Massachusetts
State Coordinators:
Resources:
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Feb. 2013:
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Sept. 2011: FairTest Written Testimony to the MA House on School-to-Prison-Pipeline Bills.
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Flawed Massachusetts Teacher Evaluation Proposal Risks Further Damage to Teaching and Learning, by a FairTest working group; report and summary are here.
- See Monty Neill's second written testimony to Mass Bd of Ed on teacher evaluation
- FairTest and allies testified to Mass Board of Education against proposed educator evaluation proposals; their spoken comments are here.
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FairTest Written Testimony to Mass Board of Education against using
student scores to judge teachers.
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See legislative testimony by FairTest's Monty Neill and others in support of a bill to overhaul assessment.
- 2009 Legislation to overhaul state MCAS testing program is here. This bill is supported by Citizens for Public Schools and is based on proposals by CARE: http://www.fairtest.org/call-authentic-state-wide-assessment-system
- Citizens for Public Schools maintains an open listserv addressing assessment and other issues. To subscribe, send a blank message to care-subscribe@yahoogroups.com; or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/care/ and sign up from there.
- Tufts University student James Gerber's video on how Massachusetts' MCAS standardized history test will undermine Boston Arts Academy's in-depth and multifaceted approach to teaching art and history. It is in two parts, part I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mh5GonqJoQ and part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVI6BfBZGPg&NR=1
- A useful MA website is http://www.massparents.org
- New June 2008 - FairTest's Lisa Guisbond participated in the MCAS and Assessments subcommittee of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Readiness Project. Here is a one-page summary of the subcommittee report."
- Coalition for the Education of the Whole Child report proposes major changes in state testing and accountability.
- Massparents site features Research Showing that MA Dept. of Education inflates MCAS pass rates for classes of 2005 and 2006, masking wide opportunity and achievement gaps.
More than 800 four-year colleges and universities do not use the SAT or ACT to admit substantial numbers of bachelor-degree applicants.