State officials were all ears when educators explained the potential of a Professional Educator Standards Board to a special legislative committee yesterday at the State Capitol. Senator Steve Cassano said, “I’ve always assumed educators already had a professional board. I wonder who else has made that assumption? I don’t know how we could go so…
DetailsThe State Department of Education is distributing a guide to preparing for and responding to disasters created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). A “Teacher’s Guide to Online Resources” is a PDF which summarizes four websites that educate elementary children on preparing for and…
DetailsConnecticut’s new commissioner of education is suggesting that Connecticut look to the precedent set by the federal government with Race to the Top and consider an education funding model that incorporates competitive grants. “If we use the power of the purse strings then we can make progress,” Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor told members of the…
DetailsECS isn’t broken: It just needs to be funded properly. That was the consensus from speakers at the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) Task Force hearing held in Waterford last night. “It’s not acceptable to underfund education,” said Erika Haynes, a mother of four from Windham. Haynes was one of a dozen people who spoke during the…
DetailsSchools are in financial crisis. Class sizes are large. Academic programs are deteriorating. And resources are slim with teachers digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies. That’s the essence of what many concerned citizens told members of a state task force studying the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula at a public hearing last…
DetailsIn a recent blog post we discussed how social capital, essentially teacher collaboration, has been proven by research to increase student achievement. Education Week has a story this week on one dimension of teacher collaboration — co-teaching. Co-teaching — an instructional method which involves a general educator and special educator teaching together in one classroom —…
DetailsYou can make a difference in the lives of Connecticut public school children by participating in the 2011 Holiday Bear Project, sponsored by CEA’s charitable organization, the Connecticut Education Foundation(CEF). You can help by: Nominating a child from your school district to receive gifts. Nominations are due tomorrow, October 14, and may only come from…
DetailsThere is an old Chinese Proverb that says, “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” One of my CEA colleagues recently shared an article on coaching from an issue of The New Yorker. Written by experienced surgeon Atul Gawande, the crux of the article “Personal Best” is…
DetailsMany parents who have the resources to send their children to private schools or homeschool them choose public education. Why? Why do you send your kids to public school? I highly recommend this Huffington Post blog entry in which a father explains why he sends his children to public schools — and makes a strong case…
DetailsAlthough many instances of cyber bullying occur on Facebook, the website can also be used to rally the public against bullying. Alice Cahn, Cartoon Network’s vice president for social responsibility, says, “We hope kids will see that their friends took the pledge and think, ‘If I can talk about this with my friend online, I…
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