A recent study released by WalletHub on racial equality in education ranked Connecticut as the 49th best, or second worst, state. In WalletHub’s 2023 edition of the study, Connecticut ranked third worst, meaning the state has since fallen a spot.
“Promoting racial equality in education can have a significant impact on promoting equality in the overall economy,” said Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst. “It is essential to ensure that all school districts receive sufficient funding, the latest technology, and equal opportunities for tutoring and extracurricular activities, regardless of their racial composition.”
The study used data from the US Census Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, ACT and College Board to compare differences in educational attainment among white and black Americans in each state. The study ranked Connecticut to have the 35th largest racial disparity in high school degree attainment, 50th worst disparity in bachelor’s degree attainment, 45th worst in standardized test scores, 41st worst in mean SAT scores and 36th worst public high school graduation rates.
The only state to rank worse than Connecticut was the state of Wisconsin. Connecticut was joined in the bottom ten by the nearby states of New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts, which ranked 46th, 45th, and 41st, respectively. Ranking first was the state of Wyoming.
The issue of racial disparity in educational outcomes is not new to the state; in 1996, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the city of Hartford must implement programs to better integrate the city’s schools. In 2022, the state and plaintiffs reached their most recent agreement on the case, which stipulated that court oversight of the city’s school district would end in 2032 if the state could meet 100% of the demand of Hartford children who wished to go to a desegregated school.
Two of Connecticut’s most diverse districts, Hartford and Bridgeport, are the targets of frequent intervention by the state’s Department of Education (CSDE). On April 2, the CSDE ordered a forensic audit of the Bridgeport School District, and CSDE has also played a role in Hartford’s desegregation efforts.
Other initiatives incorporated by the state to reduce educational inequalities have been its Open Choice enrollment system, the 2013 decriminalization of address sharing, as well as the state’s ECS grants well as the state’s 2017 reworking of its education cost sharing grants to provide more funding to the most distressed districts. The legislature also passed a bill this session to provide state schools with a total of $30 million in additional funding for special education, with the grants to be allocated based on the ECS formula.
The study asked a panel of educational experts for their recommendations on reducing racial inequality in education. Prof. Tyrone Howard, Director of UCLA’s Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families, offered recommendations seemingly aligned with Connecticut’s past approaches.
“Programs that focus on the lowest-performing schools and schools in low-income areas must continue to be a focus for educational equity,” said Howard.
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Wow, Connecticut has gone from “49th worst state” (2nd best?) to “third worst”.
What could have caused such a severe drop?
Maybe NY should be rated “1st worst” in English language and journalism education…
B.S. if black kids quit school who’s fault is that? THEIRS AND THEIR PARENTS! You cannot force them to go to school, especially when it is easy for them to get State Aid, and no I am not being racist, I am stating known facts!
Lets critically think… may there be some outside force that would cause Black Americans to leave educational settings and public education at larger rates than their white peers? If you’re suggesting that lack of education is inherent and inseparable to being black, you’re racist. Which is what you are doing.
The Bell Curve was excoriated because a minor section of the book dared to mention race and IQ. Whether or not one likes to discuss it doesn’t make it irrelevant. Factoring in uninterested parents from the inner city who often are single parents, on welfare, high school dropouts and not working and their kids are all but doomed.
These results reflect the total failure of pedagogy in CT’s public schools, as well as the breakdown of the family and other factors. Schools of education are the worst offenders, followed the political agendas of the teachers’ unions. CT’s are the fifth highest paid in the nation, proving that more money is not the answer the self-serving teachers’s unions would have you believe it is. Instead if a rigorous phonics initiative, CT’s public schools are still playing around failed whole language and “balanced literacy” programs. Children must be taught through phonics (now called “The Science of Reading”) and be able to read by 3rd grade after which the ability to handle substantive subjects is essential. This must be paired with Core Knowledge (or Cultural Literacy) beginning in kindergarten so children will comprehend the words and references they find in the printed word. Minority children and their families must be identified and assisted in gaining cultural literacy at age 4 to reduce the 30 million word deficit most encounter when entering school at age 5. Most black children, particularly black boys , drop out because they are functionally illiterate and shamed before their white peers. This deficit should be
identified and remedied as soon as possible to short-circuit the school to prison pipeline. CRT, DEI, ESJ and cruel hoaxes and time wasters perpetrated by ideologues who have no idea of the harm they doing. The scores speak for themselves. The racial achievement has barely budged in over 20 years. Compare this to the charter schools in NYC where black children are achieving high levels of success where learning is the focus. Read “The Knowledge Deficit” and Cultural Literacy” by ED Hirsch and “Charter Schools and Their Enemies” by Thomas Sowell. And visit: greater educationcouncilofCt.org