CT-N is proud to release its latest additions to our Legislative Debate unit;

New “Hot Topics” with Distilled Debates.  We’ve added three new themes to our popular unit using current issues including:

·        Paintball Safety

·        Dissection in the Classroom

·        School Crisis Response Drills

We’ve taken the extraneous material out of our original State House and Senate recordings, so you can fast-forward less and get to the heart of the arguments faster.  Partner a debate with any one of six lesson plans tailored for use with legislative debate, or use the video as a springboard to your own curricula to help engage your class in the issues that matter to them while they learn about the function of state government.  For more information on the Legislative Debate Exercise click here.

Remember, all of our educational materials are available to educators free of charge.  To explore these and the rest of our resources, visit www.ct-n.com and click on See CT-N’s Educational Resources, or for more information feel free to email or call me.  I would also appreciate any comments or suggestions for future materials that CT-N can create for your school.

Recorded on 8/5/08                      Length 2 hours 13 minutes

In this program the NAACP wants to educate Norwich’s diverse community about Judicial Branch diversionary programs that might help them avoid prosecution or incarceration if they know to apply for them.  Panels and guest speakers will also address the topics of using the sex offender registry and navigating the Judicial Branch web site.  An informative question and answer session closes the forum.  To watch this program click here.  For more information about the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch visit www.jud.ct.gov

Recorded on 8/27/08                              Length 2 hours  

Guest speaker Jo Ann Freiberg, education consultant to the State Department of Education, speaks about school violence and bullying and talks about solutions incorporating teachers, parents and students.  To watch this program click here.

Wishing you a great school year, 

Your Friends at CT-N, the Connecticut Network 

Recorded On: 8/21/2008                         Length: 35 min   

Commissioner McQuillans' yearly back to school update with statistics on decline of student enrollment, new initiatives, legislative goals, and issues for public schools.  To watch this program click here.  For further information you can access the state's publication of "The Condition of Education in Connecticut" 

This simple, inexpensive, team-oriented way to improve school indoor air quality calls upon administrators, parents, school nurses, teachers and custodians to act as a collaborative team, investigating and prioritizing indoor air hazards in their facilities. The team then develops short and long-term strategies to help solve these problems.

A regional meeting, sponsored by the Connecticut School Indoor Environment Resource Team, the Quinnipiac Valley Health District, and the Amity School District, will be held at Miller Library in Hamden on May 22, 2008 from 1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The program will include a case study presentation as well as successes and hardships for programs throughout the state. School administrators and staff, local health professionals, and interested parents are encouraged to attend. 

Recorded on 4/8/08                 Length 2 hours

The CT Commission on Children heard from Department of Correction gang expert, John Aldi about the current extent of gang activity in the state, in an effort to learn how to recognize, identify, understand, and respond to gangs.  Click here to watch this program.

Recorded on January 25, 2008                 Length 2 hours 50 minutes  

This meeting included a report on a statewide survey on teen driving, a report on DMV tracking of teen driving violations and consideration & approval of proposed changes in teen driving laws to recommend to the legislature.  For further research, click here to watch the Task Force on Teen Driving Public Hearing recorded on January 31, 2008 where public input was solicited.

Recorded January 30, 2008                     Length 1 hour 46 minutes

The State Dept. of Education is holding a series of public forums to detail the proposals to improve state high schools & raise performance standards, and to hear the public’s view.  The proposals recommend new state requirements for graduation including increasing minimum credits to 24; a core curriculum of required courses; a senior year project; and state end-of-course exams.  Designed to raise standards and better prepare students for college & the workplace, the new proposals also require locally administered end-of-course performance tasks & student plans for career paths.  Parents, educators, school board members and business and community leaders are being asked for their views on the high school reform proposals before they are sent to the legislature.  This year the State Board of Education will ask the legislature to fund a study to determine the costs of the new graduation requirements both to the state and local and regional school districts.  The State Board of Education expects to make its recommendations for high school changes including the costs associated with them next year for the 2009 General Assembly session.   Click here to read more.

