As we congratulate Dr. Steven Adamowski on his turnaround tenure and his retirement (see the article in the Courant here) and welcome his successor, Dr. Christina Kishimoto, who will succeed him beginning tomorrow, we must pause to appreciate that change is inevitable.  In the context of sustaining school reform here in Hartford and improving the educational opportunities for Hartford's 23,000 students, there are many important changes before us.   

In addition to new a superintendent and a changing school year, we are in the midst of active mayoral and city council races here in Hartford.  To be sure, a Mayor's leadership and commitment to school reform is essential to real change and lasting impact.  Further, the city's charter enables the Mayor to appoint five of nine Board of Education members.  There can be no greater impact to reform direction and school improvement success than policies established by the Board of Education and its leadership.  With the mayoral and council elections just a few months away and the likely new appointments to the Board of Education only six months away, the impact of change will continue.

Change can be unsettling, but it can be good if it continues to move us forward.   

Over the next 12 months, Hartford's appointed and elected leaders will need to align in partnership with the new District superintendent to ensure that Hartford delivers on the promise of high-quality school options - and outcomes - for students and families.  We believe strongly that change is best navigated when all parties are committed to working together with a shared vision.  

During this period of change, it is imperative that all leaders and all who support education in Hartford focus on the best interests of students.  City and education leaders - old and new - must strive with urgency to maintain Hartford's gains - and, better yet, accelerate progress.

Teacher Support Recipients: Seven Great Ideas

Candice Server and her colleagues at Kennelly School seek to build scientific literacy and inquiry by increasing fourth graders' non-fiction reading, research, and expository writing activities.

The ingenuity of Hartford teachers - and their commitment to building literacy skills - is not only alive and well, it is amazing!

Achieve Hartford! is delighted to announce the teachers - and the projects they have designed - receiving our 2011 Teacher Support Program awards, which recognize these initiatives' range of impact, quality, and creativity in enhancing literacy in grades K through 8:

• Building Home Libraries; Teacher Beth Kaminsky at Global Communications Academy, benefiting first graders (and their family members)
• Building Oral and Written Narrative Development; Teachers Erin Doyle and Ronni Weinstein at Moylan School, for children in kindergarten through third grade
• Creating a Buy-and-Trade Bookstore; Teachers Linda Liss-Bronstein, Maria Nelson, Becky Caplinger, Kerian Blake and Allyson Thompson at Betances Early Lab School, for all students
• Increasing Scientific Literacy and Inquiry; Teachers Candice Server, Danielle Hodge, and Lauren Alix at Kennelly School, for fourth-grade students
• Engaging Children with Suffrage, Enfranchisement, Literacy, and Freedom; Teachers Michael Currier and Tim Clemens and their team at Naylor School, benefiting preschool, fourth grade, and middle school students, as well as the student body and their parents at fairs and exhibits
• Individualized Parent and Student Supported Educational Design for English Language Learners; Teacher Barbara Anderson and her team at Betances Early Learning Lab School, benefiting K-3 English Language Learners
• Readers as Leaders After-School Program; Teacher Carol Shapiro at Burns Academy of Latino Studies, benefiting student pairs in read-aloud sessions involving kindergarten and grade 7-8 students

Like all of our work, teacher support is aligned with Achieve Hartford!'s Theory of Reform, which emphasizes a culture of high expectations in the school and community, effective teachers in every classroom, family and community responsibility for education, and strategies that work to address the challenges created by poverty.   

With many of Hartford's students reading below grade level, Achieve Hartford! believes that programs designed to enhance literacy at the K-8 level are vital - and that successful project ideas developed by teachers can be models for other teachers.

Congratulations to all!

Achieve Hartford! served more than 900 parents with its 2011 Choice Education Program, in which we not only provided direct support for parents whose children are entering the "transitional grades" of Pre-K, Kindergarten, Middle School, and High School, but also built the capacity of community center staff and volunteers to assist with the choice process as well.

Our partnerships with the Hartford Office of Young Children, Hartford Public Schools, and the State Department of Children and Families helped us to reach nearly 60 percent of the parents of transitional students in the centers and schools we targeted - and 94 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the assistance they received, our survey showed.

Working with those partners, we now are preparing a full report on the effort, which will include our evaluation and recommendations for improving the next choice process slated to begin in January 2012.

We have learned a great deal from the parents we helped to navigate the process this year, and we look forward to reporting fully this summer on the 2011 experience.  Our analysis is geared to helping all concerned with school choice understand the need for community outreach, effective use of technology, and dissemination of descriptive materials that are as clear and useful as possible.

Our goal is not only to help parents make the best choice in a given school year, but to help equip them to understand and engage with the school system throughout their children's educational careers.

Who from Connecticut signed the Declaration of Independence?

Samuel Huntington of Windham, Roger Sherman of New Milford, William Williams of Lebanon, and Oliver Wolcott of Litchfield County were the four founding fathers representing Connecticut.

In all, there were 56 signers of the Declaration .  Happy Independence Day!

Participation in the July 8, 2011 flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis - the final NASA shuttle flight - by the Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School, in partnership with Hamilton Sundstrand and Connecticut Space Grant Consortium.  Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School is honored to be one of 12 schools from across the nation participating.  Second grade student Janiel Sanchez's Mission Patch will fly onboard, as will the experiment by 8th grade students Ramone Clahar, David Jackson, Justice Dawkins, and Alonzo Clarke, on Microgravity's Effect on Tomato Growth. 

Hartford Board of Education Meeting Regular Meeting, Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 5:30 p.m., McDonough School, 111 Hillside Avenue.