Author: Danyelle Doldoorian

Global, Historical Influences from 1940 through the 1980s on the Addition of Departments and Programs at Trinity College

Posted on Author Danyelle Doldoorian

If someone were to compare the curriculum of Trinity College from 1900 to its curriculum now in 2012, he or she would see few similarities.  In the 1900 curriculum he or she may see a department of Hygiene but such a department would not be found in the 2012 curriculum, and in 2012 he or she may see Women, Gender, and Sexuality but the curriculum from 1900 surely would not have mentioned such a program.  Over time, higher education curricula change to adapt to the growing and changing world surrounding it, and oftentimes curricula reflect social and historical influences and changes.  But each institution is affected differently by different historical happenings.  Throughout the history of Trinity College, what global, historical influences have influenced the addition of departments at programs at Trinity?

From 1940 through the 1980s there were a number of major global, historical happenings which influenced the addition or subtraction of departments and programs at Trinity College.  The major historical happenings which had the greatest effects on Trinity departments and programs were World War II and US relations with the Soviet Union, but the Vietnam and Korean Wars also had influence.  These historical happenings had such a profound influence on the US and its international relations that Trinity College made ample change to adapt.

World War II (1939-1945) had both immediate and delayed impacts on Trinity’s departments and programs.  The first departmental impact the war had on Trinity was experienced while the war was still in progress. In the 1942-43 academic year at Trinity, Trinity introduced the International Relations department[i].  This department, which examined “World Affairs”, demonstrates how a historical happening such as a war can immediately influence higher education curriculum.  A few years later, in 1948, Trinity split up the previous “History and Political Science” department into the two separate departments of History and Political Science.[ii] In Peter Knapp’s book Trinity College in the Twentieth Century, Knapp explains, “A desire to effect the separation [of history and political science] had been evident for several years prior to World War II, but in the late 1940s, it became clear that gradual changes in the subject matter of the two disciplines and a new emphasis on the importance of the study of political science in relation to the world scene made such a division necessary and timely.”[iii] Trinity’s students, faculty, and administration noted the impact war had on America and they changed Trinity’s curriculum to keep up with the changing United States.  World War II not only affected the implementation of departments and programs at Trinity, but their alteration as well.

While the war was still in progression, Trinity added a program simultaneously with the International Relations department known as the Navy V-12 College Training Program.  During the war the U.S. Navy, having supported a large shipbuilding program, had a shortage of naval officers.  In order to supplement that need, The Navy created the V-12 program[iv] which was implemented in 131 colleges and universities nationwide.[v] The program prepared its student-participants to become officers for the Navy as well as the Marine Corps, and on July 1st, 1943 the Navy V-12 program was implemented at Trinity.[vi] The program called for a basic curriculum which was determined by the Navy and which had to be completed within four semesters.[vii] The program also called for courses which were not so “basic” such as celestial navigation and a number of other mathematics courses.[viii]

After the war’s end in 1945, the Navy V-12 program ended at Trinity,[ix] but the presence of the military certainly was gone.  In 1944, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act was passed.  This act, better known as the GI Bill, gave money to World War II veterans for a variety of uses, one of which was tuition to college.[x] In the end, 3.5 million students utilized this provision of the bill, sending 3.5 million veterans to colleges and universities across the nation,[xi] and allowing for an influx of students at Trinity in the subsequent years of the bill’s passage[xii], enough for Trinity to implement an office of veteran affairs.[xiii] The influx of veterans on Trinity’s campus incited change in Trinity’s curriculum.  In the 1946-47 academic year, Trinity added a program called “Preparation for American Foreign Service”[xiv] and soon after added “Preparation for Government Service”.[xv] Trinity also added a department titled “Military Science” in 1949, but this department only lasted for one year.[xvi]

The combination of the termination of the Navy V-12 program and the influx of war veterans was a problem on Trinity’s campus.  “Although the College’s experience with the military had ended with the disbandment of the V-12 unit in 1945, the hundreds of veterans who attended Trinity had done much to keep the spirit of service alive.”[xvii] Fortunately for the patriots on Trinity’s campus, shortly after the end of World War II, then chief of staff of the War Department Dwight D. Eisenhower signed General Order No. 124.  This order established Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) units across the country.[xviii] In 1948 Trinity College established its own AFROTC unit[xix] which constituted the establishment of the new department Air Science and Tactics in 1950.[xx]

