Conard Will Represent State at Regional Conference on High School Innovation

The State Board of Education has announced that is one of three Connecticut high schools chosen to represent the state at a regional conference focused on "effective strategies for improving teaching and learning in the 21st century."

Conard representatives will join their peers from E.O. Smith High School (Storrs) and New Britain High School to address the "High School Redesign in Action" (newenglandssc.org/conference) conference on March 22-23 in Norwood, MA.

Conard has been working with the New England Secondary School Consortium, which is sponsoring the conference, throughout the year, collaborating and sharing ideas with other New England high schools.

According to a release issued by the New England Secondary School Consortium, "All the selected schools have made significant progress raising student achievement, graduation rates, college-enrollment numbers, or other indicators of educational success."

Conard representatives Julio Duarte (assistant principal), Courtney Heuitson (school counselor), Marylou Shand (school counselor), and Cindy Vranich (teacher) will present "When I Grow Up: Designing High-Impact Postsecondary Planning Programs." Conard's program personalizes learning experiences based on students' individual learning needs, interests, and aspirations, and connects learning experiences to real-world issues in the community and beyond.

"We are very proud to share our strategies to help all students access postsecondary education," said Conard Principal Dr. Peter Cummings.

"At Conard, we believe that every student has the ability to succeed and the programming that we put in place is worth sharing throughout the region," Cummings said.

“I’d like to commend Conard High School, Edwin O. Smith High School, and New Britain High School for being recognized, and thank them for representing Connecticut at the upcoming Regional Conference. The three schools’ work to embrace innovative approaches to improve student achievement and close the achievement gap is laudable, especially at this critical moment for public education in Connecticut,” said Stefan Pryor, Connecticut Commissioner of Education in the release.

The New England Secondary School Consortium is a regional partnership working to advance forward-thinking innovations in secondary education that will empower the next generation of citizens, workers, and leaders. The Consortium’s goal is to ensure that every public high school student receives an education that prepares them for success in the colleges, careers, and communities of the 21st century. The Consortium is funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (nmefoundation.org), the largest philanthropy in New England focused exclusively on education, and it is coordinated by the Great Schools Partnership (greatschoolspartnership.org), a nonprofit educational-support organization in Portland, Maine. The Nellie Mae Education Foundation has committed more than $2 million to support the Consortium, which includes $1 million in partnership grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.