ConnCAN

ConnCAN, short for Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, is an American state-level education advocacy organization founded in January 2005 and based in New Haven, Connecticut. It presents itself as a movement-building organization seeking to improve public education for children across Connecticut, with particular emphasis on ensuring that school quality is not determined by a student's race, family wealth, or residential ZIP code. The organization operates at the intersection of public-policy advocacy, education research, parent engagement, and communications. Its work has included producing research reports and policy briefs, publishing or supporting comparative information about Connecticut public schools, examining teacher contracts and education-reform progress, and mobilizing parents, educators, policymakers, and other advocates around legislative priorities. Rather than functioning as a school operator or a conventional consumer brand, ConnCAN is best understood as an issue-advocacy brand whose public profile is tied to specific education policies and reform campaigns. ConnCAN's early agenda centered on narrowing Connecticut's achievement gap and challenging what it viewed as inequities in the state's public-school system. Its first major named campaign, Mind the Gaps, began in 2009. The campaign promoted three broad reforms: funding to support the expansion of high-performing public charter schools, stronger attention to teacher quality, and greater transparency in education performance and decision-making. These priorities positioned ConnCAN within the education-reform movement, including advocacy for school-choice mechanisms, accountability, and the use of performance information in public policy. In 2010, ConnCAN organized Our Race to the Top around Connecticut's application to the federal Race to the Top competition. The campaign urged state officials to adopt reforms that would make Connecticut more competitive for federal support. The campaign identified four priorities: measuring effectiveness, establishing world-class standards, developing stronger or “superstar” principals, and ensuring that money follows the child. Reference material credits the campaign with helping advance these four reforms, although the precise legislative and administrative contributions of the organization are not independently quantified in the available material. ConnCAN also became associated with efforts to replicate its advocacy model beyond Connecticut. In January 2010, it began developing a pilot in Rhode Island. The resulting RI-CAN initiative was formally launched in December 2010, and the broader effort was spun off in January 2011 as 50CAN, an independent nonprofit intended to support education-policy campaigns in multiple states. Marc Porter Magee, who had served as ConnCAN's chief operating officer, became 50CAN's first president and later its chief executive. The spin-off expanded the organizational model beyond ConnCAN's Connecticut focus, while ConnCAN remained oriented toward state-level education advocacy in its home state. The organization has been described in education-reform coverage as having a substantial and professionally credentialed board and adviser network. Jonathan Sackler served as founding chair of the board, while Alex Johnston served as founding chief executive and Marc Porter Magee as an early chief operating officer. Later reference material identifies Jennifer Alexander as chief executive. No reliable financial information, current corporate ownership structure, or public-market listing is available in the supplied sources. ConnCAN's identity is primarily institutional and policy-oriented: its products are reports, rankings, campaign platforms, public engagement, and advocacy interventions rather than physical goods.

ConnCAN was established in January 2005 as the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, a state-level organization dedicated to education advocacy and reform. It was founded in New Haven and developed an agenda focused on improving public-school outcomes and reducing disparities associated with race, income, and geography. The group brought together policy advocacy, research, public communication, and parent engagement rather than operating schools directly. During its formative years, ConnCAN produced and promoted education research, policy analysis, and public information intended to make school performance and education governance more visible. Its work included school report cards and rankings, analysis of teacher contracts, progress reporting on education reform, and issue-specific reports. These activities gave the organization an evidence-oriented public identity and supplied material for its legislative and community campaigns. The organization's early leadership included founding board chair Jonathan Sackler, chief executive Alex Johnston, and chief operating officer Marc Porter Magee. A 2007 review by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation characterized ConnCAN's board and adviser network as well credentialed and described the organization as serious about school reform. Contemporary reporting also discussed ConnCAN's interest in achievement gaps and the performance of Connecticut school systems. ConnCAN's first named campaign, Mind the Gaps, launched in 2009. It framed the achievement gap as a policy problem requiring coordinated action and promoted three reforms: resources to expand high-performing public charter schools, stronger approaches to teacher quality, and improved transparency. The campaign reflected ConnCAN's broader preference for measurable outcomes, accountability, and expanded access to schools it considered effective. In 2010, ConnCAN launched Our Race to the Top in response to the federal Race to the Top grant competition. The campaign sought to persuade Connecticut policymakers to make the state more competitive by adopting reforms in four areas: measuring effectiveness, setting world-class standards, developing stronger principals, and directing funding so that money follows the child. Reference material states that the campaign successfully advocated for these four reforms, though the available sources do not provide a detailed independent account of each measure's implementation or the amount of funding involved. ConnCAN also began testing whether its model could be reproduced outside Connecticut. It developed a Rhode Island pilot in January 2010, and RI-CAN formally launched in December of that year. In January 2011, the expansion effort became 50CAN, an independent nonprofit organization. Marc Porter Magee moved from ConnCAN's chief operating officer role to become 50CAN's first president and subsequently its chief executive. This transition separated the national or multi-state replication effort from ConnCAN's Connecticut-based organization. Later reference material identifies Jennifer Alexander as ConnCAN's chief executive and describes a staff of approximately twelve full-time employees. The supplied material does not establish a complete chronology of leadership changes, a formal legal ownership structure, annual revenue, or a definitive current program inventory. ConnCAN's historical significance rests on its role as a state education-policy advocate, its use of research and school-performance information in campaigning, and its contribution to the formation of the broader 50CAN network.

