Citizens for Public Schools

Food for families during the school shutdown

• Project Bread and the Department of Early and Secondary Education have partnered to map and share information on what different school districts are doing in terms of meal options for students. Read more here.

General education and distance learning links

• MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Remote Learning Guidance, released March 26, 2020 and supported by teachers unions, administrators, school committees and charter schools. Read more here.
• The MA Department of elementary and Secondary Education has compiled links to educational resources for families to continue learning while schools are closed. They include resources on English, math, science, social studies, arts, as well as links geared to English language learners and students with disabilities. Read more here.
• WGBH distance learning center offers information for educators and families aligned with the PBS LearningMedia resources: Read more here.
• Also from PBS, distance learning tips from one teacher to another.

Write to MA officials today and tell them to cancel this year’s 2020 MCAS tests! MA should join Washington, Texas and other states and do the right thing for our students. Click on our Action Network link to write your letter.    → Read More

The New Student Opportunity Act (SOA) Means More Funding for Your Local Schools, But Your Voice is Needed Now on How It Should Be Spent.

The SOA is a major achievement, the result of years of advocacy to address vast inequities in state school funding. It will bring desperately needed funds to Massachusetts public schools, especially in districts serving students with the greatest needs. But it must be spent well by districts to achieve its goal: a quality education for every student.  

All districts must develop a three-year spending plan by APRIL 1, 2020, for funding beginning July 1. Districts must solicit and consider local public input. THAT’S WHERE YOU COME IN! 

Click here to read our new fact sheet and learn more about the SOA, what it means for your local schools and how you can make sure the resources go where they are most needed.

   → Read More

Save the date and your seat for an evening with Diane Ravitch, Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7pm at First Parish in Cambridge.

Diane’s new book, Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America’s Public Schools, features the story of Massachusetts’ victorious 2016 No on 2 campaign to keep the cap on charter schools. She’ll be joined by two key players in that victory, Barbara Madeloni and Maurice Cunningham. 

Reserve your ticket today by clicking here.

Diane Ravitch is a dynamic and powerful speaker, an inspiring leader in the national movement for educational justice, and against testing insanity and the privatization of public education.

She is a historian of education and Research Professor of Education at New York University. From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.   → Read More