{"id":5084377,"date":"2019-08-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/back-to-school-commissioner-of-education-miguel-cardona\/"},"modified":"2019-08-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T04:00:00","slug":"back-to-school-commissioner-of-education-miguel-cardona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2019\/08\/29\/back-to-school-commissioner-of-education-miguel-cardona\/","title":{"rendered":"Back To School: Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By <a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/author\/kmegan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kathleen Megan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CTMirror<\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona on five issues.<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>On bilingual education:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cardona says he remembers it being \u201ctough\u201d when he got to kindergarten, having only spoken Spanish at home. \u201cIt was another layer of trying to fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said bilingual education is critical for students so that they can maintain their native language while learning a second language. The acquisition of a second language is easier, he said, when a student has a strong foundation in their first language.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While there are \u201cstrong pockets\u201d of bilingual education around the state, Cardona said \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working to make it better. I don\u2019t feel that it\u2019s gotten the attention that it needs. If you look at the demographics in our largest urban populations, we have Latinos that are growing. It\u2019s a Connecticut issue \u2014 not a bilingual issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>On tying teacher\u2019s performance evaluations to the state standardized test:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cardona argued against this as a member of the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council. Eventually, PEAC recommended that the state\u2019s standardized test known as the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test, not be included as one of the measures used to evaluate teachers, but said those scores could be used to help set goals for teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u201cNot reducing a teacher to a test score and bringing the voices of teachers and leaders into the process of professional leaning. Those are the two things I really felt like I had to champion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Meriden, where he served as a performance evaluation specialist before becoming assistant superintendent, Cardona said the district did not use data from the Smarter Balanced Consortium test in evaluations, but did use data from other tests to measure a students\u2019 academic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>On the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it\u2019s better than the Connecticut Mastery Test \u2014 the version we had before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, he said, he\u2019d like to it become a better tool so that teachers can use it to spot where students need help.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt this point, I want to examine it a little bit further and look to help it evolve a little bit based on what Connecticut\u2019s needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>On the use of the Common Core academic goals:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cardona said the standards are more rigorous than past academic goals.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s always room for improvement. I could find flaws and in parts of them .. but at the end of the day having high expectations and high standards for kids is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>On speculation about Dalio Philanthropies involvement:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some have speculated that the Dalio Philanthropies may have played a role in the administration\u2019s last-minute switch to Cardona because the foundation&nbsp;has invested funding and expertise in Meriden and three other communities in recent years to help improve the quality of education. And, earlier this year, the foundation pledged $100 million in a public-private partnership to improve the state\u2019s schools. The plan is for the state to provide matching grants.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cardona said Dalio had nothing to do with his appointment. While the foundation has been involved in Meriden, he said that he was not part of the group that worked with the foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey don\u2019t really know Miguel Cardona.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/2019\/08\/21\/in-his-own-words\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;In his own words&#8230;&#8221;<\/a> was first published by CTMirror<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kathleen Megan, CTMirror.org Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona on five issues. On bilingual education: Cardona says he remembers it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1537,173],"tags":[1567],"ppma_author":[565],"class_list":["post-5084377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ctmirror","category-education","tag-dr-miguel-cardonaeducation-hispanics"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jermaine Smith","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/author\/jay\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Kathleen Megan, CTMirror.org Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona on five issues. On bilingual education: Cardona says he remembers it [&hellip;]","authors":[{"term_id":565,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"news-editor","display_name":"News Editor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"mfb_rest_fields":["title","uagb_featured_image_src","uagb_author_info","uagb_comment_info","uagb_excerpt","authors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5084377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5084377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5084377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5084377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5084377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5084377"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5084377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}