[Youth-list] New CT Commissioner of Education Priorities

[JMRab at aol.com]

     (http://www.courant.com/)    
____________________________________
 
_http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-ctcommish0118.artjan18,0,4885595.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking_ 
(http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-ctcommish0118.artjan18,0,4885595.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking)  


Homework Begins For New Education Chief 

Achievement Gap A Priority, McQuillan Says  

By  ROBERT A. FRAHM
Courant Staff Writer

January 18  2007

Connecticut's new education commissioner doesn't know yet  whether the state 
should require high school students to pass a graduation  exam, as 
Massachusetts does, but he will look for any edge to bolster  student performance.

How Mark K. McQuillan, a former deputy  education commissioner in 
Massachusetts, approaches testing and student  achievement will be watched closely as he 
assumes oversight of public  education in Connecticut.

Of particular concern is the poor  performance of many low-income and 
minority children, especially in the  state's big cities, where the gap between them 
and middle-class white  children is among the largest in the nation.

"Connecticut and  Massachusetts have a lot in common. We're both deeply 
committed to closing  the achievement gap," McQuillan said Wednesday, moments after 
being  appointed commissioner by a unanimous vote of the State Board of  
Education.

For more than a decade, Massachusetts has taken an  aggressive approach to 
holding schools accountable through testing and  other measures. Starting with 
the Class of 2003, the state has required  high school students to pass a 
standardized high school exit exam before  they can receive a diploma.

"In Massachusetts it worked," McQuillan  said after a brief press conference 
Wednesday. "It was called for by our  business community, and I think there 
was general support from our urban  superintendents as an important step 
forward."

However, he added,  "I don't know yet enough about Connecticut ... to draw 
that  conclusion."

McQuillan, 58, left the Massachusetts Department of  Education in 2004 to 
head the Edco Collaborative, a consortium of 21  suburban and urban school 
districts in the Boston area providing services  to disabled students, low-income 
children and others.

He was  selected from among five finalists who interviewed for the 
Connecticut  commissioner's job. "He was head and shoulders above any of the other  
candidates," said Janet M. Finneran, a member of the State Board of  Education 
from Bethany.

McQuillan, who will receive an annual  salary of $170,000, is expected to 
begin duties April 16. He will succeed  interim Education Commissioner George 
Coleman, who has held the job since  Betty J. Sternberg resigned as commissioner 
last summer.

McQuillan  was a key figure in Massachusetts' efforts to improve schools 
under the  demands of the No Child Left Behind Act, a 5-year-old federal law that  
relies heavily on student testing and calls for a shake-up of schools that  
fail to make sufficient progress.

Connecticut filed a lawsuit two  years ago challenging the cost - but not the 
substance - of the law, and  McQuillan said Wednesday that the lawsuit has 
merit and that a lack of  sufficient funding "warrants some response."

However, he added,  "that does not in any way suggest that the law will be 
ignored. ... The  achievement gap is such that it has to be addressed, and No 
Child Left  Behind gives us the tools to work on that. ... The core value of No 
Child  Left Behind is one that I fully support."

In his application for  the commissioner's job, McQuillan outlined various 
ideas he favors,  including an expansion of preschool education, a vigorous 
effort to  recruit top-notch teachers, and a longer school day and school  year.

McQuillan won praise Wednesday from educators in  Massachusetts who cited his 
efforts to enlist teachers, school boards and  others in improving public 
schools.

"He's someone whose integrity I  respect immensely," said Glenn Koocher, 
executive director of the  Massachusetts Association of School Committees. "This 
is a terrific loss  for Massachusetts."

Koocher said the Massachusetts' education  department often clashed with 
local school districts, but McQuillan "was  an anomaly in that department ... 
probably one of the very few people  everyone felt comfortable working with."

Others described him as a  respected administrator and good listener capable 
of bringing people  together to solve problems.

"You're lucky to have him," said  Kathleen Skinner, an official with the 
Massachusetts Teachers Association.  "He's a tough guy, a very solid educator. 
What we value about him is that  he's a real consensus builder. He really 
understands the collaborative  nature of public education."

McQuillan, who started his career as  an English teacher and later worked as 
an administrator in several  Massachusetts school districts, is married and 
has three  children.

Contact Robert A. Frahm at rfrahm at courant.com.  
Copyright 2007, _Hartford Courant_ (http://www.courant.com/)    
____________________________________
      

Janice M. Gruendel, Ph.D.
Governor's Senior Advisor on Early  Childhood
Co-Chair, CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet
Senior Youth  Consultant
United Way of CT & Office for Workforce  Competitiveness
Home office: 203-481-9940
Blackberry: 203-824-4766
Mail  to: 28 Juniper Point
Branford, CT 06405

"...I hope  you never fear those mountains in the distance, Never settle for 
the path of  least resistance..And when you get a chance to sit it out or 
dance, I hope you  dance..." Lee Ann Womack. I Hope You'll Dance
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ctvoices.org/pipermail/youth-list-ctvoices.org/attachments/20070118/dc3d139a/attachment.html