Recipe For School Reform

An opinion piece in the Hartford Courant (correctly) lamenting how lame Connecticut has been in fostering the expansion of highly successful schools like Amistad/Achievement First:

I've been both intrigued and  infuriated with the success of Amistad. The school, which takes in a mostly  poor and an almost entirely black and Latino population, has consistently  registered competitive test scores. Its achievements in reducing the  achievement gap between black and brown students and their white peers earned  a personal visit from then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige a couple of years  back.

But it was maddening to watch Connecticut, the state with the  largest achievement gap in the country, not act with a sense of urgency in  duplicating the Amistad model. New York City was so enamored with Amistad, it  built five such academies, which Achievement First oversees. Now, Elm City  College Preparatory operates in New Haven. Another Achievement First school is  opening in Bridgeport next month; Hartford's would open next fall. This is a  big deal.

Connecticut is starting to get it. The seeds of real  education reform are finally being planted.


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Recipe For School Reform
Stan Simpson, Hartford Courant, August 4, 2007

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctstan0804.artaug04,0,4689928.column

Alexis Highsmith's upbringing was decidedly middle-class. Born and reared in Hamden, she attended private schools, then went on to Duke University where she earned a degree in history. After that, it was law school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.