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Diane Ravitch Rocked the House!

December 2, 2010 by

Thanks to Diane Ravitch for her clear and compelling analysis of the disastrous education policies raining down on our heads from Arne Duncan, Bill Gates and Co. (Diane said she’s not quite sure which of the two is really driving this bus, but she knows it’s going in the wrong direction–toward increasing privatization, testing and punishment.) Thanks to our old and new friends and supporters who came out in droves to listen, question and share their concerns and frustrations with Diane and one another. Thanks, as well, to our co-sponsors at Boston College Lynch School of Education.

Listening together to Diane reminded us that we need to see and understand what’s really going on, keep in touch and work harder than ever to turn the bus around. Diane left us with Margaret Mead’s always welcome words of encouragement: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.   → Read More

Filed Under: Education-Other

Sign CPS Petition to Stop History MCAS

November 22, 2010 by

Dear Governor Patrick and Secretary Reville,

As concerned parents, teachers, students and other members of the community, we the undersigned ask that you reconsider implementing the Social Studies MCAS graduation requirement recently endorsed by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Since the state education budget is being cut, the $ 2.5 million per year or more that it would cost to administer a Social Studies MCAS will have to come from something else. What does the state plan to cut in order to administer this test? The money should instead be allocated to serve real educational needs, such as well-trained and supported teachers and staff, up-to-date textbooks, libraries, well-maintained buildings and classrooms, and much more. What students do not need is one more standardized test.

We believe that the close vote on the Board, as well as the worsening budget crisis that compels us to make wise choices with scarce education dollars, strengthens our request that you overturn the decision to impose yet another test-based graduation requirement on our children.   → Read More

Filed Under: Achievement Gap

Author Diane Ravitch to Speak Dec. 1 at BC Law School

November 2, 2010 by

Diane Ravitch

Citizens for Public Schools is proud to welcome Diane Ravitch, author of the heralded book The Death and Life of the Great American School System, to the Boston area on Wednesday, December 1, to share her trenchant analysis of how our political leaders are pushing an education reform agenda that is wrong.  Ravitch will speak on “Taking Back School Reform: What kind of reform do we want and how are we going to get it?”

As a former Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of George H. W. Bush, Ravitch once embraced charter schools and high stakes testing, but became convinced by the evidence that they are not the solution and are in fact part of the problem. “Why give away public schools to the private sector?” Ravitch writes. “The private sector does not get better results on average than the public sector, not (according to NAEP) for black students or Hispanic students or urban students or low-income students.

   → Read More
Filed Under: Education

Don’t Wait for Superman: Speak Up for Public Schools Now

September 28, 2010 by

There’s been a tremendous wave of hype leading to the opening of the new film “Waiting for Superman,” a documentary that focuses on the plight of urban families who see charter schools as their only opportunity for quality education.

The film portrays public education in general as failing, teachers unions as the villains and charter school leaders as the heroes. Progressive as well as conservative commentators (such as Frederick Hess) have written that the film takes the complicated issue of how to improve education for poor families and oversimplifies it beyond belief.

One thing is undeniable: The film’s release and its attendant hype have put the problems of urban schools front and center and created opportunities to make the case for supporting and improving public education.  Now is the time for supporters of public schools to push back against simplistic arguments, remind people about many successful public schools and public school teachers and demand policies that support instead of attack our public schools.   → Read More

Filed Under: Education-Other

Judge: Parents Have Right to Challenge Gloucester Charter

August 25, 2010 by

Sheila Decter, CPS board member and Executive Director of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, posted this about Judge Richard Welch III’s decision in the Gloucester Charter School case:

Where the Board and Commissioner of Education awarded a charter after the Department’s Charter School Office concluded that the school did not meet the legally required educational criteria; after a memo from the Secretary of Education urged that the Commissioner and Board award the charter for political reasons; and the Inspector General concluded that it had never validly been awarded and should be deemed void ad initio.

JALSA does not believe that privatization of education is the way to improve the quality of schools for the full body of students who are due quality education from the Commonwealth.  This particular case has shown a blatant disregard for the requirements of state law.

Parents of Gloucester school children asked for an injunction to prevent the school from opening this month. 

   → Read More
Filed Under: Charter Schools
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