their study if they
are to achieve understanding and mastery.

Similarly, accountability in districts is often narrowly defined and

lacks consistency in implementation.

Key Issue 2: Teachers should have training in developing

effective assessments, interpreting assessment results and using
technology-based assessment; however, teacher preparation
programs commonly provide minimal, if any, focus on assessment.
Recommendation 46: Significant instruction in developing and
interpreting both formative and summative assessments should be
required in all teacher preparation programs. Success in teacher
preparation courses should be determined using exemplary
formative and performance-based assessments. The efficacy of
instruction in assessment should be a standard for approval of
teacher preparation programs.
Recommendation 47: Assessment should be a major, ongoing
focus of teacher professional learning activities with extended time
provided for teachers to work together to develop formative and
summative assessments, establish consistency in the evaluation
of assessments, interpret assessment results and use assessment
results to inform instruction.
Recommendation 48: The state and districts should build the
capacity of educators, education institutions and developers to
use technology to improve assessment materials and processes
for both formative and summative uses.
Recommendation 49: The state should offer school districts an
effective and easy-to-use assessment data system that would
provide teachers with timely access to assessment results,
assistance in analyzing such data and opportunity to communicate
the meaning of the data to children and parents. Such a data
system should establish basic, uniform data elements and should
allow districts to enhance the system by adding data elements.
Recommendation 50: A major portion of state-mandated testing
should be performance-based assessments, which will more likely
measure depth of understanding and problem-solving skills than
selected response questions.
Recommendation 51: Independent research should be
established to analyze the efficacy of the design of standardized
tests, ensuring the validity and fairness of the tests themselves and
the reliability of test scoring.
Recommendation 52: Teachers should have substantial
involvement in the design and scoring of state assessments. This
would increase teacher understanding of and commitment to state
testing, and ensure that the testing reflects the content standards
that undergird their teaching.
Recommendation 53: Parents, policy makers and the public
at large should be provided with a clear understanding of what
specific tests do and do not measure. This would help to alleviate
the drawing of broad-brush judgments about individual children,
teachers, schools and districts based on a single measure
of success.
Key Issue 3: NCLB has resulted in an accountability system that is
punitive and fails to recognize and reward success. It is primarily
focused on year-to-year standardized test results and fails to
consider other key factors that greatly impact the efficacy
of schools and districts. This leads to comparisons of differing
cohorts of students rather than the improvement of the same
cohort of students over time.

Recommendation 54: In collaboration with stakeholders, the

state should develop and adopt a comprehensive statewide
accountability system based on clearly established goals for a
transformed public education.
Recommendation 55: Academic accountability should be based
on a variety of indicators that represent a balanced education,
including the four core disciplineslanguage arts, mathematics,
social studies and science.
Recommendation 56: School accountability should be based
on longitudinal assessment results of learner cohorts more than
on a year-to-year comparison of different cohorts. Accountability
should also be based partially on success of students at the next
level. Therefore, elementary school accountability should be based
partially on student success at the middle school. Middle school
accountability should be based partially on student success at the
high school. High school accountability should be based partially
on student success in college or career.
Recommendation 57: The state accountability system should
include rewards for schools based on increases in student
performance and reductions in the achievement gap.
Recommendation 58: School districts should develop and
implement an accountability system based on district education
goals that are aligned with state education goals and a state
accountability system, and that include clearly defined measures of
school district, school and student success.

ACCOUNTABILITY
Guiding Principles can be found on the NextEd website
Key Issues:
1. School accountability should reflect the education of the whole
child and should include measures of student learning and growth.
State assessment programs should not rely primarily on selectedresponse testing but should focus on performance-based,
constructed-response assessments, which are more likely to
assess higher-level thinking skills and concepts.
2. If the system is actually to improve and be accountable to
students, accountability should be focused on ensuring the
competence of teachers and leaders, the quality of instruction and
the adequacy of resources as well as the capacity of the system to
trigger improvements.
3. Determining school accountability should be based on
longitudinal assessment results of learner cohorts more than
year-to-year comparisons of different cohorts.
4. Accountability should be based partially on success of students
at the next level. Therefore, elementary school accountability
should be based partially on student success at the middle school.
Middle school accountability should be based partially on student
success at the high school. High school accountability should be
based partially on student success in college or career.
5. Accountability should be competency based, grounded in the
research that indicates what skills and knowledge students must
have to be successful.
6. Accountability should include teaching and leadership as well as
student outcomes.
7. Accountability should produce high levels of learning,
achievement and improved outcomes for all students by
encouraging high-quality instruction for every student in every
classroom every day.

