From the CT Mirror:
The zero-to-100 grade the state gives every public school and district each year declined for the vast majority of public schools and districts, according to data released by the State Department of Education Tuesday.
… Most of the state’s worst-performing districts had a drop in their scores, including: Bridgeport (three points), Hartford (one point), New Britain (three points), New London (four points) and Waterbury (two points).
Two low-achieving districts, however, increased their score, including New Haven (two points) and Windham (one point).
Full story here.
0
Is this a surprise? The areas of the state that continue to have problems across a wide spectrum of socioeconomic issues continue their death spiral while the suburbs flourish. This did not happen in one, two or eight years. This is decades in the making and shows the lack of leadership from statewide officials: all previous General Assemblies, All previous Governors from both parties going back to the 1960s. Connecticut State government has had a do-as-little-as-possible mindset.
In order for Bridgeport’s schools to be “fixed,” Bridgeport must first be “fixed.” Poverty-stressed families in a severely financially stressed city are not in a position to send education-ready children to school. If you send children from the dysfunctional/stressed environments associated with Bridgeport-level poverty to our (comparatively) underfunded schools, there aren’t going to be many success stories.
When Bridgeport families have living-wage jobs that allow for the time and ancillary resources in the home that are required for the educational readiness/success of the children being sent to competitively funded city schools, then Bridgeport schools will have suburban-level success rates (which aren’t even much to brag about — on a global comparison level, in our unscholarly, $-obsessed culture).
*** It’s not a surprise readers, it’s Bpt. ***