Print

State Board Of Education Approves Hartford's Improvement Plan

Hartford Schools

JODIE MOZDZER

December 04, 2008

The State Board of Education Wednesday approved a draft of Hartford's District Improvement Plan, the document required when districts or schools are designated as "in need of improvement" under the federal No Child Left Behind standards.

The Hartford Board of Education is still finishing the draft of the plan, which outlines how the district will try to raise student achievement over the next three years. The board will review the draft at its December meeting.

The plan is intended to close the achievement gap between Hartford students and the state average on the Connecticut Mastery Test and Connecticut Academic Performance Test. It also is intended to close even larger achievement gaps between Hartford English-language learners and special education students and the state averages for those students.

The plan calls for a 12 percentage point increase across the board in the number of students who reach proficiency levels on the tests. The district wants the achievement of English-language learners to increase by 18 percentage points and special education students to increase by 21 percentage points.

"The goal is to close the achievement gap in a decade," said Penny MacCormack, the chief academic officer for Hartford schools.

The plan also sets high expectations for increasing the graduation rate and the attendance rate, and for decreasing the suspension rate.

The draft outlines nine general goals, like high academic achievement, effective school leaders and positive school climate. Within each of those sections, the more specific goals are outlined.

What's lacking in the draft is financial information about how much money the district will have to spend to bring the goals to fruition, which board member Luis Rodriguez-Davila has expressed concern about at past board meetings. Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski said Wednesday that the financial information would come later in a separate packet.