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

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

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

“In order to understand the concerns around overtesting, the commissioner is going to have to listen. He’s going to need to listen to students like Board of Education student representative Donald Willyard, who reported at the meeting that students at his school had already spent the better part of a week taking a practice test. He’ll need to listen to students as young as kindergartners who know that they dare not make noise at recess, or sing during music class, or applaud a classmate’s presentation during MCAS time. He’ll need to hear from students whose language abilities do not match their math abilities, yet who are assessed in a language not native to them. He’ll need to listen to students who have fewer field trips, less recess time, less developmentally appropriate activities, all due to the almighty MCAS.” Click here for full Worcester Telegram article.    → Read More