Extra ECS Funding Approved for Vernon

Remember all that extra Educational Cost Sharing funds Vernon was in line to get as one of the state's Alliance District schools?

Well, it was approved by state officials on Wednesday.

That's more than $600,000 in state money. The Alliance District is a fancy name for a program in which the 30 bottom-ranked school systems can improve their performances - especially wqhen it comes to standardized tests.

The document was released to the media at 5:33 p.m., well after the school system's central office closed. 

Here is the accompanying statement from the state education office:

Connecticut Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor today announced that the second cohort of Alliance District applications have been finalized, as school district plans from Bristol, Vernon and Windsor were approved by the Department of Education. Each of the three districts is now eligible
to receive additional Education Cost Sharing funding based on their locally-conceived, evidence- based reform plans that propose initiatives to dramatically increase student achievement.

Here's what that means locally:

Vernon: $ $671,611

• Vernon plans to implement the standards-based Common Core curriculum to strengthen classroom instruction and develop Common Core aligned assessments to inform teacher practice.

• Vernon will build capacity to address student needs through intensive, collaborative, job-embedded professional learning by: increasing the number of district-level coaches and focusing their support on K-3 literacy and numeracy, and implementing the state’s teacher evaluation and support system.

• Responding with a sense of urgency to the achievement gap, Vernon is devoting a substantial portion of its Alliance District funding to strengthening interventions for students in need of improvement by: implementing additional reading interventions according to need, adding before and after school reading interventions, and ensuring that high-school students have multiple avenues to recover lost credit.