Community Leaders Address Childcare Challenges in Northeast Connecticut

WILLIMANTIC, CT - Local legislators and community leaders convened Friday at EASTCONN's Community Learning Center in Willimantic to address childcare challenges facing northeastern Connecticut families. The Northeast Connecticut Childcare Needs (NCCN) Initiative hosted the meeting to discuss solutions to what they describe as a "trilemma" of access, affordability, and quality in early childhood education.

The January 31st gathering highlighted a critical workforce cycle that impacts both families and childcare providers: low wages and entry barriers discourage qualified professionals from entering the field, while attempts to raise wages increase costs for families already struggling to afford care. "Childcare providers in our region receive significantly lower reimbursement rates compared to other parts of Connecticut, creating an unsustainable situation where providers lose wages while families cannot afford the true cost of care," said Maggie Francis-Gietzen, NCCN Program Manager.

EASTCONN Technology Solutions Developing Digital Tools for Teacher Evaluations

Hampton, CT - A team at EASTCONN, one of the state’s six regional educational service centers (RESCs), is developing new software to streamline the teacher and leader evaluation process for Connecticut schools, addressing a gap left when the state stopped funding a previous system. The product, currently under development with the working title “T-Observe,” aims to digitize and simplify the complex documentation requirements for teacher and administrator evaluations. The software will help school administrators manage everything from initial goal-setting to final assessments, while providing insights into district-wide performance trends. “Administrators are struggling with the current process,” said Dr. Andy DePalma, EASTCONN’s Chief Technology Officer. “Imagine you’re a high school principal with 120 teachers. You’ve got 120 sets of goals coming in, you have to provide feedback, archive everything, and maintain complete records for union requirements. Right now, schools are cobbling together solutions using Google Docs and email.”   Connecticut’s teacher evaluation framework requires schools to collect multiple documents throughout the year, including initial goals, mid-year progress reports, classroom observations, and final evaluations. The state provides guidelines but leaves the implementation details to individual districts, many of which are struggling to manage the process effectively since the state stopped funding a system called Bloomboard.   The platform will incorporate state evaluation templates while allowing districts to modify them for local needs. It includes built-in reminders for deadlines and will automatically compile materials that are currently scattered across various documents and platforms.