Unless state lawmakers restore funding during this legislative session for a state program that helps to improve student reading skills in priority districts, Connecticut will take a step backward in its campaign to close the student achievement gap.

This regressive circumstance was one of the points made by State Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan when he appeared before the legislature’s Appropriations Committee on March 4 to discuss the merits and necessity of funding the State Department of Education’s Early Reading Success (ERS) program.

Nearly $20 million had been budgeted for ERS funding in the 2007 legislative session for the next school year, FY 09, but it was eliminated when the biennial budget was adopted last June. The program has come under fire recently, and the commissioner acknowledged this in his remarks before the committee.

“It’s an unclear picture, but a distressing one,” he said. “Things are very uneven. It’s a bit of a murky picture and we want to take steps to better administer the program.”

Among the 19 cities that have received state funding for ERS programs are Bridgeport and Waterbury, both of which would lose nearly $3 million in the next school year if the funding is not restored.

“Teachers involved with ERS in these districts are vital to providing disadvantaged students with the skills they need to become proficient and – ultimately – successful readers in school and throughout their lives,” said CEA President Phil Apruzzese. “CEA is working with leaders of the Appropriations Committee to restore part or all of this funding so teachers can continue to help improve the reading skills of urban students.”

The commissioner said most, if not all, of the funding for ERS – established in FY 1998-99 to provide grants to priority school districts to increase reading achievement for K-3 students – is dedicated to hiring reading teachers, reading coaches, and paraprofessionals who assist teachers with the instruction of struggling readers. Restoring this funding now, he said, would send a signal to districts not to begin the process to lay off any individuals for the next school year.

McQuillan said low reading skills are a “lurking problem” that will persist without intervention and that the ERS program is one of the steps SDE has taken to address this issue. He added that national and state assessment data for Connecticut show stagnating reading skills, which are an indication that more strategies are needed to help increase the reading ability of students.

The commissioner said his goal is not only to restore funding but also to implement “greater degrees of excellence” in reading skills going forward. Among McQuillan’s proposed improvement strategies if the $20 million is restored:

·        Revise the regulations for the existing ERS program to focus exclusively on intensive early intervention reading programs.

·        Increase priority school district funds by $5.1 million to cover districts now using ERS for full-day kindergarten and class-size reduction.

·        Restore nearly $14.4 million for ERS money dedicated to early reading intervention.

·        Request funding for external literacy facilitators for SDE in FY10 to oversee accountability implementation of ERS grant funds to districts.

In addition to these strategies to reverse the reading trend in priority districts, McQuillan told the Appropriations Committee that he has new expectations for how districts use ERS funds. They include:

·        Evaluate student progress via Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2) tool administered three times a year as well as grade 3 CMT results.

·        Use external literacy facilitators – if funding is approved for FY 10 – to provide regular monitoring of reading programs that are implemented.

·        Require districts to hire only new teachers who have successfully passed a state-administered reading instruction examination as part of their pre-service course work for initial certification.

·        Require districts to submit annual improvement plans focused on the above.

·        Require districts and schools in receipt of funding to be evaluated annually for individual student achievement and making adequate yearly progress (AYP) on the CMT.

·        Require each school and/or district not making AYP subject to sanctions and/or measures under Connecticut’s 2007 accountability legislation.