• 2011

  50CAN is spun off

  [1]ConnCANen.wikipedia.org

  The multi-state replication effort becomes the independent nonprofit 50CAN, with Marc Porter Magee moving into its leadership.

• 2010

  Our Race to the Top campaign launches

  [1]ConnCANen.wikipedia.org

  ConnCAN campaigns for Connecticut education reforms intended to strengthen the state's federal Race to the Top application.

• 2010

  RI-CAN pilot is formally launched

  [1]ConnCANen.wikipedia.org

  ConnCAN's effort to extend its advocacy model to Rhode Island becomes the RI-CAN initiative.

• 2009

  Mind the Gaps campaign launches

  [1]ConnCANen.wikipedia.org

  ConnCAN begins a campaign promoting charter-school expansion funding, teacher-quality improvements, and education transparency.

• 2007

  ConnCAN receives favorable education-reform sector assessment

  [1]ConnCANen.wikipedia.org

  A Thomas B. Fordham Foundation review describes ConnCAN's board and adviser network as well credentialed and presents the organization as serious about school reform.

• 2005

  ConnCAN is founded

  [1]ConnCANen.wikipedia.org

  The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now is established in New Haven as a state-level education advocacy organization.

A Connecticut-focused education-reform and public-policy advocacy organization that combines research, public information, parent engagement, and legislative campaigns to promote school quality, accountability, and expanded access to effective public-school options.

• Research and public information

  Public-school report cards and rankings

  ConnCAN's school-information work presents comparative data and evaluations concerning Connecticut public schools. These materials are intended to help parents, policymakers, and advocates assess school performance and understand differences among districts and schools. The available reference material identifies school rankings and report cards as recurring organizational projects, but does not provide a complete methodology or current publication schedule.

• Policy research

  Education research reports and policy briefs

  ConnCAN produces research and issue-oriented policy material on topics connected with Connecticut education reform. The reports support public education, legislative advocacy, and campaign messaging, including questions of achievement gaps, school effectiveness, teacher quality, accountability, and transparency.

• Education data

  Teacher contract database

  The teacher contract database is an information project focused on Connecticut education labor agreements. It is part of ConnCAN's broader effort to make policy-relevant education information accessible to the public and to inform debate about school-system performance and reform.

• 2010Our Race to the Top

  Connecticut, United States

  The campaign encouraged Connecticut officials to adopt reforms that would improve the state's competitiveness in the federal Race to the Top grant competition. Its stated priorities were effectiveness measurement, world-class standards, stronger principals, and student-centered funding.

  Outcome. Reference material credits the campaign with successfully advocating for all four stated reform priorities, although detailed implementation evidence is not provided.

  Source
• 2009Mind the Gaps

  Connecticut, United States

  ConnCAN's first named campaign promoted three education reforms intended to narrow Connecticut's achievement gap: funding for the expansion of high-performing public charter schools, stronger teacher-quality policies, and increased education transparency.

  Source

• 2010

  Extend the advocacy model to Rhode IslandStrategy

  Background

  ConnCAN explored whether its Connecticut education-advocacy approach could be applied in another state.

  Action taken

  It developed a Rhode Island pilot that became RI-CAN and later formed the basis for the independent 50CAN organization.

  Aftermath

  The replication effort was separated from ConnCAN in 2011, allowing 50CAN to pursue multi-state campaigns independently.

  Source

1. 1ConnCANen.wikipedia.org