By Melissa Flynn, Contributor

HARTFORD – Hartford Public Schools 2011 Connecticut Mastery Test and Connecticut Academic Performance Test scores show “overall improvement,” school officials said Monday.

Flanked by administrators, staff, teachers and supporters, outgoing Hartford Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski officially unveiled the district’s test results and gave context, saying they were “transformative.”

Compared to test scores five years ago when Adamowski began, the district scores showed “marked improvement” in the 2011 test scores released by the state last Wednesday. In the 2011 report, 33 percent of the district’s third graders met the state’s proficiency goal, up from 15 percent in 2006. Only 29 percent of fourth-graders and 22 percent of fifth graders reached proficiency in reading.

Grade six students posted the highest gain with 48 percent having met goal in reading, 42 percent in math and 39 percent in writing, according to state data.

The graduation rate was unavailable, but school officials said that “so far it does look promising.”

“There have been impressive gains, said newly appointed School Superintendent Christina Kishimoto. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Other major achievements were noted. For example, some of the schools with the greatest gains were Opportunity High, Culinary Arts and Engineering and Green Technology Academy.

Among the schools showing the greatest Overall School Index (OSI) are Montessori with 92.2 percent, Webster Micro Society with 85.7, University High with 83.8, Hartford Magnet Middle with 82.8.

Schools showing the greatest improvement include seventh graders at Noah Webster’s Micro Society Magnet School at 79 percent master, Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts at 78 percent and Breakthrough Magnet School at 71.

With all the progress and hopeful thoughts floating around, Chair of Hartford Board of Education David McDonald said: “This has been a desperate five years, but we have had growth and that is pretty incredible.”

And before everyone proceeds to enjoy the refreshments and further conversations, Mayor Pedro Segarra basks for a moment in the “good news for the city.”

“Let’s not forget where we started, cause behind these charts are children and families,’ Segarra said. “These students are the future of our state.”

HARTFORD — Hartford Public Schools will be a laboratory for the University of Hartford as officials on Wednesday move forward to “synergize” reform efforts in city schools.

During a ceremony at the Betances Early Reading Lab School on Charter Oak Avenue, Superintendent-designate Christina Kishimoto and University President Walter Harris signed an agreement  to implement a partnership that allows University students, faculty and staff to engage in classroom and administrative research.

In return, Hartford School officials and teachers are allowed to take professional development classes and collaborate with university faculty. Students would continue to take college-level courses.

Officials said the goal of this first-ever system-wide affiliation is to increase educational and research opportunities that benefit University and HPS students and faculty.

“I believe that, working together, we can make Hartford a national leader in education reform.  We can be a leader in quality education within an urban environment,” said President Harrison (seated on the right in photo). “This is a dream I believe we all share.  With today’s signing, I believe it is a dream within reach!”

As part of this agreement, Hartford students will continue to enroll in college-level courses at the University. In addition, University education majors will have priority placement in Hartford schools for internships and teaching positions, clinical placements, and other training opportunities. Also, Hartford Public School administrators and faculty will be able to take courses at the University.

“This partnership with the University of Hartford provides our teachers the opportunity to have their practice informed by the research of the university faculty,” Dr. Kishimoto said.(seated center and next to Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra in photo) the university faculty would likewise use applied practice by our teachers to inform their research.”

HARTFORD — Who will be Hartford’s teacher of the year?

That question will be answered on May 25 at the annual Hartford Public School Teacher of the Year banquet to be held at the Society Room downtown.

After an intensive screening and interview process by a district-wide committee, three teachers were selected last week as finalists.

The committee of Hartford Public School curriculum directors, the teachers union and two former winners selected Corinne Clark, a sixth grad teacher at Clark Elementary School and a Kappa Delta Pi; Timothy R. Clemens Jr., a seventh an eight-grade social studies teacher at Naylor Elementary School and Tracy Weisel, a special education and reading teacher at the Hartford Journalism and Media Academy at Weaver High School. Each teacher has worked in the district for at least seven years. 

Nominees, among to her things, had to be tenured K-12 teachers in Hartford schools, had to exhibit exemplary teaching skills and show commitment to the belief that all children can learn. They also had to show that they are active in the community and humanitarian affairs, school officials said.

