Piling multiple layers of new requirements on our students will create new obstacles rather than providing opportunities for them to increase their life skills and pursue their individual goals.
Lisa Guisbond
Posted inOpinion
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the MCAS grad requirement. Here’s what should happen now.
NOW THAT THE public has definitively rejected MCAS as a graduation test, there is much pressure to create new graduation requirements. We at Citizens for Public Schools believe any major […]
Posted inOpinion
Governor, get your facts straight on MCAS ballot question
We were disappointed when Gov. Maura Healey, answering a question about the ballot question, responded that she’s against it because we need “to be able to assess how our young people are doing.”
Posted inEducation
Time to end the state’s ‘test and punish’ accountability system
ALL STUDENTS, not only the most privileged, need and deserve an education that provides the knowledge and skills most needed in today’s global, diverse, and technological world. Massachusetts should be […]
Posted inEducation
Vocational and exam school admission changes a good start
THIS YEAR, two broad-based coalitions worked to successfully push for new admissions policies in Massachusetts vocational schools and Boston’s three public “exam schools.” In both cases, the goal was to […]
Posted inOpinion
Voc school admission guidelines racially unjust
DR. IBRAM X. KENDI, author of How to be an Antiracist, says racism is “like a metastatic disease that literally has spread to every part of the body politic.” What’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Unpacking Riley’s teacher licensing proposal
THOUGH TOO TIMID BY FAR, a proposed alternative route to state teacher licensing is a hopeful crack in the armor of our destructive obsession with high-stakes testing. If you read […]
Posted inOpinion
The politics of MCAS 2.0
EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING, a Massachusetts teacher posted on social media that she was “thinking about retirement” and “now accepting virtual hugs.” She concluded, “#WorstMCASscoresEver.” On Tuesday, Massachusetts had released results […]
Posted inEducation
An equity to-do list for Boston’s new school superintendent
Dear Dr. Cassellius, Welcome to Boston! You will find a city eager to be able to trust and believe its school leaders. You will also find a city divided racially, […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston officials should stop slandering their own schools
LAST MONTH SAW the tragic spectacle of top Boston school officials saying two high schools should be closed because of falling enrollment and so-called “academic challenges.” But students, parents, and […]
Posted inOpinion
New Bedford charter expansion ‘mind-boggling’
CHARTER SCHOOLS STARTED as a hopeful experiment in public education. But as is possible with any experiment, this one has failed. It’s time to move beyond the charter school debate […]
Posted inOpinion
We cannot test and punish our way to better schools
THE CLOSER THEY ARE to actual public-school classrooms, the more Massachusetts residents understand it’s time to abandon the failed test-and-punish approach to school improvement. For two decades, we’ve seen how […]