The report that almost 3,000 Massachusetts high school seniors will be denied diplomas based on Science MCAS scores reveals once again the deep flaws of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (BESE) high-stakes testing policies. These are students who have completed four years of high school and satisfied the requirements of their school districts. Many of them overcame significant obstacles such as learning disabilities, economic hardship, or learning the English language in addition to their academic subjects.

These students will have difficulty continuing their education and are likely to be derailed from productive futures, at great cost to themselves and our social fabric. Failure to earn a high school diploma means these young people will earn far less, have less stable families, and are more likely to land in prison. We can ill afford a public policy that puts thousands of Massachusetts students on a path to failure because of a few points on a single standardized test.   → Read More

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