Close the Nation's Widest Achievement Gap

Community Foundation President Will Ginsberg served as a member of the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement, initiated by former Governor Jodi M. Rell in 2010 to provide recommendations on how Connecticut can close the nation’s widest achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers. Late in the year, the Commission released a comprehensive report addressing the issue. Acting as fiduciary for the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, The Community Foundation is working to implement the Commission’s recommendations. Donors have contributed nearly $300,000 to these efforts.

Excerpt from the report “Every child should have a chance to be exceptional.Without exception. A plan to help close Connecticut’s achievement gap.”

Connecticut’s public school system is at a crossroads. The test scores of our low-income students are significantly lower than the state’s non-low-income students. This occurs despite the fact that our students overall score among the top five states in national math and reading tests.

This gap between low-income and non-low-income students’ scores is called the achievement gap and Connecticut’s is the largest of any state in the country.  This gap disproportionately affects minority students, primarily African-American and latino children. In national progress tests given to 4th and 8th graders, results showed that low-income students in Connecticut performed at dramatically lower levels than non-low-income students—sometimes up to three grade levels behind.

Taking action to help close this gap needs to be an economic and moral imperative for our state. Closing the gap is critical for a number of reasons, from strengthening the futures of our students to improving the state’s economy. So much so that Governor M. Jodi Rell appointed the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement. Comprised of a bipartisan group of business and philanthropic leaders, the Commission had a clear mandate: recommend specific ways to help close the achievement gap.

The Commission has organized its recommendations into six categories for action:

1. Demand accountability. Strengthen state leadership and drive accountability for educational change.
2. High expectations. Set high expectations for all students. Provide curricula and support so all students can reach them.
3. Foster leadership. Attract, develop and empower the most effective leaders for our schools.
4. Excellent teaching. Ensure students, especially low-income students, have well-trained and highly effective teachers with professional development opportunities.
5. Invest intelligently. Provide an effective and transparent way of funding public education.
6. Turnaround schools. Improve our lowest-achieving schools through greater authority, accountability and more time for learning.

Read the full report and recommendations on how to improve Connecticut’s pre-K–12 education over the next 10 years.

Read more about the Commission and its report at CT News Junkie: Commission Looks to Close the Achievement Gap by Christine Stuart (8/30/10) & the Hartford Courant: Achievement Gap Commission Hints At Upcoming Recommendations by Grace E. Merritt (8/31/10)