Connecticut Rots From the Head (Courant editorial on the State's intellectual incompetence)

[Mort Zuckerman]

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Subject: Connecticut Rots From the Head (Courant editorial on the
State's intellectual incompetence)

Date: Jan 5, 2012 6:33 AM

ARTICLE BELOW
=========================

A fish rots from the head.

The problem is Yale and UConn and
*their* specific problem is focusing
on the non-sciences:

http://www.actionlyme.org

You saw how the NIH just trashed all of
psychiatry and "social workers?" And literally
called them all "insane" and "incompetent?"

Yesterday.

It was great!

And bound to happen, since that's what the
truth is all about.

KMDickson
=======================================

"So have we had enough? Connecticut thinks of itself as a smart state,
but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that tolerating the lack of
achievement of too many students hurts our ability to attract and
retain jobs. The state has been dead last in the nation job creation
over the past 20 years. If we aren't willing to do the right thing for
moral reasons, for pity's sake, let's at least act in our own economic
self-interest."

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-race-to-top-educational-failures-20120105,0,7018906.story

Dannel Malloy January 5, 2012
This is the fifth in a series on what the state should do in 2012.

Connecticut failed — in spectacular fashion — in three attempts over
the past two years to qualify for millions of dollars in "Race to the
Top" federal education money for early learning. The state's latest
attempt didn't even come close to qualifying for a red cent,
staggering across the finish line 20th out of 37 applicants.



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Yet the effort wasn't wasted if it creates enough urgency to address
the fact that Connecticut is failing too many of its children. Signs,
so far, are good.

The state's superintendents rolled out an ambitious list this fall of
nearly 140 "must-haves" if Connecticut is to be an educational leader,
among them making teacher tenure renewable every five years and giving
all 3- and 4-year-olds access to preschool. The state's largest
teachers union is getting out in front with proposals for evaluating
and dismissing underperforming teachers.

And the governor, in a letter to the General Assembly, presented a
list of his own needed changes. He agrees with expanding early-
childhood education, as well as rewarding the most skilled teachers,
removing red tape, and increasing magnet and charter schools.

Good Intentions Don't Help

"We're failing our own citizens," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in an
interview. "We need to do what we know works. … We need to nudge, push
and incentivize school districts to offer preschool to students."

He continued: "We need a more fluid system that protects high-
performing teachers. If you did a survey in any school and asked who
are the worst three teachers and the three best teachers in the
building, there would be broad agreement. I'm not against rewarding
performance," the governor said.

His attention to this issue is heartening. But he will need to go
further to make a difference. He should lead the charge to tie student
performance to teacher evaluations, to test teachers for competency
and to end "last-in, first-out," the practice that protects bad
teachers with seniority from layoffs.

Good intentions haven't done much in the past. The achievement gap
between low-income students and well-off ones has been a scandal for
years. The gap between students of the same age but from different
income brackets can be three to four grade levels.

Universal preschool is a must in Connecticut. It critical to helping
all children learn, but especially those who are poor and often less
exposed to early reading and educational experiences. They then enter
kindergarten behind many of their peers.

Studies show that pre-K has lingering, positive impacts even decades
later. But Connecticut ranks a miserable 29th out of 50 states in
giving 4-year-olds access to preschool, according to the National
Institute for Early Education Research. Thousands of low-income
students are shut out. This can't go on, and it's a big reason our
achievement gap is so wide — and persistent.

Democrats Must Act

Gov. Malloy sounds like he is willing to bring his considerable energy
to this topic next year. He'll need it, because nothing in education
will change until he picks a major fight with his own party. Democrats
have had control of the legislature for decades and so owns its share
of responsibility for the mediocre state of affairs. Yet doing nothing
is no longer an option.

So have we had enough? Connecticut thinks of itself as a smart state,
but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that tolerating the lack of
achievement of too many students hurts our ability to attract and
retain jobs. The state has been dead last in the nation job creation
over the past 20 years. If we aren't willing to do the right thing for
moral reasons, for pity's sake, let's at least act in our own economic
self-interest.



KMDickson