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SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN CT Approximately 19,000 students participate in our region’s school integration programs, which have been developed in response to Sheff v. O’Neill . Students in Greater Hartford have the opportunity to participate in many different types of integration programs, including: interdistrict magnet schools, Open Choice, reverse choice, vocational-technical high schools, and the interdistrict cooperative grant programs. INTERDISTRICT/REGIONAL MAGNET SCHOOLS See a listing of Greater Hartford’s interdistrict magnet schools here . Interdistrict magnet schools in Greater Hartford are part of the public education system, but generally offer a specialized theme or focus and are designed to meet Sheff v O’Neill integration goals. Most are built with state support and admission is by lottery. Magnet schools offer an academic focus or theme that may suit your child’s interests and talents. Magnet schools also offer improved academic achievement; diverse student body; higher attendance rates, graduation rates, and lower drop-out rates; and greater parental involvement. The regional magnet schools offer a far more racially and economically integrated student body than most non-magnet public schools in the region. Our magnet schools promote economic integration, which has a positive impact on student outcomes. Nearly 17,000 students in Greater Hartford attended Sheff magnet schools during the 2013-2014 school year. In Greater Hartford, there are a few different magnet school providers. There are 21 Hartford host magnet schools, 19 CREC magnet schools, 2 magnet schools operated by LEARN/Goodwin College , 2 magnet schools operated by Bloomfield Public Schools, and 1 magnet school operated by East Hartford. >> If you want to learn more about magnet schools, the Magnet Schools of America website is a helpful resource. HARTFORD REGION OPEN CHOICE PROGRAM The Open Choice program offers public school students in Hartford the opportunity to attend non-magnet public schools in suburban towns. Open Choice increases diversity in area towns and for participating Hartford students. Currently, 25 school districts in Greater Hartford voluntarily participate in the Open Choice program, which is managed by the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC). In 2013-2014, about 2,000 students participated in Open Choice. This program (known first as “Project Concern”) has been operating since 1966; its name later changed to “Project Choice” and is now called “Open Choice.” >>Learn more about Open Choice REVERSE CHOICE Through a policy known as “reverse choice,” public school students in suburban communities can apply to attend non-magnet public schools in Hartford. INTERDISTRICT COOPERATIVE GRANT PROGRAMS (IDCGs) The Interdistrict Cooperative Grant (IDCG) Program is a competitive grant program that provides funding for programs that increase student achievement and reduce racial, ethnic, and economic isolation. The IDCG program is administered by the Connecticut State Department of Education, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Section 10—74d. THE SHEFF INTEGRATION STANDARD An integrated school, under Sheff standards, is a school with at least 25% white and/or Asian enrollment. Because lottery selection is not based on individual students’ race, this integration goal has also led to strong levels of economic integration in the magnet schools. LEARN MORE You can learn more about these options by attending a school fair or contacting the Regional School Choice Office. Regional School Choice Office (RSCO) Parent Information Center 165 Capitol Avenue, Room 270 Hartford, CT 06106 860-713-6990 To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

SMC Updates < Back October 2017 Meeting Who: Led by SMC Staff/Leadership What: SMC Updates Where: SMC Offices - 75 Charter Oak Ave. 06106 When: October 28, 2017 at 2:00:00 PM Previous Next

SMC Updates < Back December 2017 Meeting Who: Led by SMC Staff/Leadership What: SMC Updates Where: SMC Offices - 75 Charter Oak Ave. 06106 When: December 16, 2017 at 3:00:00 PM Previous Next

Recap of our recent trip to Washington, DC and discuss the current state budget status, including possible upcoming suburban transportation issues. < Back November 2009 Meeting Who: Led by SMC Staff/Leadership What: Recap of our recent trip to Washington, DC and discuss the current state budget status, including possible upcoming suburban transportation issues. Where: Hartford City Hall, Council Chambers When: November 21, 2009 at 2:30:00 PM Recap of our recent trip to Washington, DC and discuss the current state budget status, including possible upcoming suburban transportation issues. Related Resources: Reaffirming the Role of School Integration in K-12 Public Education Policy: A Conversation Among Policymakers, Advocates and Educators Friday, November 13, 2009, 10:00 AM Howard University School of Law Washington, D.C. Event Program Previous Next

