$2.9 Million for Connecticut High School Educationon
FUNDS
The New Britain Herald
Tia Albright
Boston University Washington News Service
October 5, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 – Students at New Britain High School are attending the school with the highest student-to-teacher ratio in Connecticut and one of the lowest graduation rates. But help, in the way of federal funds, is on the way.
Connecticut will receive a five-year grant of $2.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education to support the development of small, safe and successful learning environments in large high schools throughout the state, Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman announced Wednesday.
“We know that in a large school like ours, one of the most important things for our students is to build personal connections, and this can be achieved with smaller learning communities,” said Michael Foran, interim principal of New Britain High School.
For the 2004 to 2005 school year, the average student-to-teacher ratio in state high schools was 20 to 1, according to the Connecticut State Department of Education. New Britain High, which has 3,300 students, had an average of 26 students per teacher, the highest in the state.
With a graduation rate of 73 percent, the school ranked 10th from the bottom out of 174 high schools in the state, according to the state agency.
New Britain High School will open a ninth-grade academy next fall. The ninth graders will be put into groups of approximately 100 students each with teachers who work only with students in their group. The students will get to know the teachers better and the teachers will get to know the students, creating a better learning environment, Foran said.
“Ninth grade is the key transition year for students, and students who don’t get off to a good start are less likely to graduate,” Foran said. “There are tremendous benefits to making school environments smaller.”
Foran said that creating smaller learning communities doesn’t automatically create smaller classes.
“One of the problems financially is that as smaller learning communities come into existence, we have to create more classes, so if the grant allows, then it may lead to smaller class sizes,” Foran said. Since the grant was just announced, it has not been decided how much money each school in the state will get.
Awarded under the No Child Left Behind’s smaller learning community program, the grants focus on improving high school for students by providing them with a more personalized high school experience, which will help improve academic and social achievements and performance, according to the senators’ press release.
“We know that in a large school like ours, one of the things that is most important is for students to build personal connections, and smaller learning communities can meet those needs,” Foran said.
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