Just yesterday, Education Week published a piece related to “Quality Counts 2019” — its annual national ranking of school systems — and Connecticut fared well. Specifically, with an overall score of 83.6, Education Week ranked Connecticut’s public school system third in the nation, behind only New Jersey (#1) and Massachusetts (#2). 

While this is a good result, ReadyCT is mindful of other considerations that must be mentioned in any quality-of-public-education discussion. The achievement gap and the opportunity gap come to mind.

The former is the difference in performance between low-income students and their more affluent peers, and Connecticut continues to have one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation. The latter refers to the fact (as highlighted in a report from TNTP) that students across the country are working hard to get through school only to find themselves ill-prepared to live the lives they envision. They’re planning their futures based on the belief that showing up and doing course work sets them up for success, but corresponding exam results do not tell the same story.

When our organization was founded in 2011, we set our sights on closing that achievement gap. While some progress has been made (Connecticut has moved from having the largest gap to having the third largest gap), it is not enough. In 2011 we declared: every child deserves an exceptional education, without exception. In pursuit of that, we continue to work to advance academic excellence; with our deepened affiliation with CBIA, we are also investing in creating more opportunity for career-connected learning.

We welcome all voices into this important discussion — one that has the potential to bolster the Connecticut economic landscape, student by student, and community by community. To learn more about our work, visit www.readyCT.org.