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8. Accountability should lead to high-reliability systems that

focus relentlessly on ensuring high instructional quality while
reducing variability in the quality of instruction for every student.
(OECD, 2011)
State
Recommendation 59: In collaboration with stakeholders, the
state should develop and adopt a comprehensive statewide
accountability system based on clearly established goals for a
transformed public education.
Recommendation 60: The state should develop a reasonable
accountability data system for pre-K through 20 (pre-K through
graduate school) students that allows for flexibility at the school
and district level. The system should connect different databases
as necessary, such as staff, students and standards.
Recommendation 61: Accountability should incorporate
progress or lack thereof in reducing the achievement gap in
schools or districts.
Recommendation 62: Accountability should be based on a
variety of indicators that represent a balanced education, including
the four core disciplinelanguage arts, mathematics, social studies
and science.
Recommendation 63: The accountability system should include
performance tasks that allow the measurement of high-level
thinking skills.
District
Recommendation 64: School districts should develop and
implement an accountability system based on district education
goals that are aligned with state education goals and a state
accountability system, and that include clearly defined measures
of school district, school and student success.
Recommendation 65: An accountability system should reward
schools based on increases in student performance and reductions
in the achievement gap.

OFFER MORE OPTIONS

Guiding Principles
Coherent, efficient state governance of education is needed to
affect lasting educational change.
The gap between our idealistic goals for education and the
reality of schooling must be eliminated.
The school must be the organizational unit responsible for
delivering high-quality services for all students.
District administrators should have the flexibility to allocate the
majority of resources. This will result in more flexible and efficient
systems of resource allocation.
The funding system for education must be designed so that
predictability and stability of funding are top priorities.
Districts must have the flexibility to organize in order to take
advantage of economies of scale. Districts must have the ability
to offer regional services so that they can distribute fixed costs
across an entire region.
Key Issue 1: The states role in the governance system needs
to be clarified. The state has an important role to play in a
transformed system of education. The state must define the goals
for the entire system, provide the technical assistance necessary
and hold schools accountable for meeting those goals. The state
must also create policies that ensure the equitable distribution of
human and financial resources to guarantee that all students have
the opportunity to meet the goals set by the state.
Recommendation 66: The Commissioner should be hired by and
report directly to the Governor.
Recommendation 67: The efforts of the State Department of
Education (SDE) should be redirected to meet the most immediate

needs of the state and mediate between federal mandates and

local schools. The primary roles of the SDE should be:
Managing the states relationship with the federal government
Facilitating and supporting innovation throughout the state by
creating incentives for transformation and providing researchbased professional support to local districts
Developing a broad range of valid and reliable student
assessments
Creating, collecting and managing a statewide pre-K through 20
data system that allows for valid and reliable assessment of local
educational outcomes
Creating the infrastructure to support knowledge-sharing
networks among educators
Supporting the creation of wraparound student services by
coordinating with other state and local social service agencies
Leveraging economies of scale to develop innovative solutions
to the states most pressing educational problems that local
districts can easily access so that the economic conditions of
local districts will not stand in the way of childrens access to
high-quality schools. Examples include online credit recovery
programs, dropout prevention activities, regional SPED and ELL
programs and statewide curricula.
Creating an office of assessment and data management that can
operate as an independent agency.
Recommendation 68: All instructional regulatory state mandates
should be abolished and replaced by mandated student learning
outcomes.
Recommendation 69: State funding mechanisms should include
incentives tied to meeting and exceeding mandated studentlearning outcomes.
Local School Districts in a Transformed System
Key Issue 2: District size and performance must be addressed in
the current era of fiscal contraction. It is clear that school district
leaders will need to continue to improve student achievement
without increasing the number and amount of resources.
While economists suggest there is only a tenuous relationship
between resources, district/school size and student achievement
(Hanushek, 2008), practical experience suggests otherwise.
Economic formulas simply cannot measure all of the qualitative
differences in school systems that contribute indirectly to students
academic achievement. Research in the area of special education,
for example, has provided evidence that local districts can reduce
some of the costs of educational services through consolidating
resources across schools (McLaughlin,1996). Other research
on district consolidation suggests that for most midsize school
districts, individual costs may not outweigh the economic benefits
of district consolidation (Duncombe & Yinger, 2001). For very small,
rural (300-1,200 students) districts, however, there appear to be
consistent benefits and cost savings due to economies of scale
that can be created through consolidation (Duncombe & Yinger,
2001).
Recommendation 70: Connecticut should establish a minimum
size for local school districts. The minimum size should be such
that no district is too small to be able to provide a high-quality
education to all of its students or to be able to achieve economies
of scale without sacrificing quality.
Recommendation 71: Local school districts should be governed
by a board of directors made up of elected representatives of
district residents, with responsibilities clearly stipulated and limited
by state statute, accountable to the Commissioner of Education for
meeting state student learning mandates.
Recommendation 72: Local school districts should be fiscally
independent in order to keep the lines of accountability clear and
for citizens to have a direct connection to the budget development
and approval process.

