    
2007-08 Annual Report Faces of Change
To recieve a free print copy of ConnCAN's annual report, email Allison Pelliccio at allison.pelliccio@conncan.org. View ConnCAN 2008 Annual Report "Faces of Change"A Letter from Board Chair Brian Olson: Ours is a tale of two Connecticuts. In today’s Connecticut,less than 20 percent of high school students from low-income families perform at grade level, while more than 60 percent of their peers from middle- and high-income families do. That highest-in-the-nation achievement gap produces a structural poverty trap. A student from a poor family will likely do poorly in school and remain poor. Why, in America, would family income have so much power to predict a child’s future circumstances? Is it because poor kids have some inherent inability to learn? The answer is an emphatic NO! There are great public schools in Connecticut that have demonstrated for years that students can achieve at the very highest levels no matter what their background. These schools are the hope for tomorrow’s Connecticut, which is what ConnCAN works towards every day. It has been four years since leaders from Connecticut’s business, higher education and civic communities created ConnCAN as a catalyst for bold change in our public schools. This year, I am honored to take the helm of the board from my friend Jonathan Sackler, ConnCAN’s co-founder, tireless champion, and moral compass. We can all rest assured that Jon’s continued service on our board will remain a driving force in our shared quest. This annual report is a testament to the organization that Jon built, together with the other members of our board, advisory board, partners, staff and fellow advocates. This year we seek to grow ConnCAN from a dedicated corps of change-makers into a true movement for social change in our own backyard. I hope you’ll join us. A Letter from Chief Executive Officer Alex Johnston: The pages of this report are filled with the “Faces of Change” in Connecticut education. These students, teachers,principals, community leaders, parents—your neighbors—are working in their own ways to fix our public schools. There’s Principal Enza Macri of Lawrence Elementary School in Middletown, whose results-oriented leadership put her school at #2 on ConnCAN’s list of Connecticut elementary schools with the greatest performance gains. Then there’s Theresa Lindsey, a Hartford parent who spoke at a ConnCAN press conference in the fight to save her child’s high-achieving charter school. And Shai Cassell, whose work through the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice is bringing church leaders into schools to tutor students and boost their performance. Over the past four years, ConnCAN has established itself as a thought leader in the public debate over the future of Connecticut education. We’re fighting for innovative public schools with breakthrough results like those achieved by Amistad Academy in New Haven, recruiting highly effective and energetic new teachers through programs like Teach for America, and creating transparency in our schools to ensure that money flows where it is most needed. In the coming year we will continue to focus on building up a movement of like-minded citizens across the state, united by the conviction
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