Superintendents Push Dramatic Changes for Conn. Schools

The Connecticut classroom of the future may not be limited by a traditional school year, the four walls of a classroom, or even the standard progression of grades, based on a proposed package of unusually bold changes that are being advanced by the state’s school superintendents.

Instead, the current system would be replaced by a “learner-centered” education program that would begin at age 3; offer parents a menu of options, including charter schools and magnet schools; and provide assessments when an individual child is ready to be tested, rather than having all children tested in a class at the same time.

The superintendents’ recommendations also promote the long-resisted idea of consolidating some of the state’s 165 school districts, 21 of which consist of only one school.

“The present division of local school districts into 165 separate entities with some regional arrangements is economically inefficient and fosters economic, racial and ethnic isolation,” according to the proposal, which was released in November by the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.

“We’re not at all naive about the challenge before us. We’re goring every ox there is,” said Joseph Cirasuolo, the executive director of the group. He worked closely with a 16-person panel that spent two years developing the report’s 134 recommendations.

While ambitious, the package comes at a timely moment. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, who was sworn in last January, has declared that he wants the upcoming legislative session to focus on reforming education for the state’s 564,000 students in prekindergarten-through-12th grades. On Dec. 20, Mr. Malloy sent a letter to state legislators, saying that he would like to see laws that improve access to high-quality, early-childhood programs, create an educator evaluation system that values “skill and effectiveness” over seniority and tenure, and deliver resources to needy districts that embrace reform. The governor also plans in January to launch a series of stakeholder workshops around the state to talk about education reform. Many of the governor’s priorities dovetail with the proposals from the state's school superintendents.

“We should not and will not accept half-measures and repackaged versions of the status quo,” Mr. Malloy said in his letter to lawmakers. Both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly are controlled by Democrats.

Education ‘Moon Launch’

Mr. Cirasuolo said that the superintendents’ work has been presented to the governor, the new state Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor, and other education groups around the state, including local school boards. He compares the proposals to President John F. Kennedy’s declaration that the United States would land a man on the moon: There was immediate skepticism to that proposal, too, but the country was able to achieve the goal.

“There’s almost a little ‘perfect storm’ developing” around education reform in Connecticut, Mr. Cirasuolo said.

The package of reforms presented by the superintendents was developed through a process the leaders had not tried before, said Larry Schaefer, the staff associate for leadership development for the superintendents’ group. In 2008, at an annual policy conference that brought together 123 of the state’s 165 superintendents, the leaders talked about how the mission of education had shifted to the expectation that all students should be achieving at high levels, he said.

“We’ve seen a not-so-subtle transformation in the education world from providing students with an opportunity to learn, to an obligation to be sure that every kid does learn,” said Frank H. Sippy, the superintendent of the 4,500-student Pomperaug Regional School District 15 and a member of the 16-person panel that developed the education transformation proposal. “We superintendents recognized we’re pretty well equipped to do the former, but not terribly equipped to do the latter.”

In fall 2009, the 16 superintendents, assistant superintendents and university professors started work on the project, with the assistance of other educational experts brought in for their expertise. They included Michael B. Horn, an expert in education and “disruptive innovation,” and Tony Wagner, the co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The superintendents’ recommendations are encapsulated under broad categories. For example, under the topic of making learning personal, the report recommends ...

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