Prove demographics don’t
have to be destiny
We can’t remake our public schools without you.
We can’t remake our public schools without you.
ConnCAN needs your support right now to make sure that every child in Connecticut, regardless of race, ethnicity, or class, has access to a great public school.
By Rick Green
Maybe you saw what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did last week after he learned about the bungling behind his administration's failure to win $400 million in the federal Race to the Top competition that rewards states that adopt aggressive education reforms.
Christie fired his education commissioner.
Bravo. At least we know what matters to Gov. Christie, a Republican making waves across the country. That's more than I can say for Connecticut, land of timid leadership.
By Donald Eng
By Abbe Smith
In the most recent round of federal Race to the Top awards, Connecticut scored lower than every state it borders.
The state learned last month that it did not make the list of finalists, but didn’t get details about why it missed out on the $175 million it was seeking until final scores and reviewer comments were released this week.
By Robert Frahm
The weakness of a plan to link teacher evaluations to student performance was a key factor in Connecticut's failure to qualify for millions of dollars in federal school aid, according to a government report released Wednesday.
The proposed evaluation system lacks detail, won't be ready for years, and fails to include adequate provisions for rewarding successful teachers or removing ineffective ones, said reviewers for the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top school reform competition.
By Melissa Nicefaro
In every Connecticut city and town, public education is by far the largest budget item. Yet the schools’ stewards don’t always treat those dollars as their own
When terms such as “layoffs,” “closures” and “belt-tightening” are tossed around, the education industry may not be the first that comes to mind. That was true until this year, anyway.

Tomorrow’s Connecticut is a state where no matter how humble your background, you receive an excellent public education. It’s a safe state, where prison sentences give way to college degrees. It’s a state whose students graduate with the skills to compete globally, propelling our economy to new heights.
Today’s Connecticut is a state where the children most dependent on our public schools all too often get the least effective education. It’s a state with the largest achievement gap in the country, where our students’ math skills are on par with the developing world. It’s a punitive state, where we spend more on jails than higher education. It’s a state whose economic future is in peril.
What stands between today and tomorrow’s Connecticut? It’s you.
The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now is building a movement of concerned citizens advocating to fundamentally reform our public schools through smart public policies.
We will not rest until every Connecticut child, regardless of race or class, has access to a great public school.