How We Started

This effort was started about six years ago (2013) when a teacher in Southington, Connecticut, named Bob Brown, realized that the state and national mania to give standardized tests to all students so that the “poor” teachers “responsible” for any resulting low test scores could be removed, was simply mistaken in its assumptions. Poverty has a much more profound impact on students and their learning than poor teachers do.

As a result, Bob went to his state teachers union, CEA (Connecticut Education Association) and urged them to form a task force to study the impact of poverty on students, programs that help reduce any negative impact poverty has on students, and ways to reduce poverty itself. A report was written after a year’s study.

Next, Bob and CEA created a plan to reduce the impact of poverty and poverty itself, and also a plan to implement that plan. These are both explained in detail on this website.

The purpose of this website is to explain the plan and its implementation to the public, and also to gather helpful information (such as programs and legislation that work now in reducing poverty and its impact). Please share any useful information you have!