Separate from direct military influences on Trinity’s curriculum, there were less-obvious influences of World War II on Trinity’s departments and programs.  World War II saw dramatic innovations in the worlds of science and engineering, earning the World War II era the title of “the Birth of Big Science”.[xxi] After the war’s end, politicians and researchers feared that advancement in these fields would halt.  In order to ensure that the fields of science and engineering continued to grow and advance, the federal government established the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950.[xxii] In the 1950s and 1960s the NSF along with the U.S. Office of Education funded curriculum projects in all levels of education.[xxiii] In 1960 alone, the federal government gave $462 million to colleges and universities for research and development purposes.[xxiv] This funding led to an increase of focus on science and engineering programs in higher education throughout the country, so much so that throughout the 1960s Trinity classified its engineering program under the “Special Programs” section of its bulletin instead of grouping it with the rest of Trinity’s majors.[xxv]

The NSF continued to push science advancement in higher education (and is still intact today) which led to the addition of several new science departments at Trinity.  These departments included Astronomy, implemented in the 1964-65 academic year; Physical Sciences, implemented in 1966-67; Biochemistry, implemented in 1972-73; and most-importantly a Computing Coordinate major, implemented in 1975-76.[xxvi] The computing coordinate major became extremely successful and eventually turning into the “Engineering and Computer Science” major in 1985-86[xxvii] and then strictly “Computer Science”.  But what made this department so important was its permeation throughout the rest of the curriculum.  In the 1970s, computer incorporation throughout Trinity’s whole curriculum was so prevalent that by the end of the decade the NSF “hailed Trinity as a model for other colleges and universities.”[xxviii] World War II had a significant impact on Trinity’s science curriculum as well as its national accreditation.

In addition to the influences of World War II on Trinity’s addition of departments and programs, the US’s relations with the Soviet Union influenced these additions as well.  One of the first influences our relations with The USSR has on Trinity’s curriculum occurred during the 1965-66 academic year.  Starting in 1957 with the USSR’s launch of Sputnik, the US and the USSR entered the “Space Race” which was the era from 1957-1969 in which the US and the USSR competed to be the first country to have a man land on the moon.[xxix] Throughout the first part of the Space Race, Trinity’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps department was named Air Science and Tactics, but in the 1965-66 academic year, the departments name was changed to Aerospace Studies which incorporated traditional air science with the science of outer space.[xxx] In addition to other factors, which will be discussed later, the end of the Space Race led to the termination of the Aerospace Studies department, which also constituted the end of the AFROTC program at Trinity.  In 1969, the US successfully had landed Neil Armstrong on the moon and one could therefore say the US “won” the Space Race.  One year after this feat occurred and the Space Race was over, in the 1970-1971 academic year, Trinity had its last year of the Aerospace Studies department and therefore its last year of the AFROTC program.[xxxi]

The Space Race had another profound impact on education.  The Soviet launch of Sputnik sent a panic wave through political America.  America had to be better than the USSR and also had to be prepared for whatever the Soviets could do if they controlled outer space.  The launch of Sputnik became a catalyst for the formulation and passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958.[xxxii] This act aimed at “providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, public and private. NDEA was instituted primarily to stimulate the advancement of education in science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages” as well as other areas.[xxxiii] Although one would think this act would have had a heavy influence on Trinity’s curriculum, that proved not to be the case.  Because science was already being pushed by the Trinity administration due to the NSF, we cannot say for sure whether the NDEA had an influence on the science curriculum at Trinity.  But in the other areas of mathematics and modern languages little advances were made.  No new math department was added and the modern language department already existed at Trinity prior to the passage of the act.  The one difference that was made was the addition of a Russian department in 1959 which strictly taught language courses at the time.[xxxiv] Any other effects of the act were not felt until much later and are doubtful.

