Re: Fw: CPS Testimony to MA BOE re: dropouts and testing

[aburke5054@aol.com]

Kids themselves don't say that they drop out because of tests.  They 
say they drop out because they're bored and also because they feel that 
adults in their schools don't take interest in them.  Marilyn would 
know these things if she talked to kids instead of running loopy 
campaigns against testing.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>
To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com; ARN-L <arn-l@interversity.org>; 
ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:53 pm
Subject: [arn-l] Fw: CPS Testimony to MA BOE re: dropouts and testing


----- Original Message -----
From: Marilyn Segal
To: Marilyn Segal
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 4:28 PM
Subject: CPS Testimony before the BOE re: dropouts


To: Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Date: March 25, 2008

From: Marilyn J. Segal, Director

Re: Dropouts

I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Board today.

First I want to commend you for addressing the dropout problem in 
Massachusetts.
This is a long overdue discussion. We all know that there is no silver 
bullet to
solving the problem, but we need to get started with a creative and 
varied
approach.

For several years, Citizens for Public Schools has been calling 
attention to
increasing number of students dropping out. We were always told that 
the DOE
numbers did not back-up our statement and questioned our numbers. At 
long last
we are on the same page.

11, 436 students in one year. What a tragedy. And we don't even include 
students
who drop out before they enter 9th grade.

The DOE used to have a line item in the budget for dropout prevention. 
CPS
testified here, in the fall, asking that that line item be restored in 
the FY 09
budget, but it didn't happen. It's time for the department to again 
provide
expertise and funds to help with identifying struggling students and 
prevent
them from dropping out. We need drop out recovery programs, second 
chance
schools. But most of all we need to make schools engaging for all 
students.

In a quote from The Boston City Council, "Report of the Special 
Committee on
Youth Violent Crime Prevention: Working Together to Increase the 
Peace," 13 June
2006 we learn that:

"Youth that participated in the forums and other discussions expressed 
massive
frustration and boredom with the endless drilling and practice of the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test and test 
preparation.
Electives have been replaced with test preparation. After school 
programs teach
MCAS preparation. Far too many students describe their school 
experience as an
MCAS-centric environment . . . Given the large number of annual 
dropouts (nearly
half the number of students that graduate), as well as the pressure on 
teachers
to improve scores, the incentive for students to remain in school is 
tenuous."

The "drill and kill" mentality starts early. In a letter I received 
yesterday a
suburban parent wrote:

"our school has become so focused on MCAS that the curriculum is being 
severely
limited

(i.e. our second grader has done no science, social studies, history, 
or
geography as the principal keeps increasing the amounts of time spent 
on math
and language arts. Math and language arts are strictly worksheets all 
day long.)
Field trips are limited to two per year, arts day is being limited to 
once every
two years, spirit week has been taken away and billed as too 
distracting, the
music teacher is not allowed 15 minutes extra per week to work with 
children on
bells since it "takes too much time away from learning," and 
militaristic form
of discipline has been instituted which requires no speaking in the 
hallways and
the list goes on."

This is not the way to prepare children to be critical thinkers or to 
teach them
how to do original work or to learn the skills for teamwork.

Marilyn Segal
Citizens for Public Schools
18 Tremont Street - Suite 320
Boston, MA  02108
Phone:  617-227-3000
Fax: 617-227-3453
www.citizensforpublicschools.org-----------------------------------------
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