School Committees Stand Against Flood of Mandates, Tests ...... Citizens for Public Schools

Members of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees took a strong stand against the rising flood of state mandates at their annual conference earlier this month. They passed, almost unanimously, a resolution asking the state to "refrain from adding new mandates including new tests and other initiatives and to revisit the mandates already imposed on districts with a view to reducing interference with classroom instruction, thus allowing educators to do their work."

In another resolution, MASC called on the state to rethink Common Core and PARCC and to "substantially involve educators and school committee members" in re-examining the state's evaluation and accountability system.
Several dinner meeting speakers blasted the current obsession with test scores. CPS presented a workshop on the Less Testing, More Learning campaign attended by more than 50 school committee members and superintendents.