| Norwalk Public Schools | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| United States | |
| District information | |
| Type | School district |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Established | 1678 [1] |
| Superintendent | Dr. Alexandra Estrella |
| Budget | $133 million (2005-06) |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 11,000 |
| Athletic conference | FCIAC |
| Other information | |
| Website | www |
Norwalk Public Schools is the school district serving Norwalk, Connecticut.
Norwalk was granted a town charter by the Connecticut General Court in 1651. On May 29, 1678, town records mention the establishment of community-supported teaching activities with a passage that reads:
The school that was established in the 1670s was located near the Ludlow Square area of East Norwalk (near the former Roger Ludlow Junior High School). [1]
In the 2005-06 fiscal year, the school system spent $26.7 million on special education services, nearly 20 percent of the total school budget. [2]
The State Education Department announced on January 28, 2008 that Norwalk was one of twelve districts in the state that it would help to close student achievement gaps. [3]
There are four high schools in the Norwalk public school district, for grades 9-12:
In 2006 the state of Connecticut reported that Norwalk's 653 graduates represented a 95.7% graduation rate. [4]
There are four middle schools in the Norwalk public school district, for grades 6-8:
In the 2005-06 school year 42.3 percent of the school's 640 students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. A total of 40.3 percent of students come from homes where the primary language is not English. The primary language for many students is Spanish, but students also come from homes where Chinese or Haitian Creole are spoken. The school building was constructed in the late 1950s. On May 14, 2007, several state legislators toured the school in an attempt by Fairfield County lawmakers to educate them about the need for more state education funding in the richest county in the state. [2]
In the 2002-03 school year 27.5 percent of the school's 517 students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. A total of 34.2 percent of students come from homes where the primary language is not English. The school building was constructed in 1966. And in 2020-2021 all meals are free to students. [5]
There are twelve elementary schools in the Norwalk public school district, for grades K-5:
State-mandated radon tests in early 2007 found rooms in five elementary schools with levels above the "federal action limit" of 4 picocuries per liter for the colorless, odorless gas. (The gas naturally occurs in Fairfield County and comes up from the ground from the decay of radium. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking.) The 700 tests, conducted every five years by state law, found actionable levels of radon in Rowayton, Naramake, Cranbury and Wolfpit elementary schools as well as Richard C. Briggs High School. Mitigation work, including air-suction devices, was done on just over a dozen rooms at the various schools, then a follow-up test was done which found one Wolfpit classroom located farthest away from the air-suction devices still had 5.1 picocuries per liter, so an additional device was installed in early March 2008. [6]
In 2006, all high schools, three of the city's middle schools and nine of its elementary schools, along with a "community school" were cited as falling behind in standards for the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act. Three elementary schools had not met the standards (which rise year by year) for two years in a row, so students in those schools are offered the choice to go to a Norwalk public school that hasn't been designated as needing improvement. "Whole school" problems are school-wide, "subgroup" problems reflect groups such as white, black, Hispanic, Asian and American-Indian children; English language learners; students with disabilities; and economically disadvantaged students. [7]
Norwalk is one of eight public school systems in District Reference Group H, a classification made by the state Department of Education for the purpose of comparison with the achievement levels of similar schools and districts. District reference groups are defined as "districts whose students' families are similar in education, income, occupation and need, and that have roughly similar enrollment." [8] The other seven school districts in the group are Ansonia, Danbury, Derby, East Hartford, Meriden, Norwich, Stamford, and West Haven. [9]
New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels.
Norwalk High School is a high school located in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States. It is the oldest high school in Norwalk, created in 1902, originally being housed in what is now Norwalk City Hall. The first graduating class for the current building was in 1975.
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Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allowed the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country was performing academically according to results on standardized tests. As defined by National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), AYP was "the amount of annual achievement growth to be expected by students in a particular school, district, or state in the U.S. federal accountability system, No Child Left Behind (NCLB)." AYP has been identified as one of the sources of controversy surrounding George W. Bush administration's Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Private schools were not required to make AYP.
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is the largest school district in Wisconsin. As of the 2015–16 school year, MPS served 75,568 students in 154 schools and had 9,636 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions. The Milwaukee Public Schools system is one of the largest in the United States by enrollment. A publicly elected school board, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, provides direction and oversight, with a superintendent heading the organization's administration.
Broad Run High School is a public secondary school in Ashburn, an unincorporated area in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. Broad Run is part of the Loudoun County Public Schools system (LCPS). It was ranked as the #1 Best Public High School in Loudoun County and the #9 Best Public High School in Virginia by U.S. News in 2020.
Education in Stamford, Connecticut takes place in both public and private schools and college and university campuses.
There are an assortment of public, private, and parochial schools in Norwalk, Connecticut.
The Pequea Valley School District is a school district of 1,589 students educated in 4 schools by 127 teachers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is a member of Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit (IU) 13.
Pembroke High School, is a public secondary school located on 80 Learning Lane in Pembroke, Massachusetts, United States.
Richard C. Briggs High School was a secondary school located in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. It opened in 1938 as a replacement for the Winnipauk School. Later it was turned into the secondary level Center for Vocational Arts but is now named after Dr. Richard C. Briggs, who was the superintendent of Norwalk schools from 1971 to 1980. Briggs High then became an alternative to the two traditional high schools. Its last principal was Marie Allen.
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) is a cabinet-level agency of the Arkansas state government overseeing public education for K-12, higher education institutions, and career and technical education.
The racial achievement gap in the United States refers to disparities in educational achievement between differing ethnic/racial groups. It manifests itself in a variety of ways: African-American and Hispanic students are more likely to receive lower grades, score lower on standardized tests, drop out of high school, and they are less likely to enter and complete college than whites, while whites score lower than Asian Americans.
Robert Bruce Duff is an American politician, currently serving as a member of the Connecticut State Senate, where he represents Norwalk and part of Darien in Connecticut's 25th District. He previously served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, representing the 137th District. He is currently Majority Leader of the Connecticut Senate, and serves as chair of the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee and vice chair of the Legislative Management Committee.
In the United States, elementary schools are the main point of delivery of primary education, for children between the ages of 4–11 and coming between pre-kindergarten and secondary education.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a US law passed in December 2015 that governs the United States K–12 public education policy. The law replaced its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and modified but did not eliminate provisions relating to the periodic standardized tests given to students. Like the No Child Left Behind Act, ESSA is a reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which established the federal government's expanded role in public education.
