[WestRiverTraveler]

You would think, in a sane world, that the state would let high performing districts do their own thing when it comes to reading curriculum and instruction. I learned yesterday that the state denied a waiver from Madison (and many other high performing districts including Wilton, Glastonbury, Cheshire, and Westport) for K-3 reading curriculum. Meanwhile, Hartford, Torrington, New London are "meeting expectations."

I've looked at the list of approved programs. There's nothing wrong with those programs, and there are some good districts on the meeting expectations list. The insanity is that the state is expectation that towns purchase expensive literacy programs (literally hundreds of thousands) to be compliant. It's absolutely mental that towns and cities are being required to spend money on products that are completely unnecessary. Not to be too much of a tinfoil hat guy - it really makes me wonder who is getting paid from this. Our superintendent isn't dropping the issue yet, but I'm not optimistic there will be a reversal.

I'm going to do a little research on the specific reasons for the denial of waiver. If anybody has connections in any of the districts who got denied and has explanations, I would love to know the specific reasons.

In case you want to compare rankings to the list of districts with approved or denied programs.

https://insideinvestigator.org/ed-de...read-programs/

https://patch.com/connecticut/madiso...-among-best-ct

[simonusa3]

Originally Posted by WestRiverTraveler

You would think, in a sane world, that the state would let high performing districts do their own thing when it comes to reading curriculum and instruction. I learned yesterday that the state denied a waiver from Madison (and many other high performing districts including Wilton, Glastonbury, Cheshire, and Westport) for K-3 reading curriculum. Meanwhile, Hartford, Torrington, New London are "meeting expectations."

I've looked at the list of approved programs. There's nothing wrong with those programs, and there are some good districts on the meeting expectations list. The insanity is that the state is expectation that towns purchase expensive literacy programs (literally hundreds of thousands) to be compliant. It's absolutely mental that towns and cities are being required to spend money on products that are completely unnecessary. Not to be too much of a tinfoil hat guy - it really makes me wonder who is getting paid from this. Our superintendent isn't dropping the issue yet, but I'm not optimistic there will be a reversal.

I'm going to do a little research on the specific reasons for the denial of waiver. If anybody has connections in any of the districts who got denied and has explanations, I would love to know the specific reasons.

In case you want to compare rankings to the list of districts with approved or denied programs.

https://insideinvestigator.org/ed-de...read-programs/

https://patch.com/connecticut/madiso...-among-best-ct

Interesting.

I did note in the link you posted this caught my eye:

"Currently, CSDE has approved nine plans that meet expectations, including plans from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and McGraw Hill"

...

[WestRiverTraveler]

Yes, the approved curricula are all from big publishers. Interesting, right? It's also interesting to me that my district is also already using Heggerty and Fundations (which is a Wilson program - EXCELLENT.) Those programs are listed as approved compendia. We are stacked with phonics instruction.