Massachusetts early voting starts this Monday and one of the most controversial issues on the ballot is whether we should expand the number of Charter Schools. The clear and certain answer is “No.” Sold when first proposed as educational innovation labs with new teaching techniques to be tested at Charters […] Read more »
Statistics point to problems with Charter High Schools
If Massachusetts Charter Schools and non-Charter Schools had the same rates of high school enrollment decline, we would expect some natural variability between the two systems. That is, if the two systems had the same rate of enrollment declines, sometimes Charters would have a higher rate of high school enrollment […] Read more »
Tech Rocks
The CRLS Drama Festival entry, The Secret in the Wings, relies as much on an awesome stage and Tech crew as it does on the actors. Everything has to be perfect for Tech to get the stage up in under five minutes. Go over by just one second and the […] Read more »
State Data clearly shows Charter School High School enrollment decline average is greater than for non-Charters
According to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), charter schools, on average, lose over twice the average number of students between 9th and 12th grades than non-charter schools. A spreadsheet analyzing the data is posted below. Why Charters have such problematic enrollment issues is not clear to […] Read more »
Craig’s comments on school gun and bomb threats
Threat of gun violence against CPSD We have received a number of bomb or gun threats at various CPS schools in the past couple of weeks, the most recent one last night against the Amigos School and the Putnam Ave and Vassal Lane upper schools. CPS and CPD’s response to […] Read more »
Councilor Kelley’s testimony against Charter School expansion in Massachusetts
My name is Craig Kelley. I am a City Councilor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a proud public school parent and a supporter of S326, the Moratorium on Charter Schools, and an opponent of any attempts to eliminate or raise the current caps on charter schools, including the Governor’s bill HD4191 and […] Read more »
Problems with PARCC
My wife, who knows more about MCAS, PARCC and teaching then I will ever know, had this to say about the PARCC: YES, PARCC is MUCH worse than MCAS for a host of reasons. Parts of the test are administered several times a year – which is more disruption to […] Read more »
School Budget 2016 ‘no’ vote
This is a big week for many of us as our kids cross the stage at CRLS. It’s hard to believe that, in my family’s case, 14 years of Cambridge Public School life have gone by so quickly but they have and we owe a huge ‘thank you’ to all […] Read more »
Community Charter School of Cambridge, Prospect Hill Academy lose higher percentage of high school students than state or CRLS
As part of my stats class at the Harvard Kennedy School, I reviewed the enrollment numbers for high school students at two Cambridge-based charter schools (Community Charter School of Cambridge and Prospect Hill Academy), the Cambridge Rindge & Latin School and the entire state. I was astounded to find out […] Read more »
Out of School Time notes
Dr. Young: The Extended Day discussion is still in realm of collective bargaining so they don’t want to talk about issues related to the extra hour. Their presentation is aimed at collaborative work between school and City on afterschool. The focus is on Out of School Time (OST). Dr. Turk: […] Read more »