When Mrs. Obama was on the campaign trail with her husband she said the following about the Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind Program:

No Child Left Behind  is strangling the life out of most schools.  If my future were determined by my performance on a standardized test I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee that.

Many agree with her criticism. If you do, ask her to help end the reliance on high-stakes standardized tests.

Our friends at Time out From Testing, FairTest, Rethink Learning Now,  and other groups are urging parents, teachers, students, and anyone else interested to send a postcard to Michelle Obama with this simple, clear message:

Dear Mrs. Obama:

We want to provide the best high-quality education for our public school children, just as you want to provide the best for Malia and Sasha.

Children are not test scores.

Encourage the President to end the use of high-stakes standardized tests!   → Read More

In the April 8, 2010 Daily Hampshire Gazette, Aline Gubrium and Tim Scott, CPS partners in our March 27 conference at UMass/Amherst, have an excellent oped about the impact of charters on public schools in Western Massachusetts.

A stacked deck on school ‘choice’

by Daily Hampshire Gazette
AMHERST – In his March 29 article, “Keynote speaker assails Obama’s education policies,” reporter Nick Grabbe succinctly captured the substance of the Saving Our Schools: Defending Public Education conference that drew parents, students and education activists to the University of Massachusetts Amherst on the last weekend in March.

The full article is here.   → Read More

From Lou Kruger, whose film Children Left Behind has created a stir!

Lou writes: “I am pleased to invite you to a strategy summit devoted to reforming the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). The purpose of this summit is to develop an overarching, multi-year action plan that will result in the MCAS being aligned with best practices in assessment, the education of the whole child, and the principles of social justice. Our intent is to bring together a diverse coalition of concerned citizens, who will provide leadership to a coordinated, sustained and statewide strategy that will result in a new and improved MCAS.

Your input and leadership is vital to the success of this endeavor.  Please join concerned citizens from across the state at this important strategy summit.

The summit will be held from 9 AM to 12:30 PM, on Saturday April 10th in Room 19 of International Village at Northeastern University’s Boston Campus.”   → Read More

The Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Greenfield Reporter both ran Nick Grabbe’s report on Saturday’s excellent conference, cosponsored by Citizens or Public Schools and Phenom, the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts.

Keynote speaker assails Obama’s education policies

By NICK GRABBE
Staff Writer

Monday, March 29, 2010
AMHERST – President Obama’s education policies amount to an assault on public schools, according to participants in a conference Saturday at the University of Massachusetts.

The connection between teacher evaluations and test scores, the opening of charter schools, and the closing of underperforming schools are policies of Education Secretary Arne Duncan that he implemented in Chicago, said keynote speaker Pauline Lipman.

“These policies are part of a global neoliberal project of the most powerful corporate interests, in alliance with national governments, to restructure global education along the lines of the market,” said Lipman, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Saturday’s conference was titled “Saving our Schools: Defending Public Education.”   → Read More

* From Richard Stutman at the Boston Teachers Union: Next Wednesday, 3/24,  the BTU is sponsoring a rally at the School Department, at 5:00, to protest yet another round of budget cuts. Please feel free to stop by. And on April 5, Monday, at 4:00, the BTU is hosting an event with Diane Ravitch. This will be a good event as well, as Diane, the author of the top selling education book  on  Amazon. She’ll be speaking at 4:30 after refreshments, and will be signing her book after the event.

* From the Pioneer Institute (yes, you read that right): Come hear our own Bill Schechter and Linda Nathan of the Boston Arts Academy discuss/debate history standards and assessment with other panelists at a Pioneer Institute event on March 31 (2-4:30 p.m.). It’s open to the public, a rare opportunity to witness an actual history teacher weigh in on academic standards!   → Read More