The Russian department became part of the modern languages department at Trinity and stayed there for another twenty years.  However in the 1980-81 academic year, Trinity added a Russian and Soviet Studies department.[xxxv] This department not only taught language courses but history and culture courses as well.   During this time, around 1980, the US and the USSR were not at ease with one another.  For a number of years, the US and the USSR entered a state of détente, but during the Cold War in 1979, that détente ended when the USSR invaded Afghanistan during the Carter presidency.[xxxvi] This combined with the knowledge of Soviet nuclear weapons created a Soviet scare throughout America.  This scare led to the addition of the Russian and Soviet Studies department at Trinity.  You need to know your enemy, right?

In addition to US-Soviet relations and World War II, the Vietnam and Korean wars impacted departments and programs at Trinity, but they did so on a much smaller scale.  In fact, the Vietnam and Korean wars did not inspire the addition of any departments or programs at Trinity.  However, they did end one.  When the Vietnam War and Korean War each began, Trinity’s AFROTC program was still in effect.  But after the end of the Korean War, student interest in the program declined.  By the end of the 1960s, the program was the target of student protests on campus.[xxxvii] By the 1970s, during the Vietnam War, interest in the program was scarce because the view of the military during that time was so negative.[xxxviii] In the fall of 1970 it was agreed upon by both Trinity’s trustees and the Air Force personnel that the program would end in July of 1971.[xxxix] Although the Korean and Vietnam Wars were not influential in adding Trinity departments and programs, they still were influential in what departments and programs lived at Trinity.

From 1940 through the 1980s Trinity College embraced the global happenings which surrounded it.  These historical happenings rocked America and rocked college campuses as well.  These happenings were too big to ignore.  The effects World War II had on the addition of departments and programs at Trinity were so profound that they shaped a large portion of the Trinity curriculum today in the sciences and other fields such as politics with the addition of political science and international relations courses.  US relations with the Soviet Union also will have lasting impressions on the Trinity curriculum, and the Vietnam and Korean Wars will also have influenced Trinity’s history.  It is safe to say that every department and program that arrives at Trinity or was erased from Trinity arrived or left there for a specific reason.    By looking at the historical context in which a department is placed, we can gain excellent insight as to the department/program’s roots, especially ‘neath the elms.  Trinity always has been and always will be affected by the world outside of its campus.  Who knows what departments we will see next?

[i] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1942-1943

[ii] Bulletin, 1948

[iii] Knapp, Peter J., and Anne H. Knapp. 2000. Trinity College in the twentieth century: a history. Hartford, Conn: Trinity College., 142

[iv] “University History–Navy V-12.” University of Richmond, 2009. http://urhistory.richmond.edu/milestones/navy.html.

[v] Knapp, 98

[vi] Knapp, 98

[vii] Knapp, 98

[viii] Knapp, 99

[ix] Knapp, 100

[x] Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006., 853

[xi] DeVane, Willian Clyde. Higher Education in Twentieth-Century America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1965., 124

[xii] Knapp, 121

[xiii] Bulletin, 1948

[xiv] Bulletin, 1946-47

[xv] Bulletin, 1949

[xvi] Bulletin, 1949

[xvii] Knapp, 143

[xviii] “Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Factsheet.” U.S. Air Force, November 23, 2010. http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=152.

[xix] Knapp, 143

[xx] Bulletin, 1950

[xxi] Rudolph, John L. “From World War to Woods Hole: The Use of Wartime Research Models for Curriculum Reform.” Teachers College Record 104, no. 2 (March 2002): 212–241.

[xxii] “National Science Foundation History.” National Science Foundation, February 24, 2012. http://www.nsf.gov/about/history/.

[xxiii] Rudolph

[xxiv] DeVane, 126

[xxv] Bulletins 1961-1972

[xxvi] Bulletins 1964-1965,19 66-1967, 1972-1973,19 75-1976

[xxvii] Bulletin 1985-86

[xxviii] Knapp, 412

[xxix] “The Space Race.” The History Channel Website, 2012. http://www.history.com/topics/space-race.

