Citizens for Public Schools

Charter school promoters are making vastly exaggerated claims about students “trapped on waiting lists” in their campaign to lift the cap on charter schools, a Citizens for Public Schools analysis shows.

Charter school promoters say the waitlists show high demand for charter seats that cannot be met without lifting the caps on how much public funding can be diverted from district schools to charter schools.

But a CPS analysis of state data suggests the number affected by the cap is less than 15,000, probably thousands less. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) confusing and opaque reporting system makes it impossible to be precise, but CPS found:

• The waitlist count includes schools that are not Commonwealth charter schools and would not be affected if the cap were lifted.

• Of the students on waitlists for Commonwealth charter schools, many were taken from old lists, rolled over from past years with permission from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), even after state Auditor Suzanne Bump warned DESE against this practice.

As Marlena Rose, of the Boston Education Justice Alliance, said, “Welcome to the movement!” Thanks to Marlena and all the beautiful, brilliant students, parents, teachers and others who filled the streets of Boston yesterday. We walked in to City Hall and the State House to stand up for public education and against brutal cuts. Just one example of the excellent coverage was this, from WBUR Learning Lab reporter Erica Morrison. (Photo by Jesse Costa)   → Read More

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted Tuesday to adopt Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s “door number three” recommendation: a new testto be developed by a contractor using many PARCC questions.

CPS members opposed this recommendation and believe that the board’s decision only strengthens the need for a three-year moratorium on the high stakes uses of standardized tests, whatever name is attached to them.

We agree with the Commissioner on one thing: our students, teachers and schools have reached a point of diminishing returns. But the diminishing returns are from the whole high-stakes testing enterprise, not MCAS itself, as Chester claims.

In voting to continue with a new and untested test, our data-driven education policymakers ignored their own data from a study commissioned by Secretary of Education Peyser. The study compared MCAS and PARCC in terms of their ability to predict college readiness. The results showed that neither test predicts more than 5% to 18% of the variation in college grades in math and English.   → Read More

Next week, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will hold a final public hearing before they vote on whether to transition from MCAS to PARCC testing. Or maybe they will listen to Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who said last week that he will propose “Door No. 3,” or “MCAS 2.0”- a homegrown version of PARCC that does not exist yet.

We’d love to see as many of you as can come to the public hearing at Malden High School on Monday, November 16 at 4 p.m. Map and directions can be found here.

Parents, students and teachers will be sending a strong, clear message: PARCC tests are not the answer. We oppose using any standardized test to make high-stakes decisions about students, teachers or schools. It’s time for a moratorium! You will be able to sign up on arrival to speak for three minutes.

Let us know if you’re planning to come!   → Read More