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How You Can Support Legislation for Less Testing, More Learning

January 26, 2015 by

Legislators supporting the Less Testing, More Learning campaign last week filed bills for a moratorium on most of the “high stakes” tied to standardized tests. Please contact your own Representative and Senator and ask them to support these bills. 

You can find your Representative and Senator on the Open States web site and email them right from that site. Your email can be as simple as, “Please co-sponsor Rep./Sen. ___’s bill to ______.” If you explain why, that’s even better.

  • Rep. Mary Keefe of Worcester filed H.418 and Sen. Barbara L’Italien of Andover filed S.311, identical bills calling for a three-year moratorium on the graduation test: No student who completes all other high school graduation requirements should be denied a high school diploma because of a score on a state standardized test. (Click here for more information and here to read the text of the bill.)
  • Rep. Benjamin Swan of Springfield filed H.497 and Sen.
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Filed Under: Education-Other

“Don’t Expand Charters Until We Have Accurate Data on Their Impact”

December 18, 2014 by

Citizens for Public Schools responded to State Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report on charter schools with this statement by CPS Executive Director Lisa Guisbond:

“I applaud the state auditor for scrutinizing charter school practices and, in the process, uncovering serious flaws in the way the state holds these schools accountable. The auditor’s report reveals that we still don’t know how many students are waiting to get seats in charter schools. The charter schools make extravagant claims, which the auditor’s report says are inflated. We will not know the truth until the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education holds them accountable for accurate data.

Unfortunately, the auditor did not examine a larger problem, which is that charter schools are selective — both as to who is admitted and who is allowed to stay. The question for Massachusetts is, do we want a dual education system, one selective and one educating all students?   → Read More

Filed Under: Education-Other

CPS and the BTU Present

December 12, 2014 by

Challenging the Oligarchs:

Anthony Cody on Taking Back Our Schools

January 15, 6:30 p.m. at the Boston Teachers Union Hall

Join us to hear Anthony Cody talk about his new book, The Educator and the Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges The Gates Foundation, on January 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Boston Teachers Union Hall, 180 Mt. Vernon St., Dorchester, MA 02125. (To register now, click here. There will be refreshments, registration and book sales at 6:30 p.m., and the program will start at 7 p.m.) After his talk and some time for discussion, questions and answers, there will be an opportunity to buy Anthony’s book and get it signed.

Cody taught in high-poverty schools in Oakland, Calif., for 24 years, 18 of them as a middle school science teacher. Cody’s popular blog, “Living in Dialogue,”  appeared for years in Education Week and is now an independent web site.    → Read More

Filed Under: Education-Other

“More than a Score” Speakers Brought Energy, Inspiration

December 8, 2014 by

Thanks to Barbara Madeloni, Jesse Hagopian, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Tim Shea and Monty Neill for an energizing discussion at CPS’s “More than a Score” event Thursday. For those who couldn’t join us, you can read an excellent report here. And stay tuned for the availability of a video of the event.   → Read More

Filed Under: Education-Other

CPS Presents on December 4

October 29, 2014 by

More Than a Score:
The New Uprising Against
High-Stakes Testing 

Join us to hear educator, activist and editor Jesse Hagopian and four contributors to the new book More than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. Click here to register now!

Jesse has compiled an exciting collection of essays, poems, speeches, and interviews—accounts of personal courage and trenchant insights—from frontline fighters who are defying the corporate education reformers, often at great personal and professional risk, and fueling a national movement to reclaim and transform public education.

We’re excited to host Jesse, as well as FairTest Executive Director Monty Neill, Author Alfie Kohn, Early Childhood Education Expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige and MTA President Barbara Madeloni on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at First Parish in Cambridge, at the corner of Church Street and Massachusetts Avenue.    → Read More

Filed Under: Education-Other
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