Discussion of new CRP report: "Connecticut: Connecticut School Integration: Moving Forward as the Northeast Retreats." < Back April 2015 Meeting Who: Speaker: Gary Orfield, Civil Rights Project at UCLA (by webinar) What: Discussion of new CRP report: "Connecticut: Connecticut School Integration: Moving Forward as the Northeast Retreats." Where: Connecticut IB Academy - 857 Forbes Street East Hartford CT 06118 When: April 18, 2015 at 2:00:00 PM Our April coalition meeting will be held at Connecticut IB Academy. CIBA is one of the newest Sheff schools and is located on the campus of East Hartford High School. Our agenda will include a taped webinar interview with Gary Orfield of UCLA’s Civil Rights Project, who recently published a report on school integration in Connecticut: Connecticut School Integration: Moving Forward as the Northeast Retreats. We’ll view/listen to the webinar and then have a discussion. Connecticut IB Academy 857 Forbes Street East Hartford CT 06118 When you enter the parking lot, drive past the main entrance of East Hartford High to reach CIBA’s building at the west end of the campus. Previous Next

Outreach See Us in Action Advocacy Community Building The Sheff Movement is a coalition of parents, students, educators, and community members working to expand awareness about Connecticut’s successful voluntary, two-way interdistrict school integration programs and promote improvement and expansion of these programs. Our ultimate goal is to promote quality integrated education for all children. We do this primarily through outreach, advocacy, and community building activities. The Sheff Movement coalition’s efforts play an important role in supporting families whose children participate (or would like to participate) in our region’s integration programs. Our ultimate goal is to make quality integrated education available to all students and families who want it. To that end, we aim to: Increase public awareness about Sheff v. O’Neill and, more generally, the importance of integration; Ensure that parents and policymakers have access to data and information that helps them make sound decisions about whether to support and/or participate in our region’s integration programs; Identify policies, practices, and attitudes that undermine ongoing efforts to provide quality integrated education for all children and take steps to improve them; Grow a network of parents, educators, and community members who are willing to share their perspectives and experiences; and Provide a space for families, students, educators, and supporters to coalesce around a shared commitment to quality, integrated education for all. To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key. To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key. To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key. OUTREACH An important part of the Sheff Movement’s work is educating the broader community about the history and achievements of our regional, voluntary two-way integration system. Many of the families who benefit from these schools and programs do not know that they are part of a regional system that grew out of an earlier generation’s struggle for justice and equity. Our experience is that understanding that history inspires people to become engaged in the effort to maintain a public commitment to quality integrated education and to continue expanding these opportunities to reach more families and students throughout the region. Our outreach activities include: Presentations to PTO/PTA meetings, and other school and community groups Delivering presentations and sharing literature at public gatherings and events Building and sustaining relationships with educators, school leaders, parents, and students ADVOCACY The Sheff Movement pursues a variety of advocacy strategies to ensure that policymakers have accurate and up-to-date information as they prepare to make decisions that will affect the region’s voluntary, two-way integration system. Our most effective resources are the parents, educators, and students who can share their experiences, voice their support, and remind policymakers that these programs provide tangible benefits to families throughout the region. Organizing these opportunities for parents and students to reflect upon and speak about their personal experiences also increases their knowledge and skills, and builds a sense of shared commitment to securing quality integrated education for all children. Our advocacy strategies include: An Advocacy Day that brings together parents, students, educators and allies from across the region to meet with legislators and provide a visible presence at the Capitol Building a network of active supporters who can respond quickly with phone calls or letters to elected officials Publishing opinion articles in local and regional news outlets Preparing and distributing fact sheets and other informative materials to policymakers COMMUNITY BUILDING The Sheff Movement provides a space for families, students, educators, and supporters all across the region to coalesce around a shared commitment to quality, integrated education for all. We firmly believe that creating opportunities for people–parents, business leaders, community advocates, and policymakers–to see integrated schools in action will lead to increased understanding about why quality, integrated education is worth our time, effort, and resources. Our programming is designed to support and celebrate the work of parents, educators, and students across school and district boundaries. Here are a few examples of our community building activities: The Sheff Movement’s monthly meetings, which are open to the public and draw supporters from around the region, provide a regular opportunity for parents, educators, and community members to connect with one another and help us create a path to quality, integrated education for all children. Throughout the year, we also support programming in Sheff schools to recognize, celebrate, and support efforts to develop and sustain welcoming, engaged, dynamic, and academically successful learning communities. These events shine a spotlight on the opportunities that Greater Hartford’s integration programs are providing to students, families, and educators. Get involved. Email Us There are lots of ways you can support our work. Here are a few: Join our mailing list – We’ll keep you informed of events, new research, and how you can help. Share the news – Forward our emails to friends, colleagues, and family. Attend our monthly meetings and other events (and invite us to yours!) – Come to our meetings/events and bring your friends, colleagues, and family. Speak up! – Public officials and policymakers (legislators, school boards, superintendents, etc.) need to hear from constituents who support integration measures, including magnet schools. Take the time to share your perspectives and experiences—help us highlight successful voluntary integration programs and offer ideas on how to improve them. Here are some examples: Contact your state legislator, saying you support Sheff school integration programs and asking what you can do to help. Contact us to learn more about our advocacy agenda. Engage with your Board of Education. Voice your support for integration programs when you can. For example, many suburban towns and schools have room to welcome more Hartford children in the Open Choice Program. Respond to news and write a letter to the editor of your town paper or call your elected officials. Talk to your neighbors and friends about these issues. Donate to the Sheff Movement coalition – Your financial support of the Sheff Movement coalition is greatly appreciated, and helps us continue to mobilize people around the goal of quality, integrated education for all children.

