Panelists Jessica Wender-Shubow, Deborah Meier, Jim McDermott and moderator Ruth Kaplan at Monday's event. Photo by George Abbott White

A full to overflowing house of Citizens for Public Schools members and friends heard a strong and eloquent panel address the question “Is Education for Democracy at Risk?” at the Brookline Public Library on Dec. 3. Thanks to our fine speakers and moderator for their contributions: Deborah Meier, MacArthur Fellow, educator and author of In Schools We Trust; James McDermott of Clark University, urban teacher educator, former Massachusetts Teacher of the Teacher and former member of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE); Jessica Wender-Shubow, President, Brookline Educators Union; and Ruth Kaplan, former Brookline School Committee member and current member of the Massachusetts BESE. And thanks to all those who came for their interest and support. The event was in honor of the late Sumner Z. Kaplan, the first in a series of lectures to honor our friend and former member of the CPS Board of Directors.   → Read More

Jonathan Kozol

“Fire in the Ashes: Public Schools Under Siege — Victims and Survivors”

Come to the CPS 30th Anniversary Mary Ann Hardenbergh Lecture with Jonathan Kozol, author of Letters to a Young Teacher, The Shame of the Nation, Savage Inequalities and many other books, beginning with Death at an Early Age in 1967.

We’re excited to host this inspirational author on September 19, 2012, 7:30 p.m., at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard, Cambridge. His new book, Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America, will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

Note: Online registration for this event is closed, but tickets will be available at the door.   → Read More

Shannon was one of the students featured in Prof. Kruger's film, Children Left Behind, about students who struggled to pass the MCAS and pursue their goals and dreams.

The Patriot Ledger covered a new report by CPS Board Member Louis Kruger about the impact of the MCAS graduation requirement on students with disabilities.

The report looks at the percentage of students with disabilities who have been blocked from high school graduation by the MCAS exams, compared with rates for students without disabilities: “Dr. Louis J. Kruger, who has studied the effect high-stakes testing has on students, said 75 percent of the pupils who failed the MCAS in 2011  were classified as special-education students.”

The Patriot Ledger article continues, ““It appears as if we have this rigorous high school exit exam, but, in reality, virtually the only ones weÂ’re preventing from getting their high school diplomas are students with disabilities,” Kruger said.”   → Read More