Report: CT might be underserving minority students
A new report that looks at how states are carrying out the federal Every Student Succeeds Act suggests Connecticut may be taking advantage of the new accountability system and leaving some minority students underserved.
“Connecticut is taking the flexibility in the ESSA law to the extreme,” said Anne Hyslop, assistant director of policy development, at the Alliance for Excellent Education.
In the year examined, Connecticut identified just nine schools for additional support for specific groups such as Black or Latino students. Among them were Derby Middle School and Hamden Middle School.
“It is clear Connecticut was an outlier and not in a good way,” Hysop said.
State Department of Education officials, on Wednesday, fired back, saying the group is wrong to judge Connecticut by just one improvement program.
“We have tried to show them that ESSA school identification is one lever a state has to ensure equity,” said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, chief performance officer in the department. “It is not just about this one narrow activity that is school labeling and identifying.”
Hysop’s Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization is focused on making sure underperforming and historically underserved students, regardless of ZIP
students are unable to share materials, eliminating the use of robotics and iPads, which are normally part of Coding Month. However, with new programs, students have been able to stretch their muscles in a new way.
“It’s about creating new ways students can code and learn things without some of what we’re used to,” she said. “You still want it to be hands-on, but you want it to be fun. Above all this year, I wanted to stress the fun. School looks different, but we can still have fun while we’re still learning.”
D’Elia kicked off Coding Month with Rowayton School fourthgraders this week, doing an hour of coding. Students are using Scratch, a programming language, to make their own games and interactive, virtual holiday cards.
It’s not all fun and games. Even as students make and try their
own games, D’Elia said they’re learning storytelling and problem-solving as they build their own programs and learn how to troubleshoot.
“I was really nervous because I’ve never done it before, but I’m super impressed by what our students have created,” she said. “They’ve gotten very excited to showcase their skills in a different way.”
D’Elia said she’s relying on different computer programs this year to help teach students coding. For the younger students, she focuses more on teaching them about experimenting and problem-solving and then advances from there. The unit also addresses perseverance and determination in hopes it’ll encourage students to pursue computer science despite challenges they might face along the way.
“It kind of all builds upon each other, so they’re advancing and building on more complex tasks as they get older,” she said.