[xxx] Bulletin 1965-66

[xxxi] Bulletin 1970-1971

[xxxii] Sufrin, Sidney C. Administering the National Defense Education Act. The Economics and Politics of Public Education Series 8. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1963., 2

[xxxiii] “National Defense Education Act — Infoplease.com.” Infoplease, 2005. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0834940.html.

[xxxiv] Bulletin 1959

[xxxv] Bulletin 1980-1981

[xxxvi] Kennedy, 964

[xxxvii] Knapp, 387

[xxxviii] Knapp, 143

[xxxix] Knapp, 387

Trinity’s Department and Program Addition Thesis and Evidence Proposal

Posted on Author Danyelle Doldoorian

If you were to compare the curriculum of Trinity College in 1930 to Trinity’s curriculum now in 2012, you would notice that they looked almost nothing alike.  In the 1930 curriculum, you would see no mention of “Computer Science,” “Women, Gender, and Sexuality,” or even “International Relations,” and you would see over twenty new departments and programs.  Over time, higher education institutions, including Trinity College, add departments and programs to their curriculum, and many reflect current events at the time of the department/program’s implementation.  From 1930 to 2012, Trinity College has introduced several departments and programs to its curriculum, and many of these implementations reflect major historical changes outside of the college.

One of the most profound influences of department/program additions to Trinity College is the United States’ wars and other international affairs.  In 1949, Trinity added a “Military Science” department.[1] This department’s implementation coincided with the Cold War which lasted from 1945 to 1991[2].  It also was added five years after the implementation of the GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944) which gave money to World War II veterans for a variety of uses, one of which was tuition to college.[3] Trinity’s implementation of Military Science reflects the student-veterans on campus and the status of the Cold War.  Prior to the addition of the Military Science department, Trinity had not had any military-related departments or courses.

The department Military Science only lasted for one year at Trinity, but was replaced by the new department “Air Science and Tactics” in 1950.[4] This department held courses relating to the military and to air science knowledge (such as airplane function and using airplanes and other such pieces of equipment in the military).  At this time in history, airplane technology was advancing rapidly.  During World War II countries invested heavily in airplane technology, and used these pieces of technology in the war, such as airplane-detecting radar, radiowave navigation techniques, airborne radar, and the first practical jet fighter.[5] Following the war, the US broke the sound barrier with a jet (1947) and the first jet-powered commercial aircraft was built (1949).[6] The combination of air space technology and the Cold War sparked Trinity’s implementation of its Air Science and Tactics department.

In Trinity’s 1965-1966 school year, the Air Space and Tactics department became “Aerospace Studies.”  Aerospace studies incorporated material on outer space studies into the air science curriculum.[7] Meanwhile off campus, the US was engaged in the “Space Race” with the Soviet Union at this time.  Beginning in 1957 with the Soviet Union’s infamous Sputnik, the Space Race was an American focal point for the next eighteen years, with its most intense years from 1957 to 1969.  Because of America’s large investment in “winning” the Space Race (“from 1961 to 1964, NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent”[8]), it is no surprise that higher education establishments invested in it as well.  Shortly after the US landed in the moon in 1969, Trinity subtracted its aerospace program before the start of the 1971-1972 school year.[9]

International affairs were not the only influences on Trinity’s addition of departments and programs.  In the 1997-1998 school year, Trinity made it evident that domestic affairs had a significant influence as well when it added “Courses Related to Gay and Lesbian Studies.”[10] In the 1990’s there was a surge of homosexual rights activism sparked by occurrences such as the implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 1993[11], Baehr v. Lewin (1993) in which the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage but the state’s legislature overruled the ruling (sparking great controversy)[12], and Romer v. Evans (1996) in which Colorado guaranteed gays and lesbians protections against discrimination.[13] Student activism on Trinity’s campus reflected the atmosphere in America.  In 1993 and 1997 Trinity students spoke up and stood up for gay and lesbian rights by holding protests, such as the Long Walk March for gay support in 1993[14]; creating student groups, such as E.R.O.S. which dealt with gay, lesbian, and bisexual issues[15]; and writing opinion pieces for/to the Tripod (which includes several articles).  With so much energy around the gay rights movement in the 90s, Trinity was right on the ball with adding Gay and Lesbian Studies.
Another inevitable addition to Trinity’s curriculum was “Computer Science”.  Computers had been in progress before Trinity added their computer courses in the 1975-1976 school year, but computers did not become consumer-accessible until one full school year before these courses were actually implemented.  In 1974/75, the first consumer computers were introduced,[16] thus starting the world’s computer hype.  In the 1975-1976 school year, Trinity officially added a “Computing Coordinate Major”[17] which would come to be known as “Computer Science” in later years.

