Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has signed two bills into law to advance minority teacher recruitment and training in Connecticut.

According to a report in The Hour newspaper of Norwalk on August 8, Public Act 15-108 creates an 11-member task force to study and develop strategies to increase minority teacher recruitment and retention. The task force also will ensure that cultural competency instruction is included in teacher preparation programs and in-service training for educators.

The legislation also allows the State Board of Education to grant temporary, 90-day certificates in teacher shortage areas. And the law will enable Connecticut to enter into teacher certification reciprocity agreements with other states, making it easier for teachers from other states to earn certification in Connecticut.

Strengthening Teacher Preparation

The other law, Public Act 15-243, is aimed at improving the effectiveness of teacher-preparation programs in Connecticut’s colleges and universities.

The act requires the Office of Higher Education to submit a report on the quality of teacher-preparation programs leading to professional certification. It also revises the clinical, field or student-teaching experience requirement for teacher preparation programs.

Both bills passed unanimously in the state Senate and House of Representatives.

High Priority to Education

Jennifer Alexander, CEO of ConnCAN, a state education advocacy group, endorsed both bills.

“We are pleased that Gov. Malloy and the state legislature prioritized Connecticut students and educators this year by passing legislation that will help bring diverse and high-quality educators into our schools and prepare all our educators for the work ahead,” she said.

“Research shows educator effectiveness has more impact on student achievement than any other factor within a school’s control,” she said. “These bills go a long way towards ensuring our state is able to attract and recruit highly effective and diverse teachers and administrators and that we continue to push for rigorous educator training and preparation.”

8 Percent Minority Teachers

A ConnCAN study released in March revealed that 92 percent of Connecticut’s 36,823 public school teachers are white. The study reported that 3.5 percent of the state’s public school teachers are Hispanic, 3 percent are black, 1.1 percent are Indian and 0.13 percent are listed as other.

“Right now, the richness of diversity in our student body is not mirrored in our teacher and school leaders,” Alexander said. “Almost half of Connecticut students are students of color, but only 8 percent of our teachers and 12 percent of our administrators are people of color.”

Scott X. Esdaile, president of Connecticut Chapter of the NAACP, said, “The passing of this legislation is a clear indication that our state leaders are committed to better preparing our highly qualified teachers for the job ahead and enhancing the educational experience for all our students.”

Justis Lopez of Manchester, a student at the University of Connecticut, has been chosen as the Alma Exley Scholar for 2015. Educators, friends and supporters of the program honored him at a reception. on Monday, May 4, at the Elmwood Community Center in West Hartford.

Welcoming Justis into the Alma Exley Scholarship Family were previous recipients Desi Nesith, principal of Metacomet School, Bloomfield, left in photo above, and Dr. Miguel Cardona, performance evaluation specialist in the Meriden Schools, at right.

Justis, a graduate of Manchester High School, is a student in the five-year Integrated Bachelor’s and Master’s Program in the Neag School of Education at UConn. He received a B.S. in Education with a major in history in May 2014 and is scheduled to receive an M.A. in Education on May 9, 2015.

He has an outstanding record of academic achievement, public service and campus leadership. As he says, “Nothing great is achieved without enthusiasm.” And with his enthusiasm and ability, he has the potential to do great things as an educator.

His flair for leadership became apparent early in his UConn career. He received the Emerging Leader Student Life Award as a freshman. This recognized his leadership in programs to orient and support new students.

He has been active in a summer program sponsored by Student Support Services to assist low-income, minority students who are the first in their families to attend college.

Justis has lent his considerable talents to a variety of initiatives to promote diversity and multicultural understanding at UConn and beyond.

He was one of 14 students chosen to take the lead in fostering an inclusive community at the university. And he has worked in an inter-university initiative with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) to broaden the demographic makeup of the teacher workforce.

He has been involved in the K-5 College Bound Program, which brings youngsters to UConn to give them a taste of college life and encourage them to aspire to higher education.

He has been active in other campus organizations such as Bring Awareness to Latino Ethnicities (BALE), the Puerto Rican and Latino Cultural Center, and Leadership in Diversity (LID), intended to “put the lid on the achievement gap.”

