Response to ct right to read act
On September 29, 2022 the Connecticut State Department of Education issued a memorandum in which it announced sweeping mandates requiring all Connecticut school districts to purchase and implement certain CSDE “approved K-3 core comprehensive reading curricula/programs” in the upcoming school year. On October 11th, 2022 the Connecticut State Department of Education released a process through which school districts could submit an application that would allow a district to obtain a waiver from having to comply with the mandate and the costs associated with it.
On February 28th, 2023 Region 15 submitted a waiver application. The waiver submitted is not a defense of any one approach or a manifesto on best practices and Region 15 believes in the basic premise of the legislation, that all students should be able to read by third grade. The application is an explanation of our current approach and why we believe in the agency of Region 15 to control its own path without the requirement to implement a state mandate that has failed to demonstrate increased achievement rates, comes without funding, and makes biased assumptions about students and teachers.
The application document outlines where we are, what is working, reflections on our improvement process, and where we are going. There is no posted timeline for the State Department's response or approval process and no published criteria on how the application will be reviewed. As this information becomes available, we will post any related information here as well.