HARTFORD –  City officials want the state to help them retain senior teachers for magnet, redesigned  and charter schools.

The  Hartford Board of Education tonight  will discussed a proposed resolution requesting that the State Board of Education take corrective action to apply school and program-based seniority in Hartford.

The board meeting is scheduled for tonight a 5: 30 p.m. at the Sport and Medical Sciences Academy at 280 Huyshope Ave.

The reason outlined for this proposal is that, among other things, school-based seniority protects senior teachers from being bumped from these special schools in favor of “those not qualified,” according to the list of justifications sent out to the press.

For more information on the district’ school based seniority proposal, download information here: School-Based Seniority – Supporting Document-1.

Employing a variety of inventive fund-raising techniques, students throughout the Hartford Public School system have so far donated about $9,000 and large amounts of food, clothing, household goods and medical supplies to assist the victims of the earthquake that devastated Haiti last month, school officials said.

The money totals are likely to increase over the coming weeks because additional fund-raising activities have yet to take place and others are ongoing, officials said.

“It is encouraging that our students are learning responsibility to others at an early age and that they are able to see themselves as part of a global community,” said Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski. “Their caring, as demonstrated through a variety of
unique projects to contribute to the Haitian relief effort, are deserving of recognition and commendation.”

In some cases, the donations were linked to a particular educational objective.  Students at the Montessori Magnet School at Annie Fisher, for example, organized a Haiti Read-a-thon, in which they collect contributions from friends and family at a per hour rate for simply reading. The Read-a-thon continues through the month of February.

Proceeds go to the Hope Is Life Foundation, established by 11-year-old Natascha Yogachandra, which is raising funds to restore schools in Haiti.

Among the students participating in the activity is third-grader Patricia Weaver, 8, of Hartford, who said she has obtained donation pledges from all the members of her family for reading an hour and a half every day. Her book selection includes “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, “The Sugarplum Ballerina” and “Georgia’s Secret Key.”

“I’ll probably collect about $100,” Patricia said.

Her classmate, Evelyn McNamee of Wallingford, said she is hoping to raise about $50 for reading during her three-hour daily commute to and from school.

The Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts, meanwhile, hosted a benefit music and drama performance at which guests were asked to donate a $10 admission fee that went directly to Helping Hands, an organization that aids an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.

Many schools held “Dress-Down Days”, in which students were permitted to come to class without their uniforms so long as they paid a fee for doing so. Dress down Day at Kennelly Elementary School alone raised more than $1,700.

District schools in which students held fund-raising drives include: Maria Sanchez, Noah Webster Micro-Society Magnet, Simpson-Waverly, Breakthrough Magnet, the Adult Education Center, Ramon E. Betances, Alfred E. Burr, Hartford
Magnet Middle School, the Nursing Academy, the Law and Government Academy, Annie Fisher, Dwight, Bellizzi Middle School, Weaver High School and Moylan.

Other Haitian relief charities that received donations from Hartford students were the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, AmeriCares of Stamford, Doctors Without Borders and the Connecticut Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund.

By David Medina

Higher test scores and opening four more redesigned schools aren’t the only things that Hartford Public Schools expects to accomplish in the coming New Year.

Beginning this semester, parents, students, staff and other strategic partners in the district are also poised to gain a major say in how their schools are managed.

Their authority comes from membership in the new school governance councils that were established by a vote of the Board of Education in the spring of 2009.

The councils have many duties. Their most important responsibilities, however, are approving their school’s budget each year, developing an accountability plan that sets data-driven educational goals for their school and recommending a new principal in the event of a vacancy.

“Our district’s strategy to close the achievement gap requires significant parent input to succeed,” Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski said. “The school governance councils were designed with that goal in mind.”

Each governance council can have up to 12 members, half of whom must be parents. A parent, moreover, must co-chair the governance council with the school principal, who is a non-voting member. The rest of the membership includes any combination of students, teachers and other staff, religious and community organizations, business partners and partners in higher education.

