From Alex's Desk

A Plan with Real Promise for Hartford’s Schools (Summer Compass)

After putting its faith in several prominent approaches to fixing its schools over the past two decades, along with a number of broken vows “never to be last again,” Hartford now has a new superintendent with a plan to reshape fundamentally how the city’s public school system works. Many in Hartford, and across the state, could surely be forgiven if their first instinct is to roll their eyes and say “Here we go again….”

Why will this turnaround plan succeed where so many others in Hartford have not? In an exclusive interview in this edition of the Compass, Hartford superintendent Steven Adamowski explains in his own words why his approach is different. Two elements stand out:

1. Putting Parents in the Driver’s Seat

Dr. Adamowski’s plan is grounded in Connecticut’s first system of full parental choice. Under the plan, Hartford parents are cast in the central role as drivers of school improvement, with the ability to choose any public school in one of four transportation zones. Parents’ choices for their children will determine not only enrollment but also school budgets—since under a new budgeting system money follows each child to his or her school of choice.

Over time, this system will allow the highest performing public schools to grow to meet demand, eventually replacing schools whose chronic poor performance makes them unable to continue attracting students.

2. Building on Proven Approaches to Raising Achievement

Despite having the lowest overall levels of student achievement in Connecticut, Hartford is also home to some of the state’s highest performing urban public schools, such as Jumoke Academy and Hartford Middle Magnet School (see www.ctreportcards.org). Indeed, across the country, public education pioneers have discovered a lot about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to improving outcomes for kids in our public schools.

Dr. Adamowski comes to Hartford as a member of this community of nationally renowned practitioners. The “theory of action” he describes in the interview is not a speculative hypothesis but rather the systematic application of a proven set of tools. For example, Hartford’s new partnership with Teach for America to recruit an energetic corps of new teachers into Hartford’s classrooms builds on the program’s proven track record of raising student achievement in the 21 other cities across the country in which they already work. Future partnerships with magnet schools operator CREC and charter schools operator Achievement First likewise will build on proven records for getting results for kids. Indeed, every aspect of his plan is based on lessons learned from the 20 urban districts that have succeeded in making system-wide gains over the past 10 years—including Cincinnati under his own leadership in the late 1990s.

If Hartford sticks with this game plan, it too has a very good chance of making dramatic gains for its kids. And one of the most important lessons learned from this select group of breakthrough urban districts is that the success of this plan for Hartford’s schools will ultimately depend on the degree to which it is supported and sustained by a broad coalition of community stakeholders that goes far beyond the current superintendent and school board.

From Hartford parents to teachers, from businesspeople to concerned citizens, everyone in Connecticut has a reason to take action in support of this plan’s success in our capital city—success that has a real chance of paving the way for similar breakthroughs in student achievement in cities across the state. Stay tuned to Hartford as ConnCAN seeks to do its part by continuing to provide its many members with timely information and tools to take action in the coming year.