Below are links to citizen reports about CPS that I have written or co-written, columns I have written for the Cambridge Day and the Cambridge Chronicle, video of my testimony at Cambridge City Council hearings on the public school budget, and my responses to candidate surveys from parent and community groups:
Frequent and Chronic Absences in Elementary School “Who’s Here, Who’s Not? is a powerpoint about the issue of frequent and chronic absences in elementary school, including in CPS elementary schools. Chronic absences in the early grades have been linked to lower achievement in later grades.
UNEQUAL SCHOOLS FY15 08-14-14 A report by Emily Dexter and Leslie Brunetta showing inequalities in demographic challenges and staffing that create unequal opportunities to learn for low-income students across the 12 CPS elementary schools. Based on the FY15 budget and staffing.
CPS Enrollment and Spending Dexter DBS 042218 A powerpoint presentation by Emily Dexter describing declines in CPS enrollment and spending from 2000-2014.
School A and School B Comparison final An analysis by Emily Dexter and Leslie Brunetta that follows up on their Unequal Schools report. This report selects two CPS JK-5 schools (School A and School B) and compares them side-by-side to show that low-income students and students with disabilities in one CPS school have access to far more instructional time and socioemotional support from full-time on-staff adults than students in another CPS school.
Seven KEY CPS Statistics An analysis by Leslie Brunetta and Emily Dexter of longitudinal CPS data on spending, 3rd and 8th grade MCAS outcomes, absences, graduation rates, number of teachers per student, and enrollment
COLUMNS PUBLISHED IN CAMBRIDGE DAY OR THE CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE:
Dexter Chronicle Budget Commentary “Cambridge’s Reduced Investment in its Schools.” A guest column in the Cambridge Chronicle written by Emily Dexter (December 2013). The column describes how Cambridge reduced its public school spending from 34% of the city budget in the early 2000s to only 30% of the budget in 2014.
Dexter Column 3rd Grade Gap CamDay “Can Cambridge close the third-grade achievement gap? We’ll need a plan.” A column in Cambridge Day written by Emily Dexter showing the unchanging achievement gap in Cambridge’s 3rd grade reading MCAS scores.
MY RESPONSES TO SURVEYS
Black Lives Matter Cambridge Survey: Dexter BLM Cambridge School Committee Survey
C-PAC Survey (Special Education Parents Advisory Council): Dexter Special Education Responses for C-PAC
Public School Notes 