I spent one year teaching at a Title I HISD school. This is my story. I wish that I could say that this was a rare, freakish situation. It was not. This is going on everywhere. Not always to this degree, but there are at least trace elements of this in every school. And poor kids and the schools that serve them suffer the most. Opt out of STAAR. It's the only way to change this toxic system. Read more

 12 Reasons to Opt Out of the STAAR test this year: 1.) STAAR tests are poorly written and developmentally inappropriate. Try some sample third grade math questions. Read more

A CVPE parent shares a recap of CVPE Educational Forum, Inc.'s Fall Conference: On Saturday, November 21st, I had the pleasure of attending CVPE Educational Forum, Inc.’s Fall Forum. It was held at the United Way of Greater Houston’s center and featured some of today’s most prominent and compelling voices in education in both the Houston community and in the state of Texas. Read more

The HISD School Board approved a policy on Thursday that recognizes the Opt Out movement and states that Opt Out children will not receive negative consequences for their parents' decision to refuse the STAAR assessment.  The new policy has some very real shortcomings and demonstrates a lack of understanding of Texas State law. But the fact that it came before the Board at all shows that HISD is taking Opt Out very seriously. Read more

The CVPE Educational Forum, sister organization to Community Voices for Public Education, is holding its first annual Fall Conference on Saturday, November 21, from 8:30-5pm at the United Way.   Read more

As they did in April 2015, Houston ISD is going on the offensive against their students and families. They are deliberately breaking the law and established district procedures that violate the TEA Education Code and in doing so have caused serious harm to two students. HISD is retaining a set of B+ third graders in retaliation for the parents choosing to opt them out of STAAR math last spring.  Will you email the superintendent at tgrier@houstonisd.org or call him at (713) 556-6300 and the school board members to remind them that HISD must comply with TEA Code and that this grade retention of B+ students would not have happened if they were White and privileged? The question we should be asking is what is the purpose of HISD's anti bullying policy if not to protect families from this?  Read more

Three years after Texas public schools were slammed with big funding cuts, hundreds of elementary campuses in North Texas and across the state are still struggling to comply with class size limits aimed at boosting student achievement. Read more

Houston Matters' Maggie Martin recently interviewed Ruth Kravetz, co-founder of Community Voices for Public Education, and Zeph Capo, President of the Houston Federation of Teachers. They discussed topics including the Houston ISD controversial performance bonus system and high-stakes testing. Read more

Interested in research showing that merit pay is tied to socioeconomic status?  Read more

In recent weeks, a few national civil rights organizations such as the National Council of La Raza and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have vocally OPPOSED efforts to highlight the dangers of high stakes testing by students and parents opting out of annual assessments. We strongly disagree with their position.   Read more