Recommendation 73: The staff of the local school districts should

be led by a Superintendent of Education who is responsible for the
entire educational enterprise, specifically for: Political Leadership,
Management and Operations, Funding and Supervision of
Instructional Leaders.
The Superintendent of Education would have expertise in
leadership and management in order to meet the political,
financial and instructional needs of the district. Because leading
a local school district requires a combination of skills, the State
Commissioner of Education should provide a broad range of
licensing options for qualified candidates.
Resource Allocation in a Transformed System
Key Issue 3: Resources must be allocated equitably.
We propose a student-based funding system with equalization.
Weights would be assigned according to poverty, English language
learner status, special education and school level. These proposals
are based on the assumption that there will be a minimum size
established for local school districts. This would facilitate a more
equitable distribution of resources at the local level and enable
more stable, longer-term planning at the district and school level.
The formula would be based on population and poverty indicators
for the region as a whole. The formula would include all state
education funding, including such items as priority schools and
any other targeted funding.
Recommendation 74: The state should support at least
55 percent of the total cost of public education.
Recommendation 75: Local school districts must be granted
taxing authority.
Recommendation 76: Parental choice of schools should be
funded equitably.

REFORM LEADERSHIP
Guiding Principles can be found on the NextEd website
Recommendation 77: The role and responsibility of the
Superintendent of Education should be clearly defined in
state statutes. The authority of the superintendent has to be
commensurate with responsibilities.
If there is to be effective leadership in the effort to transform
schooling to a learner-centered system, there can be no ambiguity
as to who is responsible for what. Those in leadership positions
need to be empowered to meet their responsibilities.
The statutory specifications regarding the position of
Superintendent of Education must include the following.
A) The Superintendent answers to the district board.
B) The board makes decisions regarding policy matters, the
annual budget and the hiring, supervision and evaluation of the
Superintendent and nothing else.
C) The board can contract with the Superintendent for more than
three years to increase the stability of leadership.
If there is to be effective leadership in the effort to transform
schooling, there must be coherence in the alignment of the
authority and responsibility in a district. In addition, the board
must be restricted in its activities to only those responsibilities that
are related to the boards role as the representative body for the
community that is served by the district. The Superintendent must
have the discretion to lead and manage the district in accordance
with the goals that have been set by the board for the district.
Finally, effective leadership must have continuity and not be
adversely affected by statutory limits. Without continuity of effective
leadership, systemic district improvement is extremely difficult
to achieve.

Recommendation 78: Systemic efforts need to be in place for the

development of the capacity of school systems and school leaders
to lead transformation efforts.
For schooling to be transformed, those who lead school systems
and schools will have to lead transformation efforts while handling
day-to-day issues at the same time. This is akin to renovating a
house while living in it. There is little in the preparation programs
for school systems and school leaders that prepare them for this
experience.
Recommendation 79: The evaluation of school systems
and school leaders must be based on their success in leading
transformation efforts as well as on their success in maintaining
the provision of schooling. Leaders will be less likely to lead
transformation efforts unless their performance will be based on
how well they meet this responsibility.
Recommendation 80: When principals and teachers share
leadership, teachers working relationships are stronger, and
student achievement is higher. Schools and districts should
support both formal and informal leadership positions through
a variety of incentives and professional learning opportunities.

