- Education reform has become a hot issue and Tuesday the Governor responded to changes made to his proposals by state lawmakers.

The Malloy administration will begin negotiations on his education reform proposals with the teachers unions Wednesday afternoon. He said Tuesday that he thinks the teacher unions didn’t communicate very well with their members on this.

“They specifically tried to make it sound like good teachers had something to worry about,” Malloy said, “and, of course, that’s not the case.”

Malloy and his education commissioner are quite convinced that despite what happened Monday, that a system that ties teacher evaluations, student performance, and teacher tenure all together will emerge before the end of the legislative session.

“Performance ought to be one of the governing concerns,” said Commissioner Stefan Pryor, CT Dept.

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THE HIGHER EDUCATION MONOPOLY IS CRUMBLING

Kevin Carey writes in The New Republic: The historic stability of higher education is remarkable. As former University of California President Clark Kerr once observed, the 85 human institutions that have survived in recognizable form for the last 500 years include the Catholic Church, a few Swiss cantons, the Parliaments of Iceland and the Isle of Man, and about 70 universities. The occasional small liberal arts school goes under, and many public universities are suffering budget cuts, but as a rule, colleges are forever. I think that rule is going to change, and soon.

From Carnegie Foundation

The best story of college hockey’s playoff season so far has been the Bowling Green Falcons. After finishing the regular season with a record of 5-19-4-3, good for last place in the CCHA, the Falcons have pulled off two improbably upsets to find themselves heading Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA semifinals, and just two wins away from the most unlikely NCAA tournament bid ever.

The Falcons run started with a three game series against 6th place Northern Michigan. The Falcons had shocked Northern Michgian in the same situation last year with a three-game series win, but the Wildcats had swept Bowling Green at Bowling Green less than a month prior to the series, and after Northern won the Friday game, the season looked over for the Falcons.

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Connecticut lawmakers and minority activists are drawing attention to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s efforts to close the state’s achievement gap and other education reforms.

Members of the General Assembly’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus will discuss Malloy’s education bill at a Wednesday evening public hearing at the Legislative Office Building.

The caucus will hear opinions on the six principles of the governor’s bill, which include supporting low-performing schools and enhancing families’ access to early childhood education.

Representatives from the state’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are also expected to attend the hearing.

Education reform, including teacher tenure rules changes, is a major focus of Malloy’s administration during the 2012 legislative session.

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