Department of Education

A new education bill seeks to add African-American studies to the social studies curriculum in Connecticut public schools. High school students testifying before the legislature this week said loud and clear that Black history is more than just Rosa Parks, slavery and civil rights.

Advanced Placement test scores continue to rise in Connecticut, as does the number of students taking them.

The stereotypes around homeschooling have existed for decades. Since the modern homeschooling movement began in the late 20th century, those who favored this educational approach have largely been perceived as white, anti-establishment, radically Christian, and ultra-conservative.

Most Connecticut schools have access to a track when they practice. The Academy of Science and Innovation, a CREC magnet school in New Britain, doesn’t.

It was 1st-and-10 from the Capital Prep 39-yard line. There were under four minutes left in the opening quarter of a 2014 Connecticut High School Football championship game. North Branford had the ball, up 7-6.

Connecticut’s Sheff magnet system is back in the spotlight -- this time, for reports of questionable admissions practices.

This hour: hand-picked or luck of the draw? We find out how some Hartford-area schools have been skirting around the state’s lottery process. 

Billionaire Betsy DeVos is the new Secretary for the US Department of Education.

This hour, how will she impact public school education nationwide including here in Connecticut? We hear from educators within traditional public and charter schools — and we want to hear from you, too.

Public school superintendents in the state’s three largest cities — Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford — have all recently announced their resignations.

This hour, we look at superintendent turnover in Connecticut.

Starting on Oct. 1, prospective college students will be able to access and file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid —  commonly known as FAFSA — for the 2017-18 school year. That’s three months earlier than the usual date and is part of an initiative by the Obama Administration to provide timely financial aid information to high school students and their families.

U.S. Education Secretary John B. King, Jr. spoke with us about how exactly this decision will help.

On the issue this earlier deadline is trying to resolve: 

Since last week's Wheelhouse, we had one candidate learn where Aleppo is, we heard one candidate refer to a "basket of deplorables," and we learned the same candidates campaign had been hiding a pneumonia diagnosis.

A transcript of this show is available here.

It's hard to think about language as being endangered or replaceable. But as our culture and means of communication evolve, certain languages find their utility in decline. Braille and sign language are in just such a predicament.

Nearly every lawmaker in the General Assembly voted to create minimum qualifications for the state’s education commissioner. But Governor Dannel Malloy decided to veto the bill and now the state’s largest teachers union is now asking the legislature to override the veto.

Advocates for the rights of children met in Hartford to talk about how to reduce the number of students being restrained or secluded in school. Part of the solution involves training educators on alternative ways to handle behavior problems.

Roughly half of the state’s school districts have been trained in what’s called positive behavior interventions and supports, or PIBS. It’s a program designed to limit restraints and seclusions of students with disabilities. Many of these kids have autism, and these incidents often lead to injuries.

Detentions, suspensions, and expulsions: these are the time-honored  and well-worn enforcements of many a scorned teacher. Even student arrests are not uncommon in some troubled school districts. The practice of addressing bad behavior in the classroom with an even worse punishment has long been the norm.

Later this month, Connecticut students will begin taking the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test, which is designed to measure their progress in a variety of subject areas. 

But some are not so thrilled about Connecticut’s testing requirements. The state’s largest teachers union recently asked lawmakers to cut back on standardized tests. And a number of parents say they plan to opt their kids out of SBAC testing this Spring.

People have been puzzled since the beginning. And while that might sound like a problem, it may in fact be our preferred state of being. Since the first fires needed to be lit with tinder too damp to kindle, we've been problem solving. When one problem was solved, another was found. And when seemingly, we could no longer find enough problems to satiate our appetites, we created puzzles: problems in a box; food for our minds.

Ever since 1778 when Thomas Jefferson, revising the laws of Virginia, wrote something called a Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, there's been an ongoing debate about how to make sure people know what they need to know to participate fully as citizens of this democracy.

As is so often the case with Jefferson, his ideas and words seem visionary and eternal until you poke around in them a little bit and then it gets more complicated especially vis-a-vis who he thought was really fit to lead the American people.