The CT Mirror reports that the State Board of Education is likely to appoint Deputy Commissioner George Coleman to lead the State Department of Education until our new Governor, Dan Malloy, is able to appoint a permanent replacement to Mark McQuillan. The State BOE will meet this morning to discuss the appointment, although the agenda makes it clear that this will be a closed door discussion.
When asked about his choices for a new permanent Commissioner, Malloy said, "I am looking for a track record of success, great potential, someone who thinks outside the box, someone who stresses collaboration and change."
With that said, I'm guessing Coleman will not be Malloy's permanent choice as there is no greater "inside the box" thinker than Coleman, who has spent his entire career as an insider that learned to work the system well. Coleman gives every impression of being a decent person and a smart man, but I dare anyone to come up with anything he's ever done that was innovative.
According to biographical information on Mr. Coleman, he joined the State Department of Education in 1987 as a kindergarten consultant. Could it be that George Coleman has never worked for anyone other than the State Department of Education?
Showing posts with label Department of Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Department of Education. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
LYNN: McQuillan Resigns Citing "Stress"
With the abrupt resignation of Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan on Dec 21, Connecticut will have a new leader at the Department of Education for the first time in four years, and the first to be appointed by a Democratic Governor in 24 years. The CT Mirror carried a fascinating account of the resignation, which gives the impression that McQuillan's decision was made on the spur of the moment, surprising everyone at the State Board, Governor's transition team, and himself. In other words, McQuillan snapped. If the CT Mirror is to be believed, our Commissioner was miffed that the Malloy transition team called a meeting at the same time as McQuillan's school finance panel meeting, that McQuillan's meeting had to start late as a result, that members of the school finance panel came up with (get this) THEIR OWN IDEAS on how to reform school finance, and that the School Board Chair had the audacity to try to control the meeting. At which point McQuillan adjourns the meeting and storms out. The next day he quit.
Up to that point, the Malloy team had considered McQuillan a strong contender for reappointment to be Commissioner. Probably not so much anymore.
The State Board of Education will meet tomorrow, January 5, to appoint an interim commissioner until the Malloy team can pick a permanent replacement.
WNPR, CT's public radio station, did a soft news retrospective on the legacy of McQuillan. According to the WNPR story, McQuillan's biggest two accomplishments were a scaled-back high school reform law and getting a parent on the HS reform task force. That sounds about right to me. McQuillan has been an enormous disappointment over his four years running the education department.
Personally, I had high hopes for him. He came from Massachusetts and had served that state (as a mid-level deputy) during the time that MA underwent one of the most remarkable transformations of any state education system. MA now boasts some of the most robust and extensive achievement in the nation. Taken on its own, MA students perform near the top when compared with international students. The US as a whole has done dismally on international comparisons for decades.
One could have hoped that McQuillan would bring the MA model to Southern New England. But he did no such thing. Instead, McQuillan seemed bent on re-making CT's high schools from scratch. Rather than look at what had worked in other states or other nations, McQuillan chose to simply change everything. What he ended up proposing had no basis in research and would have imposed a model of radical experimentation on CT schools. The legislature was right to reject it. In the end, the only change McQuillan got through was to require high school graduates to do a "project" before they graduate. Wow.
Meanwhile, what happened to the State's education system under McQuillan? I'll have to dig up some hard numbers for a future post, but basically, CT continued its downward spiral in all categories except one -- we spend a lot on teacher salaries. In fact, I believe that CT has the highest teacher salaries in the nation. But every measure of performance has shown a steady decline in achievement -- graduation rates are terrible, SAT scores (of the few that do graduate) are flat, college remediation rates are soaring (as high as 40% in a recent study), and the State continues to have the biggest achievement gap in the nation.
CT was once considered to have the best schools in the nation. Now the undisputed leader is Massachusetts. CT's position has slipped on every measure. As McQuillan departs, the new Commissioner will have all of those problems to deal with, plus a budget crisis as the federal stimulus money ends, and a dysfunctional state education department.
Up to that point, the Malloy team had considered McQuillan a strong contender for reappointment to be Commissioner. Probably not so much anymore.
The State Board of Education will meet tomorrow, January 5, to appoint an interim commissioner until the Malloy team can pick a permanent replacement.
WNPR, CT's public radio station, did a soft news retrospective on the legacy of McQuillan. According to the WNPR story, McQuillan's biggest two accomplishments were a scaled-back high school reform law and getting a parent on the HS reform task force. That sounds about right to me. McQuillan has been an enormous disappointment over his four years running the education department.
Personally, I had high hopes for him. He came from Massachusetts and had served that state (as a mid-level deputy) during the time that MA underwent one of the most remarkable transformations of any state education system. MA now boasts some of the most robust and extensive achievement in the nation. Taken on its own, MA students perform near the top when compared with international students. The US as a whole has done dismally on international comparisons for decades.
One could have hoped that McQuillan would bring the MA model to Southern New England. But he did no such thing. Instead, McQuillan seemed bent on re-making CT's high schools from scratch. Rather than look at what had worked in other states or other nations, McQuillan chose to simply change everything. What he ended up proposing had no basis in research and would have imposed a model of radical experimentation on CT schools. The legislature was right to reject it. In the end, the only change McQuillan got through was to require high school graduates to do a "project" before they graduate. Wow.
Meanwhile, what happened to the State's education system under McQuillan? I'll have to dig up some hard numbers for a future post, but basically, CT continued its downward spiral in all categories except one -- we spend a lot on teacher salaries. In fact, I believe that CT has the highest teacher salaries in the nation. But every measure of performance has shown a steady decline in achievement -- graduation rates are terrible, SAT scores (of the few that do graduate) are flat, college remediation rates are soaring (as high as 40% in a recent study), and the State continues to have the biggest achievement gap in the nation.
CT was once considered to have the best schools in the nation. Now the undisputed leader is Massachusetts. CT's position has slipped on every measure. As McQuillan departs, the new Commissioner will have all of those problems to deal with, plus a budget crisis as the federal stimulus money ends, and a dysfunctional state education department.
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