According to a recently released report from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE), while some aspects of education are recovering from the effects of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, students remain behind in learning outcomes.
The Condition of Education in Connecticut is an annual report CSDE is statutorily required to produce.
According to the report, academic achievement has improved in math and science, but achievement in English language arts (ELA) is mixed. Across subjects, proficiency rates are below pre-pandemic averages. ELA proficiency is down six to nine percent, while math proficiency is down four to seven percent. Math achievement has the lowest decline, down one to five percent.
The rate of academic growth was lower in 2022-2023 than it was in the previous years and lower than pre-pandemic levels in some cases.
CSDE estimates that students in grades 4 and 5 are two to three months behind where they would be expected to be if the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred. This number is higher for older students. CSDE estimates students in grades 6 through 8 are 5 to 7 months behind in ELA and a year or more behind in math.
In the past decade, the high school graduation rates for students who are Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, who have disabilities, who are eligible for free meals, and who are either English language learners or multilingual learners have increased at a rate higher than the state average.
The public student body has also become increasingly diverse in the last five years. During the 2017-2018 school year, 46.4 percent of students were students of color. During the 2022-2023 school year, that figure was 52.5 percent.
Graduation rates dropped, from 89.6 percent in 2021 to 88.9 percent in 2022. The percentage of ninth grade students who are on track to graduate dropped for the third year in a row, falling from 82.7 percent of students to 82.4 percent. That figure is the lowest in the past seven years. CSDE identified this as an area that needs continued focus and stated that “an increase in required credits from five to six likely impact 9th grade credit attainment and on-track rates.”
During the 2022-2023 school year, Connecticut expended approximately $11.4 billion on schools, excluding investments in land, buildings, and debt. Out of every dollar spent, roughly 61 cents went to instruction for students. Spending on student instruction totaled just over $7 billion for the 2022-2023 school year, with $12,942 being spent per pupil.
All education spending increased between 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, with the largest increases coming from student instruction and salaries. For the 2022-2023 school year, roughly $6.5 billion was spent on salaries. That figure accounted for 57 percent of total expenditures by object. Employee benefits, totaling roughly $1.8 billion, were the second largest category of spending by object at 16 percent.
The total number of general and special education teachers decreased slightly during the 2022-2023 school year for the first time since 2019-2020. General and special education teachers made up 78.7 percent of full-time equivalent staff during the most recent school year.
Across the board, total certified staff have increased by roughly 3 percent over the past six years, with most of the increase coming from special education teachers, instructional specialists, counselors and school psychologists, and central office administrators. The number of administrators increased the most, by 20.4 percent.
Rates of suspension increased by 0.5 percent between 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, rising from 6.5 percent to 7 percent. CSDE notes that the COVID-19 pandemic skewed statistics for the 2020-2021 school year, but the 2022-2023 school year is in line with school years prior to the pandemic.
Chronic absenteeism declined by 3.7 percent in the 2022-2023 school year, falling from 23.7 percent to 20 percent. Per the CSDE, this means roughly 28,000 more students were regularly attending school. Chronic absenteeism rates continued to be higher for high-needs students. Despite the year-over-year decline, absenteeism for all students continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
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Take a look at the recent NAEP report for CT. The Education Department report is a whitewash. All they’re doing is obscuring the abysmal state of CT K-12 education. It’s disappointing that your reporting is so poor.
Time to privatize the education system. These numbers are ridiculous. The BOA and the union are sleeping with the politicians they (union, administration and faculty) financially back and vote for and it’s costing the taxpayers more then they’re receiving.
The only people in support of public education are those who are directly benefiting at the expense of others. They hide behind some claimed “public benefit” that doesn’t really exist. Doing away with public education wouldn’t get rid of education – just all the bloat and ideological nonsense that drags students and educators down. Its a no brainer to abolish public education.