“All the hoopla and hundreds of millions of dollars will produce more testing and more teaching to the test." --FairTest’s Monty Neill, about proposed new tests aligned to a national curriculum. (All photos by Larry Aaronson)
“They’re turning children into economic units for a corporate society. We’re seeing a dehumanization of our children and the one social institution created for them." --Jose Lopez, of Boston Coalition for Equal Quality Education.
“We spend more money on locking up than educating our children. This country locks up more young people than any country in the world.” --The Honorable Leslie Harris, Suffolk County Juvenile Court Justice
“Latino students are the largest ethnic/racial group in Massachusetts, with the highest growth patterns…They are 15% now, and have been the largest group for more than a decade. Yet people still talk about us as if we’re the new kids on the block.”--Melissa Colon of the Gaston Institute
"I taught in an alternative education program for seven years. It’s expensive, with seven teachers and 90 kids in school. It took a long time to build a school where kids would stay longer because they knew people would help them."--Garrett Virchick, Boston Public School science teacher.
CPS Boardmembers Julie Johnson, left, and Paula Parnagian helped plan and execute conference agenda.