BOOST QUALITY
Guiding Principles can be found on the NextEd website
Key Issue 1: The Connecticut educational system needs to
recruit teachers and leaders to teaching, school leadership and
district leadership positions who have the knowledge, skills and
dispositions to transform the educational system.
Recommendation 81: Connecticut should develop multiple paths
to teacher and school and district leader certification to reduce
barriers to becoming an educator without lowering standards
or responding to supply and demand fluctuations. In line with a
transformed system for K-12 students, the state should grant
certification to teachers and school and district leaders based on
demonstrated competency, not on seat time.
Recommendation 82: Connecticut should actively recruit
and provide incentives to attract underrepresented populations
to teaching and leadership positions. Given Connecticuts
achievement gap, attracting minorities to teaching and leadership
roles must be a priority.
Key Issue 2: The Connecticut educational system needs to prepare
teachers and leaders through forward-thinking programs that
emphasize how to teach, learn and lead in a transformed system,
and assign teachers and leaders to positions that capitalize on
their strengths.
Recommendation 83: The preparation of teachers and leaders
should guarantee a focus on richer and deeper instructional or
leadership skills, and include more experiences working in a school
setting. Candidates should participate in guided apprenticeships
or internships with master teachers or leaders in their first year on
the job.
Recommendation 84: The preparation of teachers, school
leaders and district leaders must include more robust training
focused on meeting the needs of students with diverse (broadly
defined) backgrounds.
Recommendation 85: The preparation of school and district
leaders should include training in how to create the conditions
for high-quality instruction that result in all students meeting
established standards.
Recommendation 86: The preparation of teachers, school
leaders and district leaders should include in-depth training in how
to analyze various forms of data and how to develop a variety of
assessments.

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Recommendation 87: School and district leaders should think

more strategically about assigning personnel to positions that
capitalize on their strengths.
Recommendation 88: K-12 education leaders should develop
a stronger link with higher education so that pre- and in-service
professional learning is based on the knowledge and skills that
educators need to perform at competent levels.
Recommendation 89: District leaders should develop systems
to organize and facilitate teachers and school leaders efforts to
support child success via this competency-based model.
Recommendation 90: Preparation programs should include
extensive clinical experience as well as the knowledge and skills to
develop and maintain successful organizations.
Recommendation 91: The school district should balance teacher
support and accountability to ensure effective and consistent
implementation of evaluation systems.
Recommendation 92: Developing school and school system
leadership should be a district and state priority. The state should
support exemplary leadership development programs. Preparation
programs should be required to publish the number of graduates
annually, the number of graduates who obtain positions and other
related outcome data. The state should decertify programs that
are ineffective.
Key Issue 3: Districts and schools need to retain teachers and
leaders through initial mentoring and ongoing support, ongoing
professional learning opportunities, opportunities to assume
greater or different responsibilities over time, and compensating
teachers and leaders in ways that reflect their contributions to
the system as well as their growth in terms of knowledge, skills
and work habits.
Recommendation 93: The first year in a teaching or leadership
role should be structured as an internship with strong, consistent
coaching by experienced teachers or leaders committed to
transformation.
Recommendation 94: Professional learning opportunities for
teachers and school or district leaders should be supported as
an expected part of their jobs. School and district leaders should
configure schedules to support extended blocks of time dedicated
to teacher or leader collaboration. Collaboration should focus on
observing and discussing effective teaching or leadership practice,
and analyzing student performance with colleagues. This must
include collaborative time to analyze student work and plan for
instruction. The structure of the day and school year will need to
change to make this possible.

