Citizens for Public Schools

Thanks to everyone who made the CPS 2022 Annual Meeting so amazing: our honorees, introducers, new and old board members, members and friends. What a night, and how wonderful to be able to honor and spend time with the indomitable Jean McGuire! Much love to all!

   → Read More

Save the evening of Tuesday, December 13, to help us honor and celebrate three historic education justice victories by these groups: Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Raise Up Massachusetts, and Our City, Our Schools. CPS members and non-members are welcome! Register here.

• Massachusetts Advocates for Children broke down barriers and created new opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities, autism, and other developmental disabilities by helping to pass a law, the first of its kind in the nation, improving access to post-secondary education for these students.
• Raise Up Massachusetts built a powerful statewide coalition to win the Fair Share Amendment, a constitutional amendment which will raise an estimated $2 billion a year for public education and transportation.
• And the Our City, Our Schools coalition made a strong stand for democratic, local control of public schools by pushing back and stopping a proposed state takeover of Boston Public Schools.
• In addition to honoring these public education campaigns, we will present the Education Justice Lifetime Achievement Award to CPS Board Member Jean McGuire.

The Fair Share Amendment is Question 1 on the November ballot. It will allow Massachusetts to improve our transportation and public education systems by making the very rich pay their fair share.

Question 1 would create a 4% tax on the portion of a person’s annual income above $1 million and require – in the state constitution – that the funds be spent only on transportation and public education. Only people who earn more than $1 million annually will pay more; 99% of us won’t pay a penny more. And we’ll all benefit from better schools, colleges, roads, bridges, and public transportation.

That’s why Citizens for Public Schools and so many people across Massachusetts are coming together to vote YES on 1: because with Question 1, we all win.

Click here to learn more about why we need to pass Question 1. Click here to find out how you can help.   → Read More

Massachusetts’ on-time high school graduation rate has been above the national average for at least three decades, due in part to being among the states with the highest parental education and income levels. However, Massachusetts’ overall graduation rate masks the state’s failure to significantly close the persistent graduation gaps for many historically underserved students. Furthermore, the proposal to raise MCAS graduation requirements may serve to further widen the graduation gaps for two particularly vulnerable overlapping groups, Latinx students and English learners.

In 2018-19, Massachusetts had the 5th largest graduation gap (18 percentage points) in the US between Latinx and White students, and the 6th largest graduation gap (26 points) between English learners (ELs) and non-ELLs. In addition, Massachusetts’ graduation gap between African-American and White students (13 points) was larger than the national average gap (10 points) for these groups. Similarly, Massachusetts’ graduation gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students (10 points) was larger than the national average gap for these students (6 points).    → Read More

Here is CPS’s analysis of a 2020 report by Papay et al., which is being used by Commissioner Riley and DESE to bolster a proposal to raise the scores students must get on the MCAS to get a high school diploma. We sent it to Sec. Peyser, Commissioner Riley and the members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education yesterday. (We also sent it to all of the legislators who signed a letter to the BESE opposing the proposal and to the members of the legislature’s Joint Education Committee.) 

July 13, 2022

Dear Commissioner Riley, Secretary Peyser, and members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education,

In anticipation of your discussion and vote on the proposal to raise the MCAS competency determination standard, we at Citizens for Public Schools offer this analysis of the cautions in the 2020 John Papay et al. Lifting All Boats? Report, included in this message and attached as a PDF document.    → Read More