It is safe to say that every department and program that arrives at Trinity got there for a specific reason.    By looking at the historical context in which the department is placed, we can gain excellent insight as to the department/program’s roots.  Trinity always has been and always will be affected by the world outside of its campus.  Who knows what departments we will see next?

[1] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1949

[2] Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

[3] Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

[4] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1950

[5] National Academy of Engineering. “Airplane Timeline – Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century, 2012. http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3728.

[6] National Academy of Engineering. “Airplane Timeline – Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century, 2012. http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3728.

[7] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1965-1966

[8] “The Space Race.” The History Channel Website, 2012. http://www.history.com/topics/space-race.

[9] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1971-1972

[10] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1997-1998

[11] “The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline.” Infoplease, 2011. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html.

[12] Head, Tom. “The American Gay Rights Movement – A Short History.” About.com – Civil Liberties, 2012. http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/tp/History-Gay-Rights-Movement.htm.

[13] “The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline.” Infoplease, 2011. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html.

[14] Sullivan, Paul. “Long Walk March Supports Gays.” The Trinity Tripod, May 4, 1993, Vol XCI No.22 edition. http://images.trincoll.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tripod&CISOPTR=4644&REC=4.

[15] Genco, Beth. “E.R.O.S. Formed to Deal With All Sexual Preferences.” The Trinity Tripod, March 30, 1993, Vol. XCI No. 18 edition.

[16] Bellis, Mary. “The History of Computers.” About.com – Inventors, 2012. http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm.

[17] “Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1975-1976

Addition of Departments/Programs to Trinity throughout History

Posted on Author Danyelle Doldoorian

Danyelle Doldoorian

April 4th, 2012

EDUC 300 Research Proposal

Research Question: When and why were new departments/program created over time at Trinity College?

Significance: Researching the connection between what and when departments/programs are added and what was happening at the time of addition, it is very evident that Trinity’s department/program additions reflect student demand and events current at the time.  Trinity has implemented women’s studies, aerospace, gay and lesbian, and African studies programs amongst many others.  Each of these programs was put into place for a reason.

Over time, departments/programs are added to schools.  This happens for a variety of reasons such as student demand or current events.  Throughout Trinity’s history, many departments/programs have been added, and for both of these reasons.  For example, African studies was added to the school because of student activism in the form of the famous “lock in,” and Aerospace studies was added during America’s “Space Race” with the Soviet Union.  The addition of departments/programs is relevant because it reflects the changing times.  It reflects what students now find important and what is happening in history.   Therefore, department/program additions reflect the campus’s as well as the state or country’s political climate.

Research Strategy: To research the answer to my research question, I had to research three things: what departments/programs were created, when those departments/programs were created, and what caused the creation of those departments/programs.

In order to find what and when departments were created, I looked through several editions of Trinity’s bulletin.  Searching through the bulletins chronologically, from oldest to newest, I searched through the “Course Offerings” section of each bulletin and noted each department or program addition in comparison to the preceding bulletin.   I was then able to see in which year (roughly, as I did not have access to every bulletin) departments/programs were added and what the departments/programs were.  For example, the 2000-2001 bulletin showed that Gay and Lesbian Studies was a part of the Trinity offerings, but this program was not shown in the 1990-1991 bulletin.  This was noted.

After looking through eight bulletins, noting each department/program addition for each, I was able to research the third question: what caused the creation of those departments/programs?  To do this, I searched on Google a topic related to the department/program and, if necessary, time period in which the department was added.  For example, from 1960 to 1970, the “Air Space” department turned into the “Aerospace” department.  So I searched for “space exploration” in Google.   After clicking on a Wikipedia page, I remembered the “Space Race” between the USA and Russia.  I then searched this topic and found a credible article from the History Channel’s website.  I now had a source which I could use to explain the reasoning behind the creation of the aerospace program at Trinity.  I followed this process for each of the important department/programs that were created and listed in Trinity’s bulletins.