Key Issue 4: Districts and schools need to evaluate and supervise

teachers and leaders to provide individuals and the system with
clear and accurate information about individuals strengths and
weaknesses, about how they should improve and about whether
their performance merits rewards or intervention and, potentially,
dismissal.
Recommendation 100: Evaluation systems for professional
educators should be standards-based across all curriculum areas.
This requires systemic and ongoing research and development,
and regular reviews to update performance standards.
Recommendation 101: Teachers, school leaders and district
leaders evaluations should be tied to growth in student learning
and to the demonstration of professional skills, continuous
professional learning to improve practice and active engagement
in professional responsibilities.
Recommendation 102: Peer review of performance should play
a role in evaluation systems for teachers and school and district
leaders.
Recommendation 103: A rigorous evaluation system for
professional educators should be linked to incentives for
high-performing teachers and leaders and consequences for
low-performing ones.
Recommendation 104: Districts should move to dismiss teachers
and leaders whose performance is consistently poor. To the extent
possible, districts should transition these individuals out
of education for the benefit of other districts and their students.
Recommendation 105: When a reduction in force is required for
teachers or leaders, seniority must not be the sole determinant.
Reduction in force should be based on performance, student
achievement and professional activity as well as on seniority.
Key Issue 5: The state needs to revise the tenure law to include
a rigorous, standards-based review process that is more tightly
connected to student learning.
Recommendation 106: The state should revise tenure for
professional educators. After educators show outstanding
performance resulting in student learning, they will receive five-year
contracts that are renewable based on performance. Districts
will have the option of not renewing these contracts based on
judgments concerning performance.

Recommendation 95: The state should grant professional

learning credit based on demonstrated competency, not on seat
time.

Key Issue 6: Professional Learning and Technology: The

importance of using technology to support personalized learning
and to provide a motivating learning environment continues to
increase with each new class of students. Therefore, special
attention must be paid to guarantee that all teachers and leaders
are comfortable with and skilled in the use of technology for
these purposes.

Recommendation 96: Districts should develop leadership roles

and opportunities to offer teachers and leaders new or different
responsibilities as they progress in their careers.

Recommendation 107: Expand opportunities for educators to

have access to technology-based content, resources and tools
where and when they need them.

Recommendation 97: The state should ensure that districts

and schools possess the working conditions and resources to
support a transformed educational system. The state should
make a particular effort to ensure that the working conditions and
resources in settings serving low-income children are equal to
those in settings serving their higher-income peers.

Recommendation 108: Leverage the concept of social

networking technologies and platforms to enhance communities of
practice that provide career-long personal learning opportunities for
educators within and across schools, preservice preparation and
in-service education institutions, and professional organizations.

Recommendation 98: The state and districts should compensate

teachers and school and district leaders at a level that is
competitive with other skilled professions in order to attract and
retain individuals whose talents are sought by other sectors. This
involves offering incentives for high performance.
Recommendation 99: The state and districts should create
incentives for teachers and school and district leaders who
successfully work in systems serving high percentages of
low-income students.

Recommendation 109: Use technology to provide all learners

with online access to effective teaching and better learning
opportunities and options, especially in places where they are not
otherwise available.
Recommendation 110: Provide preservice and in-service
educators with technology-enhanced professional learning
experiences to increase their digital literacy and enable them to
create compelling assignments for children that improve learning,
assessment and instructional practices.

Recommendation 111: Provide professional learning that can

support using technology as part of the learning process.

INVOLVE PARENTS AND CHILDREN

Note: The term parent is used in this document to represent the
adults in a childs life that support a child throughout his or her
education.
Recommendation 112: Districts should direct resources and
programmatic efforts to help families adopt effective strategies to
support student learning by:
A) Developing leaders (educators and non-educators) who help
focus the work and gather resources.
B) Building infrastructure that frames and supports family
involvement efforts.
C) Implementing continuous cycles of recruiting and retention.
D) Gathering family reactions and perspectives.
E) Integrating a variety of outreach strategies.
Recommendation 113: Create structures, policy, leadership,
procedures, processes and aligned resources that encourage
family involvement.
Recommendation 114: Promote an understanding of the effect
that beliefs, self-efficacy, knowledge and perceived abilities have on
families to help them support their childrens education.
Recommendation 115: Create in each community a mechanism
and structure to care for and support children in the community.
The system should be seamless from the point of view of children
and families.
Recommendation 116: Give parents choices for educating their
children at various stages of their education.
Recommendation 117: Make sure the community works with
all families from the birth of each child in order to communicate
importance of the family role in producing literate children by
grade three.
Recommendation 118: Give parents opportunities for continuing
education so that they understand the role of high expectations
and effort in producing educated students.

LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY

Recommendation 124: Districts must leverage online

environments that offer multiple opportunities for two-way
communication, feedback and collaboration with family members
and community.
Recommendation 125: Integrate technology into district
leadership, management and operations that will empower people
to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.
Recommendation 126: Districts must design and implement
infrastructure upgrade plans in order to have the structure to
support technology-facilitated learning.
Recommendation 127: Districts should use technology to keep
their facilities safe and manage energy utilization.

