BOSTON — Against the backdrop of new financial concerns Question 2 could present for some Massachusetts cities, charter-school leaders on Wednesday used test scores to make a case for why expanding access for students in minority communities will help close the achievement gap with their predominantly white, suburban peers.
The closely contested campaign over whether Massachusetts should expand access to charter-school education has entered the home stretch with each side making near daily pitches with new studies, analyses, and television ads hoping to sway the small, but consequential bloc of undecided voters.
The Massachusetts Charter Public School Association used standardized test scores on the MCAS and PARCC exams to show that 10 charters ranked number one in student performance in certain categories, while 11 more charter schools ranked among the top 10 percent of schools statewide.
Shannah Varon, executive director of Boston Collegiate Charter School in Dorchester and chair of the Boston Charter Alliance, said the highlighted schools, including her own, predominantly educate “low-income black and brown children” who match up comparably to high-performing students from the state’s richest suburban districts, including Brookline, Lincoln, Hingham and Lexington.
“These strong MCAS and PARCC results add to the growing body of evidence of how charter schools are closing the achievement gap between black and brown low income urban student and their white suburban peers. Question 2 would allow the state to approve more of these proven schools in communities where they are needed most,” she said.
Charter schools are privately run, outside of the local school committee structure, and funded with public dollars that follow students from traditional public school districts. Ballot Question 2 would authorize the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to license up to 12 new charter schools each year beyond existing caps.
![When we first heard some months back about the effort behind this novel alternative therapeutic, we surmised that it would likely hit medicine’s mainstream at some point.But when it comes to the acceptance of plant-based medicines, otherwise known as psychedelics, its supporters insist that future is now.In addition to a pair of bills filed by […]](https://www.lowellsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1576472057.jpg?w=467 "When we first heard some months back about the effort behind this novel alternative therapeutic, we surmised that it would likely hit medicine’s mainstream at some point.But when it comes to the acceptance of plant-based medicines, otherwise known as psychedelics, its supporters insist that future is now.In addition to a pair of bills filed by […]")
