Led by their mispositioned non-parliamentarian Chairman, Phillip Rigueur, the Hartford Board of Education recently proved that stupidity doesn’t take summers off.  With their most recent bellyflop into the summer session, Hartford’s worthless BOE allows, as Winston Churchill would point out, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez to claim success while stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.

The BOEs most recent surrender of reasonable responsibility over evaluation, assessment, and examination occurred during their July 11 Committee of the Whole meeting and a pre-contract renewal presentation concerning the work of a group called ReadyCT.

But first, let’s set the table with a look at these ReadyCT folks.

ReadyCT, formerly known as the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER), was born from a 2010 Gov. Jodi Rell task force tasked with examining Connecticut’s achievement gap.  ReadyCT now operates as a subsidiary non-profit organization tasked with leveraging their association with business, industry, and professional folks to create opportunities for students in work-based learning programs. 

Relevant career integration into school classes, guest speakers, worksite tours, job shadowing, work-based projects, and paid internships are provided to students through ReadyCT and by the generous donations of local business and industry folks, and the Gawlicki Family Foundation.  One of these donors, Hartford Healthcare, is also the employer of BOE member Phillip Rigueur.

Of the $600,000 HPS paid ReadyCt for the two years ending June 2023, $570,000 (95%) went toward “ReadyCT administration” and toward the salaries of three in-school “program managers.”  That being said, the “management and operation” of ReadyCt is done by the Connecticut Business and Industry Alliance (CBIA), which receives a “management fee” funneled to them by ReadyCT’s non-profit fundraising practices.  I assume the amount of the “management fee” paid to CBIA is always approved by the ReadyCT Board of Directors since CBIA President and CEO Chris DiPentima sits on ReadyCT’s board. 

For the satisfaction of being “managed and operated” by another organization, and for the satisfaction of being funded by the tax write-off generosity of other organizations, the Executive Director of ReadyCT, Shannon Marimon, sits back and collects a $190,000 a year paycheck.  Ms. Marimon has previous ties to HPS as she was employed by longtime HPS partner, the Connecticut RISE Network, as well as longtime partner, The New Teacher Project (TNTP), where Board Member Oliver currently practices her “award winning” executive-ness.  Ms. Marimon also did a stint at the Connecticut State Department of Education as Division Director of the Talent Office where one of her tasks was to advise “school and district leaders on talent management efforts.”  That advise and those efforts didn’t take root  at Hartford Public Schools’ Office of Talent Management, obviously.

If this whole arrangement was put into an Excel spreadsheet, we’d end up with several circular reference errors.  Yet the state believes having a teacher serve on the board of education would be a conflict of interest.  This state’s state-city-non-profit-business clique works so well together because they were made for each other…and they all know each other.

So, back to last week’s ReadyCT renewal presentation.  Apparently, the more than a half-million dollars paid to ReadyCT for their CBIA managed and operated services and for their CBIA business and industry connections, is not enough to sustain a work-based learning initiative at HPS.  In December 2021, the BOE bestowed another half-million dollars on a New Haven education consulting non-profit, Higher Heights (HH), for “college preparatory and workforce development and training services” to HPS (it is unclear why HH’s  non-profit tax filing for 2021 states only $237,000 in revenue for the entre 2021 year).  HH’s role appears to duplicate that of Gloria Ortiz Rivera, who, during a September 29, 2021 Teaching & Learning Committee meeting, was presented to the Board as being ReadyCT’s Director of Early College & Career Pathways.

At the pre-renewal party for ReadyCT last week, it was not Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez giving the “deep-dive” presentation, it was not a member of ReadyCT doing the talking, it was not a mouthpiece from one of the many businesses under the CBIA umbrella running the show, no, it was the founder of Higher Heights, Dr. Chaka Felder-McEntire, the education consultant (who’s half-million dollar contract expired in June), giving the board the rhetoric they need to renew ReadyCT’s contract.

Using pronouns such as “we” and “our” to describe HPS’ relationship with ReadyCT, Ms. Felder-McEntire stated that the relationship was a “long standing” one.  Looking backwards to August of 2018 (the limit of HPS’ BoardDocs search capabilities), the first contract found from HPS to ReadyCT occurred in October of 2021 (renewed in June, 2022), a contract not identified as a “renewal” or a “continuation.”  In May 2020, HPS listed ReadyCT as an external partner in their state turnaround report for Hartford High.  In what capacity and under what name created an HPS/ReadyCT relationship prior to October of 2021?  

