Prove demographics don’t
have to be destiny
We can’t remake our public schools without you.
We can’t remake our public schools without you.
ConnCAN needs your support right now to make sure that every child in Connecticut, regardless of race, ethnicity, or class, has access to a great public school.
By Robert Frahm
The state's allocation of federal stimulus money intended to save teaching jobs in cash-strapped school districts excluded charter schools, many of which serve students in Connecticut's poorest communities.
The experimental charter schools, along with the state's technical high schools and some public magnet schools, were left out under a formula used by the state to distribute the $110 million in stimulus funds approved by Congress in August.
By Rick Green
Maybe you saw what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did last week after he learned about the bungling behind his administration's failure to win $400 million in the federal Race to the Top competition that rewards states that adopt aggressive education reforms.
Christie fired his education commissioner.
Bravo. At least we know what matters to Gov. Christie, a Republican making waves across the country. That's more than I can say for Connecticut, land of timid leadership.
By Betsy Yagla
For the second time, Connecticut lost out on millions of dollars in competitive federal grants for education reform. Connecticut was not one of the 19 finalists announced in July. Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced 10 winners, among them Connecticut’s neighbors Massachusetts ($250 million), New York ($750 million) and Rhode Island ($75 million).
By Donald Eng
By Abbe Smith
In the most recent round of federal Race to the Top awards, Connecticut scored lower than every state it borders.
The state learned last month that it did not make the list of finalists, but didn’t get details about why it missed out on the $175 million it was seeking until final scores and reviewer comments were released this week.
In the tradition of Connecticut’s great advocacy movements – from the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association to Harriet Beecher Stowe and the abolitionists – the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) was founded in January 2005.
Education entrepreneurs from around the state joined together to found ConnCAN on the fundamental belief that closing the achievement gap requires not only innovative educational models, but also issue-based advocacy that secures systemic change.
Today, ConnCAN has a staff of 10 employees working in offices in New Haven and Hartford and is hailed as one of the nation’s leading state-level education reform organizations.