Closing Connecticut's Reading Gap for Young Children

"Every Child Reading by Third Grade," an informational forum sponsored this month by the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the General Assembly, the Connecticut Commission on Children, Literacy How, Haskins Laboratories, and the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS), revealed some sit-up-and-take-notice statistics:

• More than 1/3 of poor children enter kindergarten already behind their peers in reading.
• Of every 100 children who leave first grade as poor readers, 88 will still be poor readers at the end of third grade, limiting their changes of academic and future workforce success.
• 74% of Hispanic and African-American students are not at goal in reading y  the end of third grade
• Connecticut has the largest reading gap in the nation.

The policy forum included speakers highlighting progress and strategies to help children learn how to read.

Solid Return on Investment From State's Private Colleges

The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC) reports that 28% of undergraduate enrollment in Connecticut is at one of the 16  CCIC institutions across the state, which account for 44% of the bachelor's degrees earned in the state.  Underscoring the significant return on investment for the state from the private colleges and universities, the association also notes that only 3.7% of the state's higher education budget is directed to the schools. CCIC has also announced that eight of its member institutions were named this month to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.  The national program highlights the role of colleges and universities in solving community problems and placing students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measureable outcomes in the communities they serve.

Selected for the 2012 Honor Roll were:  Connecticut College, Fairfield University, Quinnipiac University, Saint Joseph College, University of Bridgeport,University of Hartford, University of New Haven, and Wesleyan University.  The distinction is an indication that the institution displays a strong institutional commitment to service and has formed compelling partnerships that produce measurable results in the community.

Connecticut History Online Tops 15,000 Digital Sources

Connecticut History Online (CHO) is a digital collection of over 15,000 digital primary sources, together with associated interpretive and educational material.   Perhaps not widely known, CHO features a collaboration with the Encyclopedia of Connecticut History Online (ECHO) to serve the needs of scholars, K-12 and post-secondary teachers and students, genealogists, and the general public. The four lead CHO partners - the Connecticut Historical Society, Connecticut State Library, Mystic Seaport, and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn - represent  libraries, museums and historical societies, encompassing the three major communities that preserve and make accessible historical collections in Connecticut.  Participating institutions also include the Hartford History Center, New Haven Museum and Stonington Historical Society.

Connecticut Libraries Rank 36th in State Financial Support

There were more than 22 million visits to Connecticut's libraries last year, with visitors borrowing 31.4 million items, according to the Connecticut Library Association.   Association President Betty Anne Reiter, in testimony at the State Capitol recently,  noted that although the state's libraries are among the most frequently visited in the country, the state ranks only 36th nationally in the level of state support ( $.58 per capita in CT vs. $2.94 per capita nationally).  Reiter also expressed concerns, on behalf of the organization's more than 1,000 members, about recent budget cuts sustained by the Connecticut State Library.

Technical School Preparation in CT, by the Numbers

After meeting five times, holding one public hearing, and filing a 34-page report and recommendations, the work of the state’s Task Force on the Technical High School System is complete. Even as legislation is considered based on the findings, the numbers are worth a second look, as priorities are considered and jobs remain the state's preeminent focus. In the report’s appendix one gets a clearer sense of the educational resources available, by category, across the system, which serve about 11,200 full-time high school and adult day students with programs in 30 occupational trade areas.  Looking at the number of shops in the technical high schools, topping the list one finds 17 for automotive technology; 16 each for culinary arts, carpentry, and electrical; 13 for manufacturing technology; and 12 for plumbing and heating.

There are 10 trade specialties with a single shop across the system, including automated manufacturing technology, media production, bioscience and environmental technology, pre-electrical engineering and baking.  Overall, there are seven trade clusters with a total of 189 shops in the 19 schools.

Manufacturing Grows in CT as China Gains on US

State-by-state  data released by the National Science Board indicates that 2011 was the first year since 1998 that manufacturing employment in Connecticut increased. The percentage of Connecticut college graduates receiving a science or engineering degree was 33.1 percent — ranking the state No. 10 in the nation. In the proficiency of fourth and eighth graders in math and science, Connecticut was in the top quartile in every category.  And the state’s percentage of doctorate of science and engineering holders among the workforce ranked fourth in the nation. That's the good news - for Connecticut - in "Science and Engineering Indicators 2012," a 575-page report measuring and characterizing R&D, education, workforce, academic, public attitudes and state data.

The broader context is that China outpaces the U.S.  in the number of advanced degrees in natural science and engineering, hampering the country’s chance of leading globally in high-tech research and production, according to the National Science Board, which is the governing body of the National Science Foundation.  And overall, the U.S. lost more than a quarter of its high-tech manufacturing jobs during the past decade as U.S.-based multinational companies placed a growing percentage of their research-and-development operations overseas.

Teacher Shortage Areas in CT Span Grades and Subjects

Teacher shortage areas in Connecticut in the current school year include science, mathematics, world languages and English in grades 7-12.  In addition, the shortage areas identified by the state Department of Education prior to the start of the 2011-12 school year include bilingual education (PK- 12) comprehensive special education (K-12) and remedial reading and language arts (1-12).  Concluding the list of shortage areas in Connecticut schools are Speech and Language Pathologist, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Intermediate Administrator.  Teachers holding certification endorsements in these areas are eligible for state and federal program benefits.

More International Students in CT

The number of international students studying at colleges and universities in Connecticut jumped 9.4 percent between 2010 and 2011, compared with a 4.7 percent increase at institutions nationwide.  There were 10,137 international students in Connecticut, which ranked 21st among the states, according to data compiled by the Institute of International Education.  Leading institutions for international students in Connecticut:  University of Bridgeport (2,582), Yale (2,254), UConn (2,192), University of New Haven (773) and University of Hartford (411).  As for the students' home nations,  India (25.4%) topped the list followed by China (21.9%), South Korea (4.6%), Canada (4.1%) and Saudi Arabia (3%).  How many native U.S. study abroad students were enrolled through CT colleges and universities attending schools worldwide?  There were 3,889 a year ago, up slightly from 3,623 the previous year.