Slipping from the fog of rhetoric surrounding her report on Hartford Public Schools chronic absenteeism data, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez last month sought to make a connection between “improved” chronic absenteeism and how well students were responding to survey questions asking them if they feel connected and safe in school (apparently students at the Weaver, Hartford High, and Bulkeley were not feeling as connected and safe as their chronic absenteeism numbers were all over 65%).

To show this connection, the superintendent presented the board with a slide showing data from the district’s Culture and Climate Survey.  This was just a taste of this culture and climate survey data as the superintendent stated that the district was in “the process of triangulating the data” and it would be presented at an upcoming workshop.  The survey was done in the spring of 2024; “triangulation” and/or crafting an acceptable narrative takes time.

The superintendent directed viewers attention to the fact that the data was showing that 89% of parents perceived that their child is being supported in school (which also shows that 11% of Hartford parents feel that Torres-Rodriguez has not created a supportive culture and climate at HPS).  However, what she didn’t point out to the viewing audience during this meeting was that only 14% of parents responded to her little survey, which shows a failure on the part of HPS to engage parents, which could have a trickle-down effect on their child who then turns around and becomes disengaged as well (more than 65% of HPS public high school students are chronically absent).

Only 14% of parents responded to a district survey conducted earlier this year, which is just over two years after HPS paid The New Teacher’s Project (TNTP) $111,000 to develop a project called Parent Educator Academy (which would later become F.A.C.E.S, spearheaded by former HPS employee Nuchette Black-Burke).  It was stated at the awarding of this contract in October of 2021 that “TNTP will engage with the intention of learning and capturing the input of community members, so that we may act as an advisor to HPS to integrate community feedback into program design…”  In 2024 only 14% of that community input was captured.  And rest assured, engaging families and community members has been a very costly strategy of this superintendent, TNTP is not the only failed non-profit to cash HPS checks.

Following this contract, TNTP would go on to receive nearly a half million dollars in HPS contracts to turn the Office of Talent Management (OTM) into a lean, mean, teacher-hiring machine.  Less than two years later the head of OTM (Tiffany Curtis) was gone and HPS was reporting that they were losing thirty-two teachers a month.  The last contract to TNTP for the OTM project was approved by the BOE in May of 2022, three months before Board Member Kim Oliver became an employee of TNTP.  Oliver resigned her seat on the BOE in December of 2023.

However, the misadventures of TNTP has sidetracked me from my intended target issue, HPS’ culture and climate survey data.  HPS has been conducting these surveys, which rely heavily on the perceptions of third graders in follow-up reports, since at least the spring of 2022.  The surveys are done in the spring and in the fall. Students, teachers/staff, and parents are asked such things as, are the schools clean, and does the student/child have at least one friend.

The issue with these surveys is the superintendent’s lack of reporting and publishing the results of some, while not reporting and publishing the results of others.  Perhaps there is still “triangulation” going on for surveys given two years ago.

After traversing the pitiful website of HPS, we finally discover the link for the survey data.  For student responses, we see response data for the Spring of 2022 and 2023, but there is no data for the Fall of 2022 or 2023 surveys.  And of course, Spring 2024 data is still being “triangulated.”

Family responses on the other hand, have both 2022 and 2023 Spring responses, and they have responses for the Fall of 2022 survey, but not the Fall of 2023 survey.  And of course, Spring 2024 data is still being “triangulated.”

“Staff” responses, which included teachers and those folks in central office, are even more guarded as the link to their responses reveals only the Spring 2023 data.  Somebody is screwing up this “triangulation” process big time.

The Seattle, Washington based company Qualtrics has been Torres-Rodriguez’s go-to data company for these surveys, last receiving a $111,000 contract from HPS in June of 2023.  The sales pitch on the Qualtrics website states that the use of their data products will do many things, “From understanding how to increase staff retention to uncovering new ways to drive better student outcomes.”  Their data products “ensures institutions make data-driven decisions that foster a thriving academic culture and student success.”

That’s all great but if the data takes 2 years (or even 6 months) to “triangulate,” doesn’t it become stale data and no longer appropriate to guide current action?  Sounds like a whack-a-mole game.  The reign of Torres-Rodriguez; gotta love it.