SMC Updates < Back June 2014 Meeting Who: Led by SMC Staff/Leadership What: SMC Updates Where: Capital Prep Magnet School - 1304 Main Street Hartford, CT 06103 When: June 7, 2014 at 2:00:00 PM Previous Next

SMC IN ACTION NOTE: THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED (APRIL 2022) OUTREACH Jazz Festival Tabling ADVOCACY Effort to Expand Open Choice in Glastonbury (2014) COMMUNITY BUILDING Design Challenge To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

WHY INTEGRATION? NOTE: THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED (MARCH 2022) Studies consistently show that racially, culturally, and economically diverse schools are strongly associated with a range of short and long term benefits for all racial groups. This includes gains in math, science, reading, and critical thinking skills and improvements in graduation rates. Research also demonstrates that diverse schools are better equipped than high-poverty schools to counteract the negative effects of poverty. Over the long-term, students who attend diverse schools are more likely than students from homogeneous schools to choose diverse colleges, neighborhoods, and workplaces later in life. They possess better critical thinking skills and analytical ability and are more likely to form cross-racial friendships. Learn more about this research >> RELATED RESOURCES The Spivack Archive is a searchable database of 500+ entries that concern the effects of school and classroom ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic (SES) composition on specific outcomes. Amicus Brief of 553 Social Scientists in Support of School Integration (PICS) Still Looking to the Future: Voluntary K-12 School Integration by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Civil Rights Project (2008) Integrating Suburban Schools: How to Benefit from Growing Diversity and Avoid Segregation by the Civil Rights Project (2011) To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

SMC Updates < Back December 2014 Meeting Who: Speaker: Superintendent Dr. Beth Schiavino-Narvaez What: SMC Updates Where: When: December 13, 2014 at 3:00:00 PM Join us for a conversation with Hartford Public Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Beth Schiavino-Narvaez about her vision for Hartford schools and how we can build upon the dramatic progress made in recent years to provide an increasing number of Hartford students with access to quality, integrated education. We’ll also review the final draft of our legislative and advocacy agenda for 2015 and discuss the details of Sheff enrollment for the 2014-15 school year. Sheff Movement Office 75 Charter Oak Avenue, Building #1 Hartford, CT 06106 (If you are using GPS, type the address as 146 Wyllys Street) Directions and a map with parking options marked. Previous Next

HISTORY OF SHEFF MOVEMENT COALITION Community activism has been at the heart of the Sheff v. O’Neill case from the start. Concern and outrage over segregated and unequal conditions in the Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven schools led to the formation of a statewide organization in the late 1980s, called the Connecticut Coalition for Educational Equity. The coalition brought together parents, educators, faith leaders, and community activists and also included several of the plaintiffs in the Sheff case. After the Sheff case was filed, the coalition became increasingly focused on the Hartford region. Community organizing and activism continued throughout the different stages of the case, as exemplified by the defiant community march following the initial defeat in the superior court, and the celebration at the Horace Bushnell Congregational Church (now called Liberty Christian) following the 1996 Supreme Court victory. In the early 2000s, as the Sheff remedy started to grow, the current Sheff Movement coalition emerged, based on two important insights: first, that parents and children in the growing two way interdistrict system had become untethered from the traditional school district structures and needed a voice and a coalition focused on their interests, and second, that by bringing all of the stakeholders in the system together on a regular basis, we could keep an open flow of information, reach consensus and alignment on goals, and spot and address implementation issues at an early stage. We also understand how important it is to build community support outside the context of lawyers and courts and litigation. Under the leadership of co-chairs Jim Boucher and Elizabeth Horton Sheff, the Sheff Movement coalition has been meeting regularly now for about 20 years, usually on a monthly basis. To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.