“It may seem reassuring that Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeff Riley says that ‘the idea behind identifying schools for targeted assistance was not intended to be punitive, but rather was an attempt to provide the support they need so students can thrive.’ Yet we know that there are not adequate resources for the state and certainly not for the districts serving our most needy students. 

So we have a new, more “challenging” and “rigorous” test-based accountability system that has identified hundreds of schools as needing targeted assistance, but not the assistance or resources they need. Whether or not this is a good way of identifying which schools do or do not need assistance is another question.

It’s past time to fund our schools and fundamentally rethink our accountability system. This “new and improved” system remains too focused on standardized test results, which are largely driven by a school’s socioeconomics. 

No doubt Commissioner Riley knows that Lawrence Public Schools have some of the brightest, most motivated and hard-working students in the Commonwealth.   → Read More

It is outrageous, as well as “unfathomable and inexcusable,” to quote Senator Chang-Diaz, for the Foundation Budget bill to fail. The bill arrived at the conference committee already compromised by the House’s failure to include funding for English language learners and low-income students. Rep. Peisch cited the “complexities” involved, but these complexities have been studied for years, and this funding problem is eminently solvable.

 It is past time for action!  A child born in 1993, when the Foundation Funding formula was crafted, is now a 25-year-old adult. And that adult is wondering if their own child will have public schools with enough resources to provide a whole child education. Where’s the legislative leadership to solve problems that have been staring us in the face for years? — Lisa Guisbond   → Read More