In addition to this method, I used a database provided to us on the Ed Reform website in order to find articles of relevance for any extra information.  On the Ed Reform website under “Resources & Guidelines” I clicked “Trinity Online Resources in Ed” and then “Education full text.”  Then in the research bars I entered key words.  I wanted to find more information about how the Cold War altered curriculum in schools.  I searched “cold war” AND “curriculum” which led me to a relevant article which I can use.  My next steps to finding more relevant information is to search through Trinity’s Tripod archives on http://library.trincoll.edu/tripod.htm to find if any student action led to the addition of departments/programs and going to the Watkinson library to find more bulletins and more student-action information.

Bibliography and Explanations:

Carlson, Dennis. “The Cold War in the Curriculum.” Educational Leadership 42 (05 1985).

  • This is the article I found in the database mentioned above.  This article can possibly give me more information on how schools changed their curriculum during the Cold War as Trinity seemingly did at the time.

Head, Tom. “The American Gay Rights Movement – A Short History.” About.com – Civil Liberties, 2012. http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/tp/History-Gay-Rights-Movement.htm.

  • Gay and Lesbian Studies was added between 1991 and 2000, so this source will give me insight as to why this program was added at this specific point in time.  I will also look in the Tripod archives to see if there was any student activism which called for the addition of this department.  This is a credible source as Tom Head has written 24 books, most of which are about civil rights and related topics.

Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

  • This is a textbook I have from high school.  It has clear and concise explanations of events in history and will give me great insight as to what was happening at the time these departments/programs were added.

National Academy of Engineering. “Airplane Timeline – Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century, 2012. http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3728.

  • “Air Space” was added as a department between 1949 and 1953.  This site has information about the use of aircrafts at the time which will help me infer why the program was put into place at this point in time.

“The Space Race.” The History Channel Website, 2012. http://www.history.com/topics/space-race.

  • (Explained above.)

“Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin”, 1930-2001

  • (Explained above.)

Education Discussion Hits “Home”

Posted on Author Danyelle Doldoorian and Priyanka Menezes

HARTFORD— This past Monday, February 27, 2012, a discussion was held regarding the report Opportunity in CT: The Impact of Race, Poverty and Education on Family Economic Success written by Judith Carol and published and sponsored by the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS).  The discussion, held in the Old Judiciary Room of the State Capitol, was facilitated by a group of highly-accredited individuals in the educational and political arenas.  A highlight of the discussion was the verbalized viewpoint of Erin Boggs, deputy director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.  Boggs’s agenda was implementing affordable subsidized housing into areas with higher opportunity and more successful schools. Boggs’s agenda on housing was acknowledged and discussed many times in the discussion and provided what seemed to be a fresh idea in the debate over the erasure of the achievement gap.

Erin Boggs and Affordable, Subsidized Housing

During the discussion, Boggs commented, “One thing I really want to focus on is we need to think very hard and be very thoughtful about how we place our affordable subsidized housing.  This history has been that we have simply placed that kind of housing again, and again, and again in areas of very high poverty and it makes no sense.”  Boggs continued, “In terms of connecting people to higher opportunity, a lot of this is about housing and making sure that we can place that exact same housing in areas just at very base level: where the schools are good…where schools are thriving. We do have a lot of schools in low-opportunity areas that I think are struggling really because there is an over concentration of poverty.”  By placing affordable housing in more-affluent and lower-poverty areas with better school systems, less-affluent families would be encouraged to move to these types of areas.  Boggs goes on to explain how poverty-stricken students would then receive a better education and the closing of the achievement gap would be facilitated.