This task force was charged by the Governor to revise current teen driving laws and make recommendations to the legislature for the 2008 session.  This is a great issue that your students would have a vested interest in and can start tracking now.  In this meeting, the task force receives a presentation from Dr. Jack Thaw, an adolescent physiologist.  The task force will meet again on January 25^th.  Click here to view the Governor’s Teen Driving Task Force web site. 

Funded by the General Assembly within the 2008 budget, this pilot project will be available at no cost to school districts.  Students will remain enrolled in their current schools, but will have the option to take online courses that meets their academic needs. (See http://www.ctvirtuallearning.com for listing of available courses).   

“The state has created a high speed optical computer network, called the Connecticut Education Network that connects all the school districts in the state,” said Governor Rell. “The Connecticut Virtual Learning Center will be using this state resource in the delivery its online content.”

The primary focus for the program will be twofold:

1. Courses for students at risk of falling behind or failing will be offered in Algebra, Geometry, English, Civics or Health.  Students can avoid summer school and recover credit by taking these online courses during the school year. 
2. Interesting electives that may not be available at many schools, such as Mandarin Chinese, Biotechnology and International Business.

The curriculum for these dynamic, fully interactive online courses have been approved by the State Department of Education’s Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction and will be taught by CT certified teachers.   “Online learning is an option for students that need the flexibility to learn something at their own pace,” Governor Rell said. “The online experience is relevant and transferable to future opportunities.”

That necessity is recognized by Michigan, the first state to require every student to take at least one online experience in order to graduate high school.  Other states across the country are actively working to implement policies and programs for online learning options that open educational choices to their students.

The CT Virtual Learning Center is being run by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC).  Ed Klonoski, President of the CTDLC said, “Over the past six years, the CTDLC has been developing programs and services that support education through online learning, centrally developed and distributed content, and resource sharing.  These programs include the Connecticut Adult Virtual High School and other partnerships with the Connecticut Department of Higher Education to develop online college preparation courses.”

Please contact Gretchen Hayden, Project Manager, with any questions about the CT Virtual Learning Center. ghayden@ctdlc.org  (860)-832-3891

Recorded November 29, 2007        Length 3 hours 2 minutes

A discussion of root causes behind  the stagnation and/or decline of reading skills in K through 12 classrooms.  Includes status report of current research; panel discussion on the achievement gap; strategies for problem readers; and success stories around the state.

Recorded November 19, 2007        Length 3 hours 

Created by the legislature in 2005 at the request of the governor, the early childhood cabinet oversees the state's pre-school programs emphasizing expansion, improving quality, and evaluation. This cabinet is advising the education commissioner on school readiness, conducting a long-term evaluationof readiness, developing a budget for early childhood programs and overseeing preschool quality. To visit the cabinet’s website click here.

Recorded October 22, 2007            Length 3 hours 51 minutes

Over 300 students, teachers, school administrators, police offices and social workers along with community & government leaders and legislators participated in this forum to discuss the many different faces of bullying, current and future remedies and to hear a keynote presentation from Dr. Ken Rigby, an expert in the field.

Recorded October 16, 2007            Length 2 hours 17 minutes

The Center for First Amendment Rights is a public foundation which promotes public education about the First Amendment for students and citizens throughout New England.  The purpose of this conference is to help students and educators learn how to avoid legal confrontations over 1^st Amendment issues in schools by learning how to communicate & build consensus.  Guest speakers discuss legal issues and a special performance of  “Voices of Conflict”; a play written by Wilton High School drama students as a class project using interviews, letters and essays by Iraqi civilians and American soldiers in Iraq that was banned for it’s controversial content.

Recorded August 24, 2007             Length:  2 hours 40 minutes

An education consultant specializing in bullying, school climate and character education, Jo Ann Freiberg addresses teachers, administrators and staff about school climate in this professional development setting.   For more information, Ms. Freiberg can be reached at 860 -713-6598 or  joann.freiberg@ct.gov