Branford Joins Ed Reform Talks

As Gov. Dannel Malloy convenes his invitation-only workshop on education reform today, the chairman of Branford’s Board of Education will be there.

“I want to find out some of the ideas people have,” Frank Carrano (pictured above, right) told the Eagle. ​“I’m looking forward to it.”

Education experts from Connecticut and across the country will participate in the today’s workshop at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. The topics are ones that the governor plans to address in the upcoming legislative session: school finance, low-performing schools, teacher evaluations and closing the achievement gap.

Carrano said he is eager to hear about the ​“bold strategies” that the governor spoke about when he announced last month that the legislative focus for the coming year will be education reform.

Malloy said the state has lost its competitive edge regarding education, that standardized assessments have stagnated and that the state has the largest achievement gap in the nation.

To jump start the reform process, Malloy is holding workshops today for a variety of stakeholders to discuss the issues. 

Carrano said he is pleased the General Assembly will address education reform. ​“We might see some changes implemented,” he said. However, he is also concerned that the legislature will pass mandates without adequate funding.

“Significant change is going to require additional funding,” he said.

REED SEEKS REVIEW of EDUCATION FUNDING FORMULA

State Rep. Lonnie Reed, (D‑Branford) is also concerned about the way the state funds public education.

“The Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula becomes less fair to Branford with each passing year, as our town grows more diverse and we budget to address evolving learning needs and special education challenges,” Reed told the Eagle. 

“Branford gets far too little state money per student,” said Reed, who chaired the education committee for the Representative Town Meeting before she was elected to the state post. At that time, Reed urged the RTM to join the Coalition for Justice Lawsuit in hopes of making the ECS funding formula more equitable. 

“A fair ECS formula is still a huge goal of mine and I am hopeful that the upcoming legislative session will move us closer to achieving a solution before that lawsuit reaches the CT Supreme Court again,” Reed said. 

“Bridging the achievement gap, improving teacher evaluations, fixing the deplorable graduation rates in some communities – these are all imperative objectives for our state,” Reed said. ​“I want to make certain that the needs of Branford’s children are included in the education reform process.”

John Prins, a member of Branford’s Board of Education (BOE), told the Eagle he is hopeful the reform initiatives will be successful.

“I’m very, very excited about the governor’s focus on education,” said Prins, who heads the BOE’s teaching and learning committee. However, he too is concerned about the financial implications. ​“Funding issues are going to be front and center,” he said.

Branford, like other districts statewide, has been working to increase scores on standardized tests that are mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind initiative. Click here to read about Branford’s test scores.

GRADUATION RATES

The governor’s education reform workshop comes a week after the State Department of Education (SDE) released graduation rates for 2010 which revealed that only 81.8 percent of the state’s 44,461 seniors received a diploma after four years of high school. The percentages were even lower for Hispanic, black and poor students — - highlighting the achievement gap the governor spoke about.

The state’s report said that 10 districts, including Guilford and Madison, had rates higher than 95 percent; while six districts had rates lower the 65 percent.

The 2010 graduation rate for Branford High School (BHS) was 91 percent, with 3.6 percent still enrolled in school after four years, and 5.5 percent who dropped out or left the system. The graduation rate at BHS for poor students (defined as those who qualify for the free lunch program) was 72.2 percent.

“Our graduation rates are better than the state average,” said Carrano, who chairs the BOE. ​“But I think we need to focus and get some solutions for students who don’t complete high school.”

Carrano said there may be numerous reasons students do not complete their education. ​“As a board, we want to look at what the reasons are and provide as many options as possible for them to complete their education,” he said. ​“We would not want any students to leave high school because there isn’t an education program for them.”

Carrano said the district needs to look at the students who are not graduating. ​“What happens to those students? That’s an important question for us,” he said.

In order to equitably compare towns and school districts, the state has divided towns into District Reference Groups (DRG) according to socio-economic factors. Branford and 23 other towns are in the fourth category from the top.

A look at Branford’s graduation rate in comparison to a few of the high schools in its DRG reveals: Branford at 91.0: Clinton 86.8; Cromwell 95.1; Old Saybrook 94.4; Milford 91.2; North Haven, 94.4; Shelton 89.2; Southington 88.3.

Graduation rates for nearby high schools not in Branford’s DRG include: Guilford 96.4 percent; Madison 97.2 percent; North Branford 86.3 percent; and East Haven 89.6 percent.

The SDE recently began to use more accurate figures to tally the graduation rates, by tracking students from ninth through 12 grades. The list of district graduation results had slightly lower percentages because it included special education students who live in a district but attend an educational program elsewhere. The list of high school graduation results did not list those students.

The state report for Branford did not list the total number of students who were tracked to reach the 2010 graduation rates. Nor did it list the breakdown according to subgroups. However, about 280 students graduated that year. According to SDE statistics for the Connecticut Academic Performance Test that was administered to Branford 10th graders in 2008, the class at that time contained 313 students, and 29 were eligible for the free lunch program. Figures for Hispanic and black students were not listed that year since those groups each contained fewer than 20 students.

The school district recently issued a comprehensive report regarding the graduating class of 2011, which had 277 graduates. The report, the first of its kind for Branford, listed the number of students who went on to college and technical schools. The report did not include the number of students who had dropped out of school.

The complete listing of graduation rates by district and by school can be found at the SDE web site.
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