Community Corner

Benigni: Continued Partnerships Essential to Build on Recent Education Success

The annual report release this week showed the highest standardized test scores in history and a decline in suspensions, expulsions and arrests – but to continue growth, the Meriden school superintendent said the district needs to keep building.

Despite holding the budget at a zero increase for the past four years and a decrease in federal funding, Meriden public schools have seen tremendous growth and success in the past year – but School Superintendent Mark Benigni said more must be done to keep the district moving in the right direction.

Benigni this week presented the annual report for Meriden schools, presenting the board with a set of statistics that included the highest standardized test scores in the city’s history while also showing declines in student suspensions, expulsions and arrests over the 2012-13 school year.

“We’ve worked to improve the climate and culture within every building and every program within the district and we are starting to see those returns,” Benigni said Wednesday. “Now we need to continue to raise the bar.”

Benigni presented the information during a lengthy, 81-slide presentation to the Meriden Board of Education on Tuesday night, highlighting the fact that grades three through eight all improved on the Connecticut Mastery Test over the past year.

Meanwhile suspensions are down 23-percent across the district, expulsions are down by 49-percent and arrests have dropped 60-percent in Meriden during the past year, he said.

For a complete look at the annual report, be sure to see the PDF attached above.

With the economy continuing to struggle and the budget level in recent years, Benigni credited the growth to the district being able to acquire numerous outside grants and both teachers and administrators forming stronger partnerships with parents and the community at large.

But both Benigni and board members cautioned that the efforts are far from over.

“The report shows us that implementation of full-day kindergarten has definitely benefited students, but to continue those gains we need make sure we are also now raising the bar in subsequent grades,” he said.

In the coming year, the district will begin implementing the new state Common Core Standard and will launch a formal teacher evaluation system with the goal of making sure it serves as a true support system for both teachers and school administrators, board members said.

Benigni said one of the biggest tools for the school in the coming years will be to build on partnership programs already in existence and find a way to get the community even more involved.

“All this work has led to the highest scores in history, but we need to keep on it,” he said. “We need to keep actively engaging parents and community members in our schools.”

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