great news from bridgeport public schools

The mission of the Bridgeport Public Schools and its supporting community is to graduate all students "college ready" and

prepared to succeed in life.

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Of all 100 urban school districts that are eligible for The Broad Prize, Bridgeport Public Schools serves the highest percentage of poor students—95 percent qualify for free and reduced-price school lunch. Those demographics have led Bridgeport to embrace the idea of extending its focus beyond straight academics to include what Superintendent John Ramos calls the "well-being of the whole child."

 

"We need to create a school infrastructure that supports student social and emotional well-being, too, as a way of eliminating the barriers to learning," explains Henry Kelly, deputy superintendent for learning and teaching.

 

That philosophy has become evident in the district's commitment to provide full family health care at each school for students and their families. With onsite staff that includes a nurse practitioner, dentist, mental health counselor, outreach worker and others, the district recognizes that if children are healthy, they are more likely to learn.

 

And Bridgeport's approach is paying off. In 2006, Bridgeport outperformed other districts in Connecticut serving similar student populations in reading and math at all grade levels, according to The Broad Prize methodology. Bridgeport also showed greater improvement than peer districts in the state. Bridgeport's low-income students also showed great improvement than their peers in similar Connecticut districts in reading and math at all grade levels, according to the Broad Prize methodology.

 

Embedded professional development. The secret to the district's student achievement starts behind the scenes with frequent professional development opportunities for teachers and school leaders. But its primary—and substantial—investment in ongoing learning is through instructional coaching. Every elementary and middle school in the district is assigned one numeracy coach and at least one literacy coach—sometimes as many as three, depending on the needs of the school's student population.

 

Teachers also enjoy the support of curriculum specialists—district team members who are deployed to schools throughout the city to support curriculum design and instruction. Teachers laud these embedded professional development strategies as one of their greatest instructional supports.

 

"Our specialists and our coaches are of tremendous support to the implementation of the curriculum and the instruction that takes place in the district," says Ricardo Rosa, the district's director of mathematics.

 

Union leaders agree. "Our gains are due to professional development and fantastic coaches," says Milagros Vizcarrondo, president of Bridgeport Council of Administrators and Supervisors, the local administrators' union.

 

Bridgeport's coaches don't stay on the sidelines. They spend at least 60 percent of their time in classrooms, offering on-site assistance to teachers by modeling teaching strategies, co-teaching lessons and providing additional materials. Outside of class, coaches help teachers analyze student performance data.

 

"Our coaches are great," says Claudia Tuozzli, a third-grade teacher who has worked in Bridgeport for 10 years. "They share assessment tools that are different from what I normally use, and they help me tap into them so that I can really assess where each child is."

 

Despite the many challenges that students, teachers and leaders must overcome in a district that is surrounded by some of the wealthiest districts in the country, it is clear that Bridgeport's strategic investments in wrap-around services and embedded instructional leadership have been significant levers for its continued improvement.

 

For more information about Bridgeport's specific practices, please visit: www.broadprize.org/finalists.shtml.

 

 

           

 

Recently, the Bridgeport Education Association's New Teacher Committee held a New Teacher Social for Bridgeport's first and second year teachers at Vazzi's Brick Oven Restaurant in Bridgeport.

 

Bridgeport's new teachers came out to enjoy an afternoon of free food, fun association, raffles, and new teacher survival packets.  This annual event is sponsored by MetLife.

 

          

 

      

 

 

 

By Michael Fornabaio