{"id":73837,"date":"2013-03-07T10:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T15:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=73837"},"modified":"2023-10-22T19:25:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T23:25:59","slug":"renzulli-academy-model-expands-to-three-new-connecticut-school-districts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/03\/renzulli-academy-model-expands-to-three-new-connecticut-school-districts\/","title":{"rendered":"Renzulli Academy Model Expands to Three New Connecticut School Districts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The highly successful Renzulli Academy in Hartford is now being replicated in three additional Connecticut school districts. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After four years of changing the face of education in Hartford, the Renzulli Academy is expanding its nationally renowned model of gifted-and-talented schooling to three new districts in Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Starting this fall, students in Bridgeport, New London, and Windham will be able to attend schools for fourth-through-sixth graders modeled on the Hartford program, which has won plaudits for putting into practice the ideas of Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Education Joseph Renzulli, and his wife, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Sally Reis. Renzulli and Reis are both faculty members in the Neag School of Education who have long championed the education of gifted students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting to see this,\u201d says Renzulli. \u201cThis has always been the core of my work \u2013 kids who are going on to be inventors, designers, entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three districts will fund the new schools, which may in the future expand beyond the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, but the expansion was made possible by a $500,000 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Renzulli said.<\/p>\n

“We know that high-potential, low-income students do best at schools that both challenge and support them,” says Lawrence Kutner, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. “Along with Hartford, these three districts are taking a significant step towards ensuring that children’s potential is not wasted.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Renzulli Academy in Hartford is based on the schoolwide enrichment model, which maximizes students’ potential and keeps teachers engaged and excited. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The academies in the new cities, like the original in Hartford, will follow a \u201cschoolwide enrichment model\u201d designed by Renzulli to maximize the development of students\u2019 abilities and help keep teachers engaged and excited about their classes. The model includes everything from weekly sessions on special topics for teachers to the use of cutting-edge learning software.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do the kind of teaching I advocate without the very best of technology,\u201d Renzulli says.<\/p>\n

The model has already reaped rewards in Hartford, where about 115 students attend the academy. As measured in both Connecticut Mastery Test scores and the state\u2019s new School Performance Index, the Renzulli Academy routinely outperforms not only its peers in the district, but also many schools in affluent suburbs.<\/p>\n

In 2012, for example, the Renzulli Academy was the only school in Hartford to surpass the state\u2019s desired School Performance Index rating of 88, scoring 92.8 out of 100 \u2013 fully 10 points higher than the second highest performing school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test scores are important, but the thing I\u2019m proudest about in the academy is our kids entering and placing and winning in things like the National History Day contest, the Invention Convention, robotics competitions, and the like,\u201d Renzulli says.<\/p>\n

Along with the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Renzulli also credits Bridgeport Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas, New London Superintendent Nicholas Fischer, and Windham Superintendent Ana Ortiz with their willingness to embrace the model, along with Steven Adamowski, the former Hartford superintendent who has been appointed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to be Special Master of the Windham and New London districts.<\/p>\n

While some details remain to be worked out before class starts in the fall, including what selection criteria will be used and how many students will be accepted, Renzulli says he\u2019s just excited to see the model expand, the first step in what he hopes will eventually be a roll out in districts across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the real world, it\u2019s the creative, productive kids who make a difference,\u201d he says. \u201cThese kids clearly have that potential, which is why this is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The highly successful Renzulli Academy in Hartford is now being replicated in Bridgeport, New London, and Windham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":52740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2428,2424,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[131],"class_list":["post-73837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educational-psychology","category-neag-community-engagement","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 14:02:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73837"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206005,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73837\/revisions\/206005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/52740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73837"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=73837"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=73837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}