Collaboration With Teachers Key to Effective School Reform

Governor Malloy told teachers at a CEA conference that education is the key to rebuilding the state's economy.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy praised teachers today, saying “they go above and beyond every day for their students,” when he addressed 500 educators at a CEA leadership conference in Uncasville. The governor says he believes teachers have “a calling” to make youngsters lives better. It’s why he’s counting on teachers’ input as he develops his education reform package for the 2012 session of the Connecticut General Assembly.

According to the governor, a key element of that package will be a better defined teacher evaluation system that includes strong professional development and opportunities for teachers to refine their skills to provide the best student instruction possible. CEA members have been forceful advocates for better evaluations linked to meaningful feedback and support. Malloy says collaboration with CEA and its members will be key as he develops a new system, adding that no teacher wants to be teaching in a school where any colleague is underperforming:

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Governor Malloy promises that with heightened accountability for teachers, he will ensure that administrators do a better job at evaluating teachers fairly and adequately:

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Governor Malloy emphasized that even better schools will lead to an even better workforce and more jobs for Connecticut citizens. The governor has pledged to make next year’s legislative session “the year of education.” He says Connecticut is a more rapidly aging state than almost any other. “Any student’s failure to achieve high standards and go to college is a missed opportunity for full employment to help our economy,” he says. Education is the key to rebuilding the state’s economy in the governor’s estimation. He says that’s why he made good on his promise to fill the hole in state education funding that he confronted in the biennial state budget adopted this year:

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The wide-ranging education package that Governor Malloy will send to the legislature also is expected to include a review and possible revamping of the state’s school funding formula .