Sasha Davis, 25, who sits on the governance council at the Nursing Academy in Hartford Public High School, said she first heard about the council at a parent open house from principal David Chambers. Ms. Davis is legal guardian to her cousin, Sharion Clare, 17, a senior at the academy.

“I was looking for a way to get involved so that I could make sure that things went smoothly for her,” Ms. Davis said. “The council is a great way to help the principals run the schools and to guarantee that students get what they need.”

The new policy applies to autonomous schools, namely schools that maintain an Overall School Index at the proficient level or above each year and new and redesigned schools that increase their OSI by 3 percent a year, regardless of their level on the OSI.

MEDID001@hartfordschools.org

To that end, the district has selected 26 schools in which to launch the governance

councils. More than 200 individuals, half of them parents or guardians, have volunteered

to join them. The participants have spent much of the past semester attending training

sessions administered by Leadership Greater Hartford to prepare for service on the

councils.

“I found the early sessions interesting and helpful,” said Rand Cooper, a writer

and novelist, whose three-year-old daughter, Larkin, attends the pre-K program at the

Noah Webster MicroSociety Magnet School in Hartford’s West End. “They were

designed to help us work together and do things diplomatically. The fourth session was

about what the school governance council is expected to do and how to go about it.”

Diane Jones, a foster parent to Earl Coleman and Neftali Requana at the Hartford

Culinary Arts Academy in Weaver High School, had a similar reaction.

“The training was fabulous,” she said. “It brought everyone to a place where they

could feel they would have an impact.”

Ms. Jones added that, in addition to discussing the school’s budget and

accountability plan, her governance council is already into “the nitty-gritty” of plans to

build a state-of-the-art kitchen at the academy.

The councils must meet at least six times per year. Any member who misses two

consecutive meetings loses his or her membership. All members shall be designated

annually and may serve up to two terms, corresponding to two consecutive years that

extend from July through June. That said, councils do have the flexibility to set norms

for participation that may be more suitable for the school.

The success of each council will be measured by how well it meets the targets set

in its accountability plan and the degree to which it increases parental involvement in

school affairs.

“With teamwork and communication the council can be effective,” said Assistant

Principal Rafael Lopez, who sits on the Bulkeley High School governance council, where

social and discipline issues have been topics of discussion. “It’s going to take time to

adjust to this process.”

Victor De La Paz, the Special Assistant to Superintendent Adamowski who

supervises the formation of the governance councils, is very optimistic about the positive

impact that they can have on closing the achievement gap.

“If our parents, community partners and students participate to the level that the

Board of Education envisioned, this innovation has the potential to be transformative for

our schools,” he said. “It’s a very exciting opportunity for our district.”

HARTFORD – The Hartford Board of Education’s efforts to reform its school system have caught national attention again. 

The board’s participation in Reform Governance in Action training was featured  in a report by the Wallace foundation and published as a supplement in Education Week earlier this month.  

On Thursday, Nov. 12, the district’s method of redesigning low-performing schools into high-achieving academies and learning centers with a focus on a career theme will be the subject of a major presentation at the annual Education Trust National Conference in Arlington, Va. Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski will lead the session, according to a press release yesterday.

Earlier this year, Hartford Public Schools were the focus of a special report on school reform that appeared on the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer. Shortly thereafter, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan cited Hartford in a speech as one of six districts in the country that were doing the most to turn around low-performing schools. 

Reform Governance in Action is a two-year program run by the Houston-based Center for Reform of School Systems, in which a group of hand-picked school boards and superintendents develop the policy tools to run their districts effectively and close the achievement gap. 

Participation in the program is by invitation only and most of the costs are absorbed by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. 

During their training, school boards and their superintendents meet every other month to develop a “theory of action” that determines the strategy that works best for them to improve learning. They then draft and approve policy changes that set the strategy in motion. 

The Education Week article noted that under Hartford’s theory of action, the district’s relationship with each school depends on the school’s performance. As the school meets targets, such as increasing its scores on standardized tests, their principals gain more autonomy over budget, personnel and curriculum. 

Ada Miranda, chair of the board of education, noted that the training has transformed the way the board does business. 

“We don’t want what has happened to be dropped,” she said. “So we are focused on sustainability.”