Add your voice to the momentum for the Thrive Act!

ThriveAct graphic

On Wednesday, an inspiring number of teachers, students, parents, community members, and education leaders from across the Commonwealth showed up in Gardner Auditorium at the State House in support of the Thrive Act.

During the six-hour hearing, people gave moving and deeply informed testimony about how state takeovers and the use of MCAS as a graduation requirement are failed, punitive strategies that narrow curricula, exacerbate inequality, eliminate voice, undermine democracy, and disrupt students’ lives.

But people were not just there because of what they were against. They were just as clear about what they are for: improving learning environments for students, building capacity for local, democratic school leadership, and rethinking assessment. They testified in favor of schools that focus on the whole child, inspire a love of learning and teach a wide array of skills, are responsive to teachers, students, and families, and of assessment models that encourage creativity and real-world problem-solving and acknowledge different types of learners.

It’s not too late to submit testimony in support of the Thrive Act.

Can you write to the Education Committee today?

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Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week by Supporting the Thrive Act

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s a great time to recognize and honor the hard work of our teachers across the Commonwealth as well as to advocate for policies that support teachers, students, and communities in realizing a shared vision of high-quality public education for all (well, we should be doing this year-round).

Our teachers understand the foundations of student success, and they understand what doesn’t work.

The state has been using two interconnected strategies – state takeovers of schools and districts and standardized testing – both in high-stakes ways that have worked against teachers, students, and communities. High-stakes standardized testing harms all students by narrowing the curriculum and, for some students, disrupts their future lives. State takeovers disrupt whole communities’ educational programming and school-to-community connections. Both are political strategies, not education strategies, and they’re based in part in distrust of teachers and undermining of the teaching profession.

The Thrive Act (H.495/S.246), filed by State Representatives Jim Hawkins and Sam Montaño, and State Senators Jo Comerford, Liz Miranda, and Adam Gomez, offers an alternative vision. It replaces the failed receivership model with comprehensive support and improvement plans that address root causes with a whole child approach and clear accountability and benchmarks. And while MCAS would still be used as part of a larger accountability process, the Thrive Act makes graduation dependent on successful completion of coursework, which is a more effective predictor of future learning and life success than standardized tests.

Thrive Act

Here are two things that you can do to help realize this better vision for public education:

(1) Write to your state legislators today in support of the Thrive Act. If you want to see if they’re already on board, you can look them up here.

(2) RSVP for the Thrive Act Advocacy Day at the State House on Wednesday, May 24.

Thrive Act Advocacy Day