A ReadyCT published “Impact Report” for the school year 2019-20 states that they were managing career pathways at Weaver High, Hartford High, and Pathways Academy (an HPS magnet school located in East Hartford), yet no HPS contract with ReadyCT for that school year is found.  Their “Impact Report” for the school year 2020-21 stated that they were “continuing to support career-themed pathways” at the three schools.  If you read those “Impact Reports,” you will find not one iota of data to assess anything related to ReadyCT’s “impact” on HPS students, which is something the current BOE can identify with and to which we now turn our attention.

ReadyCT’s 2021 “Scope of Work” proposal to HPS states that they will “track key metrics of success and student outcomes on a semi-annual basis.”  In March of 2022, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez told the Hartford Courant, “We know that when students are in a pathway, their attendance is higher, they are more engaged and they perform better in school” (Hartford Courant, Mar. 23, 2022, Pg. SS1-2).  In that same Courant story, Flora Padro, principal of HPHS, said her school has seen pass rates in the pathway classes “exceed 85%, sometimes reaching into the 90s.”  However, data supporting either of these comments would not be forthcoming.

At their first renewal in June of 2022, ReadyCT stated that their “effectiveness” can be assessed by the following:

•  “%” of students on-track for graduation/earning credit for next grade level – NO MATCHING DATA PROVIDED TO BOARD,

• Student surveys on perception of career readiness program - NO MATCHING DATA PROVIDED TO BOARD,

• Teacher surveys on perception of career readiness program - NO MATCHING DATA PROVIDED TO BOARD,

• Employer survey specific to student’s internship experience - NO MATCHING DATA PROVIDED TO BOARD,

What data did they provide to the Board in order for them to assess whether a renewal contract was justified?  That would be the following:

• 561 freshmen from Weaver, Hartford High, and Bulkeley listed as “pathway sign-ups” in the spring of 2022. Based on EdSight data, that is 74% of all freshmen from the three high schools.

•  444 10th-12th graders “enrolled” during the 2021-22 school year.  Based on Edsight data, that is 35% of all possible high school students in grade 10-12 from the three high schools.

• 9% (190) students participated in a work-based learning career readiness “event,”

• 14% (276) students participated in college and career readiness “index lessons,”

•  3 students participated in a college readiness “event,”

• 13 students participated in a “Networking Event (CBIA Annual Meeting),”

• 13% of students participated in a “speaker series” event,

• 20 students participated in a “volunteer opportunity,”

• 22 students participated in a “worksite tour.”

• 18% (226) students participated in paid internships.

It doesn’t appear Hartford students were drinking this Kool-Aid in 2022.  The Board, however, voted 4-0 in favor of renewal at their June Regular Meeting without asking for any data related to ReadyCT’s stated assessment of effectiveness criteria.

During ReadyCT’s renewal presentation last week, Ms Felder-McEntire began by stating “we are really excited about” the “impact” of ReadyCT.  I anxiously awaited a data slide which would reveal some really exciting and impactful numbers.  Maybe next year.

The “impact” which Ms. Felder-McEntire was “excited” about, was revealed to be that of obtained “certifications” from NAF (use the link with caution, they want your donation), which is an organization that puts their seal of approval on a school’s career pathway program while also being an organization that does not have a single career education professional on their board of directors.  NAF bases their certification on “student performance through the completion of career-focused courses, internship assessments, and high school graduation.”  Apparently HPS and ReadyCT are sharing data with NAF that they are not sharing with the board or the HPS community.

Just as ReadyCT’s Executive Director Shannon Marimon shared their effectiveness criteria with the board in 2022, Ms. Felder-McEntire shared that same criteria list with the board last week, and once again, no data was provided for much of that list.  An enrollment table was provided, much like it was in 2022, except that this year they did away with the freshman enrollment numbers, although Ms. Felder-McEntire assured the board that “1,000 freshman had committed to a pathway.” 

What the enrollment table reveals for the 2022-23 school year are not actual enrollment numbers, but “total intent forms submitted.”  Thus, success in this instance is defined by HPS as being those students who almost actually went through the program.  I’m guessing the real enrollment numbers were not as exciting as the NAF certification news.  Those numbers are available if you watch the video of the agonizing presentation, but I will not share them here because they are not real numbers and serve only to insult the intelligence of anyone not calling themselves a member of the BOE.

And just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, Ms. Felder-McEntire presented the slide below, entitled “Past Performance Data in HPS: Work-based Learning.”  Great, this ought to contain some data a meat eater can digest.