Students and Schools

Across New England, freezing temps and blizzard conditions marked an unforgiving start to 2018.

This hour, we consider the factors underlying this extreme winter weather -- including the role of global climate change. 

KendraLiz Gonzalez had been in cosmetology school for only two months when Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico, destroying her school. So she took her twin girls, hopped on a plane, and came to Hartford, where she's staying with her aunt.

Connecticut is among the worst states in the country when it comes to being financially literate, according to a recent report by Champlain College.

Justin Rosa wasn't doing so great when he first moved to Connecticut from Florida in eighth grade.

"That process alone was very difficult, losing all my friends, having to start over, it was such a hard time for me,” he said. “I was very depressed." 

The once-outgoing kid began to retreat into his own head. And that's when the thoughts began.

"To be alone was such a…  a scary point in my life,” he said. “I thought that I would have committed suicide. And it wasn't until the Choose Love Foundation that everything changed."

On a cold December morning, fifth-grade teams at Simpson-Waverly School in Hartford are making skyscrapers.

Sixteen years after the U.S. entered into war with Afghanistan -- a look at one woman's efforts to inform and inspire young Afghan girls.

This hour, Shabana Basij-Rasikh talks about her upbringing under the Taliban in Kabul and about her experience co-founding SOLA -- the School of Leadership, Afghanistan. 

House Republicans are coming under fire for their proposal to tax the cost of tuition for graduate students. Critics fear that if the bill becomes law, only the wealthy would be able to afford to get advanced degrees.

Across the country, teachers are being shut out of some housing markets due to their low wages. That's according to a report by the National Council on Teacher Quality. But the outlook in Connecticut is a little better.

The idea for a gender-neutral bathroom at Three Rivers Community College has been on the table for at least two years by one account, and up to four by others.

Carolina Riollano flew into Florida on a humanitarian plane that was packed with people. Most of them were elderly or ill. But Riollano’s reason for leaving her home was different. She came here to learn.

When Serafin Mendez heard that thousands of students from the University of Puerto Rico wouldn't be able to continue their education because of hurricane-related damage to the campus, he decided to do something.

It's only a matter of time before Michael McCotter says he'll lose his job.

Sixteen years after the U.S. entered into war with Afghanistan -- a look at one woman's efforts to inform and inspire young Afghan girls.

This hour, Shabana Basij-Rasikh talks about her upbringing under the Taliban in Kabul and about her experience co-founding SOLA -- the School of Leadership, Afghanistan. 

The state's budget crisis is hitting Connecticut schools hard, and special education programs might also be feeling the pain, even though these services are protected by federal law.

A recent study called “Out Of Reach” finds that someone working full-time, earning the federal minimum wage, would be unable to rent a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in this country. But a new partnership in New Haven is trying to address the problem, one house at a time.

Hartford schools are back in session -- though, this time, there’s a new superintendent in town.

Coming up, Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez stops by our studios.

We talk about her vision for the district and answer your calls, tweets, and emails.

Do you have child in the Hartford Public School system? What questions do you have for its newest leader? 

If state lawmakers don't pass a budget, then Governor Dannel Malloy said he plans to cut overall state contributions to schools by 25 percent through executive order. But the cuts won’t be distributed equally.

Connecticut officials praised the latest 11th grade SAT scores, saying that the state is further closing the achievement gap. But many students from the state's poorest performing districts remain far behind their high-achieving peers from other parts of the state.

The NAACP has published a paper that's heavily critical of charter schools. The civil rights group visited New Haven as part of a national listening tour, hearing from all sides of the charter school debate.