The time is near for a potentially transformative decision to select and appoint the next educator to lead the District’s schools.  The dimensions of this decision concern all Hartford families today and will impact, for better or worse, the long-term economic viability of the Greater Hartford region.  If the challenge seems familiar, it may be because we have a revolving-door history.  Here are our thoughts on attributes of the next superintendent.

Education matters in Hartford.  School District dollars comprise more than half of the City budget – and the superintendent is the city’s highest-paid public employee.  This position matters – especially when we think of the relatively minimal role the Board and City Hall have been able to play in recent years to impact student outcomes.

As such, it is time to rethink the skillset needed in the next superintendent:

• Last time around, the search committee prioritized knowledge of instruction – education blocking and tackling, if you will – over all other attributes, looking to the Mayor and Board to provide political leadership.
• This time around, we should be prioritizing the ability to restructure central office to support our neediest schools and fully leverage partnerships across all sectors.  Bold change – and a real change-maker to lead these changes through – is what is required, particularly to support the most neglected schools and communities in Hartford.
• This also means cutting central office budgets to put more money in our chronically under-supported schools, consolidating schools with deeper implementation of student centered learning, and building a coalition that can cultivate increased resources where needed.  (See our article on how to operationalize equity.)
• More specific leadership attributes for the next superintendent (so we can avoid the Groundhog Day scenario!), include:
  • Agreeing (with the mayor and others) that local knowledge is what matters right now, not national perspective;
  • Re-emphasizing that the ability to make hard decisions and navigate city politics – whether it regards school consolidation, Sheff negotiations, central office and teacher layoffs, union contract negotiating, etc. – is paramount;
  • Partnership disposition must be even more open than before.  HPS central office staff should not be seen as a gate keepers, but as recruiters for city and community partnerships and as drivers of more alignment between universities, philanthropy, nonprofits, and policymakers with the goal of quadrupling the supports our students receive from the resources around them – including those for families;
  • A new vision for school choice is crucial if we are ever to effectively address poverty and give all students a chance – starting with redistributing the concentration of student need (as evidenced by Free and Reduced Lunch, Special Education and English Language Learning rates) among all schools and then redefining school pathways from elementary to middle and high school, families, and educators;
  • Innovating at an entirely new level around Student Centered Learning, to allow all students in Hartford the chance to progress at their own pace, is key;
  • The importance of disseminating data to track progress on individual, school, and system-wide progress cannot be overstated.  Optimally, the analyses would not only drive accountability for results, but, more importantly, shift the focus away from year-over-year gains and focus on individual student growth; and
  • Last, but certainly not least, sound financial management will be integral to success in our worsening fiscal climate.

The Bottom Line.

The next superintendent must be aligned with the Mayor’s view on the need to address structural deficiencies in our city.  They don’t only exist in our city’s revenue system; they exist throughout the Hartford Public Schools.  Now is the time to restructure the schools (if not three years ago), and the District’s next leader must have the track record and skillset necessary to do it.

As families turn their attention to the choice lottery application, the SMARTERHartford website once again is providing updated school profiles and a mapping tool to help in the process of choosing the right school.  School demographics, academic performance, and even principal attrition can be found in each school profile.
The latest Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) State test score reports and informative profiles of each school are two useful indicators for parents who want to find the right schools for their children.  The SMARTERHartford website provides one-stop shopping for this important choice.

For example, seeking information for a Third Grade student, based on the sample address of 500 Main Street, SMARTERHartford advises that:

• You live in Zone 4 (there are four quadrant zones in the city);
• Without specifying a particular zone or magnet, charter, or technical school (which can narrow your search), 36 schools are available;
• One neighborhood magnet school (Ramon Betances Early Reading Lab Magnet) is just .2 miles away, while several neighborhood schools are nearby and a number of Hartford and suburban magnet schools some 5 miles away are listed;
• Transportation information is available for each school;
• Whether the grades the school serves are K-8, Pre-K3 to 5, etc., is highlighted; and
• Reports on each school are available.  For example, take a look at the major data takeaways for Betances Early Reading Lab Magnet, the school closest to the address searched.

SMARTERHartford compares the demographic data of each school with that of the city and state at large, details the minority, special education and English learner student proportions, cites the principal turnover since 2008, and highlights chronic absenteeism rates and State SBAC achievement results.

“The State has released new cohort growth data from the SBAC assessments, which SMARTERHartford is working to synthesize and present,” Achieve Hartford! Executive Director Paul Holzer said today.  “Especially during Choice lottery season, which ends February 28, we are very grateful to The Hartford and the Vance Foundation for opening this digital doorway; parents can get an enormous amount of information efficiently on this website – and it’s only going to be enriched further.”

The Hartford Public Schools are working to build parent understanding of the federal Title 1 supports for community outreach by visiting every School Governance Council (SGC) and collaborating with Hartford Parent University on budget briefings.  It’s about time.
Hartford Board of Education Member Julio Flores pointed out Tuesday that a central office team has met with every School Governance Council (SGC).  Moreover, SGC representatives now will be invited to meetings of the Board’s Parent and Community Engagement Committee, which he chairs, Board Member Flores said.

Voicing concerns about poor communications regarding the Title 1 resource and the spotty SGC implementation, Hartford Parent University Executive Director Milly Arciniegas has gone blue in the face for years.  Now, HPU is a partner in the effort to address those issues.

At a committee meeting last week, HPS Chief Operating Officer Dr. José Colón-Rivas discussed a draft fact sheet to encourage building-level SGC and Parent Teacher Organization applications for Title 1 Parent Involvement funds.  Activities eligible for funding range from trainings relevant to a child’s developmental stages to filling out college applications – and also could include school-family-community action teams to develop public information initiatives.

Briefing parents on the nuances of District operations – and the budget – also is crucial, Board Member Flores emphasized.  “You can’t have a business meeting where no one understands.”  When he was SGC chair at Burns Latino Studies Academy, he recalled, parent leaders were feeling unsupported – and were unaware of the federal grant resources.  “Title 1 funding comes up at the schools all the time,” he said, “and no one really understands it.”

Dr. Colón-Rivas also called for focused SGC training on the budget and noted that a February meeting with Hartford Parent University is planned on that topic.

District compliance with State law requiring School Governance Councils also should be a priority, Board Member Tiffany Glanville told the committee.

Here are the State’s frequently asked questions regarding SGCs.

The Bottom Line

The desire to get more SGCs up and running at every school has been expressed – and unrealized – for seven years now.  One reason we don’t have high-functioning SGCs is that HPS has not made effective family engagement practices a priority.

The District knows where the SGCs are weak; Achieve Hartford! reported on this five years ago and District data updates annually tell the tale.  Without strong PTOs and feeder pipelines – and principals dedicated to cultivating them as a means to help close the achievement gap – this “family engagement gap” will persist.

Thankfully, the District is partnering with Hartford Parent University on this.  Past exasperation regarding lackluster Title 1 and SGC support is shifting … toward higher expectations.  The Title 1 training under way – plus enhancement of SGCs – is all about empowering parents.  That’s a huge positive.