The Dream Of Educational Reform

Governor Dannel P. Malloy tried to leave little doubt when he met last week with education officials and advocates that 2012 would be the year that Connecticut takes significant steps toward reforming schools and educational funding. The optimistic outlook, however, stood in sharp contrast to the ingrained skepticism of the state’s school superintendents as revealed in the results of a survey released by state Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor at the same time. Two-thirds of the state’s superintendents said that bureaucratic “red tape” stands in the way of implementing needed changes, and 87 percent said they lacked the ability to remove ineffective teachers. According to the superintendents, the state is not helping them close the “achievement gap” between Connecticut’s poorest urban school districts and the more affluent districts in the suburbs and rural areas. No other state in the nation has a more pronounced disparity of accomplishment between its most and least privileged students.

This problem lies at the heart of a broader debate gaining momentum in this political year over essential nature of the American Dream. Whether you believe government does or does not have a role in calibrating the equality of our citizens, we all generally agree that realizing the dream stands on the principle of equal opportunity. Even the least of us should be able to rise to the very limits of our abilities.

Yet a report by The New York Times on January 4 showed that many researchers now agree that the United States affords its citizens less economic mobility than its first world peers in Western Europe and Canada. One cause, according to the Times, may be the “depth of American poverty” and the persistent inability of schools in the poorest districts to open the doors of opportunity to college, employment, and ultimate success.

There will always be achievement gaps in the human experience because we are all different people with different talents and abilities. That we can accept. But we should not accept entrenched opportunity gaps that tend to polarize our society and erode our sense of what it means to be an American. For that reason, Newtown has a stake in what happens in the schools of Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Hartford.

We hope the coming educational reform debate in Connecticut does not devolve into a fight between poor cities and rich towns, but keeps the focus where it belongs: on the achievement of all schoolchildren in the state. That will require concerted effort rather than fractious wrangling over who gets what and who gives up what. Everyone will have something to contribute to the success of this effort. Parents can contribute support and discipline in the home. Teachers can contribute flexibility in their contracts on tenure and other issues affecting classroom standards. School boards can contribute candor and clarity on local educational priorities. Local, state, and federal governments can contribute a commitment to educational excellence in all communities and an intolerance for needless “red tape” and waste. And ultimately, if all the stars align in this way, taxpayers can contribute their trust and treasure. That’s the dream, anyway.