A perfect storm has engulfed the Massachusetts test-focused accountability system:

• First, the Mathematica study commissioned by Secretary James Peyser showed that neither MCAS nor PARCC measures college readiness accurately. Mathematica reported that test scores accounted for only five to 18 percent of the variation in first-year college grades.
• Next, Commissioner Mitchell Chester pulled back from his push for Massachusetts to adopt the national PARCC test, telling the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last week that he will propose “Door No. 3,” or “MCAS 2.0” – a homegrown version of PARCC that does not exist yet. This year, students took three different state tests: MCAS, PARCC on computers, and PARCC on paper. Next year, no one knows what’s in store. How can we rank schools on student achievement with such different yardsticks?
• Then, last Saturday, President Obama unexpectedly announced he has directed the Department of Education to work “aggressively” to cut back on standardized testing and to change the No Child Left Behind waiver agreements through which the federal government pressured states to increase testing.

It was another marathon State House hearing on the future of public education in the Commonwealth. Some called it a circus, with throngs of bused-in charter parents in matching t-shirts; parents, students, and teachers wearing “Public Funds for Public Schools” stickers; a beaming Gov. Baker with his entourage; and cameras recording the testimony of two opposing visions of education. I kept having visions of The Hunger Games, with Gov. Baker presiding over an arena of combatants, fighting for education resources that dwindle over time, while the needs continue to grow (along with the divide between the state’s rich and poor).

Civil rights icon Mel King, as always, drilled down to the struggle’s essence. Our elected representatives should fight for liberty and justice for all, but they seem content to fight just for some. “This legislation does not set forth justice for all…it’s justice for some folks and not for all folks,” he said.   → Read More

Citizens for Public Schools and other members of the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance are holding a Week of Action on Charter Schools to raise public awareness about how students in our district public schools are impacted by charters. The messages will be spread through social media and local media outlets. Fact sheets and background information are available here.

KEEP PUBLIC FUNDS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS! Click here to Sign this Petition to Keep the Cap on Charters.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5: Public Funds For Public Schools

Communities all across Massachusetts are losing funds to charter schools. Check out this interactive map to see how much your community is losing.

Take action!

• Watch for and wear the new Public Funds for Public Schools stickers. (Teachers can contact their local association president to get them.)
• Share the sticker image and its message on Facebook and Twitter. (It will be posted on the CPS Facebook page.)

Democratizing Education:

The powers of diversity and collaboration

How can we broaden the narrow passageways to higher education opportunity and success for all of our children? Join us to hear Professor Lani Guinier answer that question and talk about her new book, The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America on October 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the historic 12th Baptist Church, 150 Warren St., Boston, MA 02119. (Registration and book sales will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the program will start at 7 p.m.) After the talk and some time for discussion, questions and answers, there will be an opportunity to buy Professor Guinier’s book and get it signed. Click here to register online today!

Professor Guinier is an author, scholar and champion of equal educational opportunity and civil rights. She is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured professorship at that institution.   → Read More

There were so many of us — parents, students, teachers, school committee members, higher educators, former members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education — that they  had to move the hearing on testing reform bills to a larger space. And we filled that one too!

It was a full day (seven hours!) of powerful testimony for a moratorium on high-stakes testing. Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts and CPS member Barbara Fields was quoted in the Globe saying “The overuse and misuse of high-stakes testing has resulted in the denial of diplomas [to] economically disadvantaged children who desperately need a high school diploma to access a pathway out of poverty.”

CPS member Lou Kruger had the committee members on the edge of their seats. The Globe reported that “Louis J. Kruger, a professor of educational psychology at Northeastern University, said an MCAS score is not enough by itself to accurately assess student performance.   → Read More