Legislative leaders and educators gathered at the State Capitol this morning to announce Connecticut Smart Start, an historic 10-year, $200 million plan to provide 50,000 children with a high-quality early education experience and set Connecticut on a path toward universal pre-kindergarten. “This initiative gives teachers a much better chance of reaching young minds and opening…
DetailsChildren’s health and safety while at school is the primary concern of all educators, but sometimes we don’t realize all that a safe school climate includes. The indoor air and environmental quality of a school can have a big effect on students and educators and today, National Healthy Schools Day, is a great day to…
Details“You are in the trenches every single day, and you are all heroes and heroines,” CEA President Sheila Cohen told the nearly 400 educators and future educators attending CEA’s New Teacher Conference Saturday. The teachers were at the Mohegan Sun Conference Center to learn strategies to help improve their teaching practice and raise their students’…
DetailsFollowing the State Board of Education’s approval yesterday of four new charter schools for Connecticut, the senator who co-chairs the legislature’s powerful budget-writing committee has said she’s “sort of outraged that they approved additional charters.” Senator Beth Bye questioned where the money for the two charters the Board approved to open in 2015-16 is going…
DetailsToday a local CEA leader — representing Bridgeport teachers — made an impassioned plea to the State Board of Education asking that the board reject new charter schools in the city because the vast majority of Bridgeport students would be hurt by that action. Despite the plea, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the…
DetailsNEA Member Benefits works on behalf of three million NEA members to maximize your hard-earned dollars through consumer discounts and special travel and leisure offers. Below are some of the discounts NEA Member Benefits is providing this month. NEA Click & Save, the online discount buying service for NEA members, highlights select retailers and merchants…
DetailsCommon Core and the challenges districts are facing when it comes to implementation continue to be in the spotlight here in Connecticut. Yesterday the state’s Common Core Task Force, charged with making recommendations for improving the quality and consistency of Common Core implementation efforts, met for the first time in Middletown — taking a first step…
DetailsWhy did you become a teacher? What motivates you? How do you want to be remembered? These are some of the questions Berlin social studies teacher and Connecticut’s 2012 Teacher of the Year David Bosso asked his Teacher of the Year peers as part of his doctoral research. He’s written up some of the common…
DetailsThe State Department of Education today sent a memo to Connecticut superintendents saying that the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) — the group developing assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Connecticut — has delayed the first week of field testing for the new exam. The assessment, which some districts were set to administer starting…
DetailsEducators around the state have been facing a challenging year due to the botched implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the challenges related to simultaneously implementing a new teacher evaluation system. Last night some educators had a chance to make their voices heard on these issues at a hearing of the legislature’s Education…
Details