During the summer of 2013, he served as an intern at the University of Albany. Working in the Office of Intercultural Student Engagement, he implemented the Brother 2 Brother mentorship program for incoming freshmen. He also built the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center to cultivate an inclusive community for LGBTQ students.

In the summer of 2014, he served as a public policy intern in Washington D.C with the Council For Opportunity In Education. In that position he worked with educational advocacy groups in the U.S. Department of Education in conjunction with the White House and drafted proposals for educational programs to be considered by Congress in 2015.

He was a familiar figure at UConn sports events performing as Jonathan the Husky as a sophomore. And he was the UConn Homecoming King in 2014.

He also has made a name for himself as master of ceremonies and DJ for more than 300 social events. Based on this experience, he has established Justis League Entertainment, which provides music and photography for school functions, weddings and business events.

He won a TEDx Student Speaker Award in 2013. He was one of a number of college students participating a program patterned after the well-known TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) events.

While pursuing a wide variety of extra-curricular activities, Mr. Lopez has achieved a strong academic record and has won praise from the faculty for outstanding performance in his student teaching assignments.

He is a most deserving scholarship recipient, and we are delighted to welcome him to the Alma Exley Scholarship Family.

Since we honored Dr. Sibani Sengupta in 2009, she has received a number of honors for excellence, dedication and leadership in education.

The Connecticut Association of Schools has selected her as the High School Level Exemplary Educator of the Year for 2014-2015. She also has received the 2014 Local Hero Award from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. In 2010, the National Association of Biology Teachers presented her with the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Connecticut.

Dr. Sengupta is a science teacher and dean of academic affairs at Sacred Heart Academy, Hamden, Conn.

The CAS award recognizes outstanding educators who have had a positive impact on their schools through excellence in education, involvement with students, staff and parents in and out of the classroom, and leadership in their profession. 

The Local Hero Award honors 10 outstanding teachers from Connecticut and Western Massachusetts for their hard work, dedication and commitment to area students.

Dr. Sengupta is the third Alma Exley Scholar to be honored by CAS. In 2010 Desi Nesmith was named the Best First-Year Principal in Connecticut, and in 2012 Dr. Miguel Cardona was chosen as Connecticut’s National Distinguished Principal.

Dr. Sengupta has a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and did post-doctoral research at the UConn Health Center. Then she earned her Connecticut teaching credentials through the Alternate Route to Certification.

She left a career as a research scientist to teach science at Sacred Heart Academy in 2003. After serving as chair of the science department for six years, she was named dean of academic affairs in 2014. She continues to teach advanced-placement biology, human gene discovery and microbiology.

In nominating Dr. Sengupta for the CAS award, Sr. Mary Jane Paolella said she is known for creative, imaginative lessons that are extremely successful and engaging.

Sr. Paolella said that freshmen appreciate her biology classes so much that 75 percent of them sign up for a science elective (genetics, microbiology or gene discovery) in addition to chemistry, hoping that she will be teaching one of those courses the following year.

As an example of Dr. Sengupta’s excellence in teaching, Sacred Heart Dean of Students David Alexandro noted that her students have designed and standardized a high school adaptation of a procedure called RNAi.  Her article, “Bringing RNA Interference (RNAi) into the High School Classroom,” was published in the “How To Do It” section of the November/December 2013 issue of The American Biology Teacher magazine.

“Excellent teaching requires more than just teaching the subject,” Dr. Sengupta said. “It is essential to constantly motivate students, encouraging them to develop a zest and passion for the subject, along with their unique, analytical approach towards learning.”

Dr. Sengupta sets an example for her students by her love for life-long learning. “Over the past couple of years,” she said, “I have come to fully appreciate the true meaning of Tyron Edwards’s famous quote, ‘If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others.’”

Hearty congratulations from all of us at the Alma Exley Scholarship Program to Dr. Sengupta for this well-deserved recognition.

The Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) is a private, non‐profit organization whose purpose is to improve the learning of every student in Connecticut by contributing to the improvement of elementary and secondary education. CAS works to serve the collective interests and needs of Connecticut schools by providing leadership and professional development services to promote excellence in the education of all students.