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Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut’s Plan to Learn and Grow Together
2. Foreword
It has been 100 years since educational, public health, and governmental leaders have had
to grapple with the challenges we are facing today, and have been facing for the last several
months. When the effects of the pandemic required that schools across Connecticut cancel inschool
classes during March, it took moments to realize that education in Connecticut would be
forever changed. Connecticut has long been focused on providing all students with equity and
excellence in education, and this pandemic has forced us to further focus on the inequalities that
still exist within our system and to begin to address them with renewed fidelity.
For the last several months, the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) has
been working hand in hand with the Office of the Governor, educational stakeholders, and
philanthropic leaders to identify the technological needs of students across our state, and
we’ve begun to address the issues of device access and internet connectivity. Eliminating those
obstacles will bring us one step closer to leveling the playing field for all of our students in the
event that we find ourselves in a similar remote learning situation in the future.
Similarly, access to universal high quality online curriculum has also been a barrier for our
students in under-resourced districts. We recognize that in order to create future-ready learning
environments, teachers, students, and families require access to high quality, high impact
resources and curricular materials. Beginning June 30, 2020, the CSDE will launch the CT
Learning Hub. This will be a place for universal access to curated high-quality, high-impact
online learning content for math, English language arts, science, social studies, the arts, physical
education and more anytime, anywhere. The CT Learning Hub is a free and interactive webpage
of digital resources to support online and offline learning that will provide one more component
to achieving true equity for our learners whether they are inside or outside of the classroom.
We must work together towards a collective goal to ensure that our students have highly
effective and innovative instructional plans whether in school, in a hybrid environment, or
through remote learning. Instruction must remain student-focused, flexible, and take advantage
of the strengths of our communities, families, students, and teachers.
The thought of returning to schools is daunting for many teachers, students and parents alike.
A fear of the unknown is natural. The CSDE has engaged repeatedly with state and local
educational and public health experts to craft the following plan, keeping both the educational
and public health needs of our students and educators in mind. We realize that going back to
school will not look exactly the same in every schoolhouse across the state. Districts will be
operating within their community and school buildings’ unique circumstances. As such, this plan
provides districts with a roadmap — guardrails to operate within - while allowing districts some
flexibilities to create reopen plans that will most effectively serve their unique communities.
This document is intended to be a fluid document that will evolve based on the public health
data trends as well as the understanding of the best way to mitigate spread. As we proceed
toward the fall, we will continue to receive input from our educational partners, students, and
families and will continue to work toward providing the best opportunities for our greatest
resource—the students in the State of Connecticut.
In Partnership,
Miguel A. Cardona, Ed. D.
Commissioner of Education