To strengthen her point, Boggs mentioned a study from Montgomery County, Maryland which dealt with scattered site public housing. In the study, according to Boggs, public housing was placed in areas of high and low opportunity. It was found that students who lived in the public housing in areas of high opportunity, “cut the achievement gap in half,” as put by Boggs.  By moving the housing from its typical placement in low-opportunity areas to high-opportunity areas, students performed worlds better.  Boggs was referencing Heather Schwartz’s report Housing Policy is School Policy: Economically Integrative Housing Promotes Academic Success In Montgomery County, Maryland. Schwartz’s report does in fact confirm Boggs’s claim and further supports Boggs’s argument that housing is an integral factor in closing the achievement gap—a welcomed idea which stands out from the more typical potential fixes of the achievement gap such as racial integration, parental involvement, and accountability.

Boggs also mentioned the court case Thompson vs HUD, which took place in Baltimore County Maryland in 1994. Boggs alluded to this court case to prove that it is possible for people from segregated, low-opportunity areas to coexist with people from high-opportunity areas in the suburbs. Boggs explained that Thompson sued HUD because HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) gave out Section 8 vouchers which would cause resegregation. The court ruled in favor of Thompson and a settlement was put forth. Bogg’s describes the settlement as “advising people with Section 8 about other housing options outside of high-poverty concentrated areas.”  She then goes on to say that many people were against this idea. However, the settlement was enacted and the result was not negative, as people thought it would be. In fact, when the people with Section 8 moved outside of these areas and into suburbs with high opportunity, it was found that the suburbanites did not express opposition to the integration. Bogg’s also said that not only were most of the families and children accepted into the suburbs, they were “well acclimated into the neighborhood.”

Opportunity in CT: The Impact of Race, Poverty and Education on Family Economic Success : the Report and the Discussion

The discussion on CAHS’s report was lacking information on educational topics.  CAHS’s discussion was largely based on the economic and employment problems in Connecticut and did not address education beyond the certain points made my Erin Boggs (as many of her other points were not education-based) and the points made by George Coleman (former commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Education who argued that the closure of the achievement gap cannot be achieved when racial segregation is present and whose points were not center-stage).  Although the report itself did address educational issues, the discussion of the report only mildly reflected this.  The report itself was also not a piece of literature on education.  Instead, the report stated many facts about the achievement gap and then proceeded to discuss how the achievement gap affects family economic success, rather than pose too many exact solutions to the problem.

In addition, by the end of the meeting it was clear that the discussion had been just that: a discussion.  No plan of action was decided upon and nothing truly seemed to have been accomplished. Although the discussion was interesting and informative to both its audience and participants, in the end it did not produce any specific results.

Danyelle Doldoorian and Priyanka Menezes and friends

Plagiarism exercise

Posted on Author Danyelle Doldoorian

Example 1: Plagiarize the original text by copying portions of it word-for-word.

Truly, no measure is perfect.  But the estimates of value-added and other “growth models,” which attempt to isolate the “true effect” of an individual teacher through his or her students’ test scores, are alarmingly error-prone in any given year.

Example 2: Plagiarize the original text by paraphrasing its structure too closely, without copying it word-for-word.

Sean Corcoran, who is an economist at New York University, has studied the teacher evaluation systems in Houston and New York City. His studies found that the average “margin of error” of a teacher in New York City was plus or minus 28 whole points.

Example 3: Plagiarize the original text by paraphrasing its structure too closely, and include a citation. Even though you cited it, paraphrasing too closely is still plagiarism.

Therefore, a teacher who has ranked at the 43rd percentile in comparison to his or her peers may really be anywhere between the 15th and 71st percentile (Ravitch 270-271). 

Example 4: Properly paraphrase from the original text by restating the author’s ideas in different words and phrases, and include a citation to the original source.

Due to fluctuation for value-added scores, teachers will likely receive different scores over several years.  One year he or she may have a good ranking, and the next he or she may have a bad ranking (Ravitch 270-271). 

Example 5: Properly paraphrase from the original text by restating the author’s ideas in different words and phrases, add a direct quote, and include a citation to the original source.

Ravitch points out that the rankings will never be stable.  Some of the value-added assesments may show accurate performance changes, but many will not.  Ravitch says, “it is difficult to trust any performance rating if the odds of getting the same rating next year are no better than a coin toss,” (Ravitch 270-271).