CONTINUE TRANSFORMATION
Guiding Principles can be found on the NextEd website
State Level
Recommendation 128: State statutes and regulations should
have provisions that encourage and reward innovation based on
improving learning outcomes and opportunities for children.
Recommendation 129: The state should have an R&D fund to
support innovation in public education to reduce the achievement
gaps related to poverty and globalization as well as to raise child
outcomes. Priority for selection of initiatives should be based on
areas of child need.
Recommendation 130: In the transition, until all statutes and
regulations that control inputs are eliminated, there should be
a streamlined mechanism to waive statutes and regulations for
an extended period (three to five years) (or) based on promising
proposals to increase child outcomes. In addition, the state should
grant Boards of Education the authority to waive statute and
regulation in order to foster innovation to improve child outcomes.
District waivers should require evaluation periodically to receive
renewals of waivers.
District Level
Recommendation 131: Districts should have streamlined
mechanisms for teachers and administrators to propose and
receive approval for innovative practices that have the potential to
improve child outcomes. Approval and renewals would be linked to
evaluations of practices over three to five years.

Guiding Principles can be found on the NextEd website

Recommendation 132: Districts should have incentives to

promote continuing transformation to improve child outcomes.

Recommendation 119: Technological infrastructures in schools

and communities should support anywhere, anytime learning as
well as being able to manage diversity of platforms and operating
systems. This will allow students to use their own devices
in school.

Recommendation 133: Districts should have an R&D fund

that is a minimum of one percent of the school district budget.
The minimum R&D budget should be required in state statutes.
The R&D fund would be governed by a group that includes the
Board of Education and representatives of stakeholders, including
teachers, administrators and parents.

Recommendation 120: Ensure that children and educators

have broadband access to the Internet and adequate wireless
connectivity both in and out of schools.

Recommendation 134: Districts should have the capacity

to upgrade technology and learning resources necessary to
be current.

Recommendation 121: The state should build state and district

capacity (knowledge and resources) for evolving an infrastructure
for learning. Capacity should be based on continually updated
standards for an infrastructure that will support robust learning.
Recommendation 122: The state and local school districts should
eliminate barriers in the education system that inhibit leveraging
technology to improve learning, starting with our current practice of
organizing child and educator learning around seat time instead of
the demonstration of competencies.
Recommendation 123: Districts should provide on-demand
access to learning experiences, resources, information and
services 24/7. This should include linkages to other community
systems.

33

What is CAPSS?
The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents
(CAPSS) is an organization that represents all of the superintendents
and leaders of public schools in Connecticut. Its mission is to lead
the continuous improvement of public education for all students by
advocating public policy, and developing and supporting executive
school leaders. In short, it is committed to making sure schools in
Connecticut are all they can be for our children.

Project Partners
CAPSS gratefully acknowledges our Project Partners for their support of the Educational Transformation
Project: The Project Partners are:
DELL
H.A. Vance Foundation
Nellie Mae Education Foundation

The Connecticut State Department of Education

William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund

The Core Group

The development of the recommendations was done by a working group of CAPSS members called
The Core Group. CAPSS is grateful to the Superintendents, RESC Executive Directors, Assistant
Superintendents and University Professors who met over two years to develop the recommendations
in this proposal.
Steven Adamowski, Hartford
Gary Chesley, Bethel
Paula Colen, EASTCONN
Michael Cummings, Milford
Bruce Douglas, CREC
Therese Fishman, Stafford
Garth Harries, New Haven
Marie Jordan-Whitney, Hamden

Paul Kadri, Groton

Christine Mahoney, East Granby
Salvatore Menzo, Wallingford
Phillip OReilly, New Hartford
Colleen Palmer, Monroe
Mark Shibles, UCONN
Frank Sippy, Region #15
Robert Villanova, UCONN

While acknowledging the support of the Project Partners and the work of The Core Group, the content
of the report is the sole responsibility of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.
The Educational Transformation Project Staff include:

Project Staff
Joseph Cirasuolo, CAPSS
David Calchera, CAPSS
Morgan Donaldson, UCONN

Lee Hay, CAPSS

Anysia Mayer, UCONN
Larry Schaefer, CAPSS