CAMBRIDGE CIVIC ASSOCIATION
EDUCATION PLATFORM 2001

The CCA is united in its commitment to erasing the achievement gap by promoting equity and excellence in every Cambridge public school. To achieve this the CCA supports:

EQUITY FOR ALL STUDENTS

Provide a rigorous and challenging education to all students regardless of race, language, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, religion or family structure. We must make sure that every school promotes excellence and encourages all students to become life long learners by:

• hiring and retaining teachers and administrators as role models for students of all backgrounds. Recruit early to attract the best and most diverse group of teachers
• supporting the implementation of Cambridge’s new special education plan to help parents and their children with special needs get the services they require
• fully implementing CRLS restructuring to assure that every student receives a high quality education and that no child falls through the cracks
• supporting the vocational educational redesign plan to provide career skills for students seeking jobs after high school

Commit to a system of school choice that:

• fosters racial, gender and economic balance in every school
• ensures the availability of two-way and other bilingual programs in addition to transitional bilingual education
• responds to families’ preferences by spreading highly-chosen curricula throughout the system

Promote multiple forms of assessment. Decisions about children should be based not only on the MCAS test but also on portfolios, student records and teacher recommendations.

INVOLVEMENT FOR ALL FAMILIES

Have fairly-elected and empowered School Councils that have as many parents as staff. Schools should make the effort to have the parent members be representative of the student body.

Allow for meaningful family participation in:

• the selection and evaluation of administrators and teachers
• open and collaborative labor contract negotiations
• the restructuring and evaluation of schools

Direct the Family Resource Center to provide up-to-date information on waiting lists for schools, to track school choices, to undertake interviews with parents who choose to leave a particular school and to compile reasons for the moves.

Involve parents with limited English proficiency in their children’s education by providing interpreters and translators. We need to recognize that parents from other cultures may have different expectations about and relationships with their children’s schools. We should make every effort to accommodate these approaches so that each family has a fair chance to enhance their child’s education.

QUALITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL SCHOOLS

Support the School Committee as the chief policy-making body. The School Committee must:

• review and revise policy on a timely basis
• base policies on its priorities: improving literacy; promoting quality teaching; helping students at, above or below grade level; and holding all students to high standards regardless of their race, class or language

Strengthen the District Improvement Plan, the long range planning process, to guide improvements and build community consensus around non-discrimination, equity and excellence.

Focus the budget on equity and excellence by:

• reducing administrative costs so more funds can be directed to the classrooms
• distributing resources equitably so each school has adequate facilities, classroom materials, library books, computers, and other materials necessary for educating all students
• making the budget document and budget process more open and accessible
• reducing empty seats by consolidating schools while improving academic programs

Hold schools to high standards by creating and implementing policies that:

• make principals accountable for the success of their schools through administrative and parental evaluations and by establishing evaluation-based pay increases
• uphold quality teaching by requiring that all schools implement the four-year teacher evaluation cycle rigorously and on time
• grant successful schools more freedom to hire personnel and set priorities through the Policy on Site Based Management
• assist underperforming schools through the Policy on Elementary School Improvement District Intervention

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