Citizens for Public Schools

More than 100 academics have signed on to a letter to Commissioner Jeffrey Riley and members of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education opposing “any proposal that would put Boston Public Schools into state receivership or under state control.”

The letter says “We base this opposition on the long record of failure and damage to local educational communities resulting from state takeovers. The record of receivership in cities around the U.S., and in Massachusetts, clearly argues against this action.” Read the full letter and see the signers here. (To add your name, email Lisa Guisbond here.)   → Read More

Register today for the next in CPS’s series on Race & Education: Latinx Students, Thursday, May 12 at 7pm by Zoom

Join us for the second of our three-part series on Public Education and Race: Latinx Students. You’ll hear from Claudia Rinaldi, Ph.D., and Katherine Tarpley, Esq., two Latinx speakers who have devoted their lives and careers to supporting and advocating for students, including Latinx students, before they become ensnared in the school-to-prison pipeline. Two students from La Colaborativa will also share their experiences and perspectives. Register today here.

If you missed the first in the series, Receivership: Latinx Schools in the Crosshairs, with Dr. Domingo Morel, you can view the video recording here.    → Read More

Save April 27, 7 to 8:30pm for a CPS event with Dr. Domingo Morel, by Zoom.

Join us to hear Domingo Morel, Ph.D., describe the ways state policies such as receivership help expand or diminish political inequality among historically marginalized populations.

Dr. Domingo Morel is the author of Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018), which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book Award. He is also co-editor, with Marion Orr, of Latino Mayors: Power and Political Change in the Postindustrial City (Temple University Press, 2018).   → Read More

The decision by state education officials to reinstate the MCAS graduation test in the midst of the pandemic may have jeopardized the futures of thousands of Massachusetts immigrant students, according to an analysis by a retired Northeastern University professor and Citizens for Public Schools board member.

Professor Emeritus Louis Kruger, working with data from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, found that only about one quarter of English learners in 10th grade passed both the English and math MCAS tests last spring. 

In Massachusetts, students must pass both tests to get their diplomas. State officials canceled the requirement for the classes of 2021 and 2022 because of the pandemic, but reinstated it for students in the class of 2023, who were scheduled to take the graduation tests as sophomores in the spring of 2021.

“In this stressful and educationally compromised environment, it is unconscionable for state officials to cling to the MCAS graduation requirement,” said Kruger.   → Read More

With confidence in standardized tests at a low ebb, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) proposes paying kids to care about MCAS. On Friday, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) will consider a Student Achievement Award Program, including a $25 gift certificate for high MCAS scores. This proposal has us in the field shaking our collective heads, wondering what incentive might encourage those who dreamed this up to consider the perspective of actual high-needs students. A $26 gift certificate, perhaps? 

Of the many obstacles to academic success faced by students with disabilities, English Learners, Black and Latinx students, and economically disadvantaged students, the lack of a $25 gift certificate is not on the list. In the context of the unprecedented trauma and dislocation many students have experienced and continue to experience during the pandemic, this proposal is tone deaf.

Tim Wise, a writer and parent of three Cambridge Public School graduates, asks how class dynamics will be affected when one high-scoring kid doesn’t get the recognition and cash while her classmate does because they are a SWD, economically disadvantaged, or an English learner.   → Read More