CCSU CONNECTED
Marisha Watts ’20 meets with her kindergarten class at Community First School in Hartford.
THE CURRICULUM OF COMMUNITY COLLABORAT CCSU partners with Community First to open independent school By Leslie Virostek How do you build a school from the ground up? How do you develop a curriculum from scratch? CCSU faculty from across the university and select students are not only pondering those questions in class but they are participating in the process, thanks to a partnership with Community First School, a new independent school in Hartford’s federally designated Promise Zone. Dr. Kimberly Kostelis, dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies (SEPS), and Carol Ciotto, interim assistant dean for Accreditation and Partnerships, have been
working with the Community First Advisory Group and Executive Director Tim Goodwin since the spring of 2019 to create a whole-family care, relationship- and place-based program for kindergarten and elementary school students. On Aug. 31, the school opened for its inaugural year, welcoming its first class of 11 kindergartners. This smaller-than-anticipated cohort — one that allows for social distancing in the classroom — was a pandemic-related change of plans. But the new school’s innovative curriculum is surging full-steamahead, as is its ongoing partnership with CCSU. The school’s mission calls for building
16 – Central Connecticut State University Connected
up curriculum each year to eventually serve students through Grade 8. The kindergarteners’ teacher, Marisha Watts, is a 2020 CCSU graduate. For a brand-new teacher to start at a brand-new school might seem daunting to some, but Watts says taking the job was one of the best decisions she’s ever made. From the start, she felt that the school’s educational approach and embrace of both families and community resonated with her. She also felt that her education at CCSU — which prompted deep reflection on her teaching philosophy and illuminated the importance of relationship-building — prepared her well.
