AS 2023 OPENED, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on January 3 for a special meeting and had just one item listed on the agenda: “Goal setting […]
Todd Gazda
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Raising MCAS bar was a move in the wrong direction
THE BOARD of Elementary and Secondary Education’s recent decision to raise the score high school student must reach to pass the MCAS and graduate from high school is yet another […]
Posted inEducation
What’s so dangerous about critical thinking?
Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society. – John Lewis ONE CANNOT […]
Posted inEducation
Finding middle ground in the debate over recess
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. – Fred […]
Posted inEducation
Time to rethink education assessments and standards
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. – Socrates THIS PAST SUMMER saw the failure on the […]
Posted inEducation
Schools need to focus more on relevance than rigor
IN THIS CRAZY, chaotic and often perplexing age we live in teachers are required, more than ever before, to fill a larger role in our children’s lives. Teachers have always […]
Posted inOpinion
First lesson this school year must be civility
THIS IS A busy time in public education as schools open their doors to once again be filled with energy and life after the annual summer hiatus. This is the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Policy overload on fixing schools
When public policy goes one way and the premises of a culture go the other, you’ve got the formula for an unsustainable system of education. – Angus Campbell THERE IS […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
School funding fix needed
PUBLIC SCHOOLS TODAY find themselves under a microscope and pulled by competing forces like never before. Education is a system in flux as it strives to institute necessary change in […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Education must adapt to 21st century
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. – Malcolm X THE PAST 25 YEARS have seen dramatic changes in our culture […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Time for school accountability reset
NOW THAT THE question of raising the charter school cap in Massachusetts has been resolved, at least for now, I am hopeful that we can begin to examine and discuss other necessary changes […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Charter narrative gets story wrong
A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have been painted; while within the narrative, we have many apparent choices of exit, but when […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Time to put standardized tests to the test
IT’S THAT TIME of year again. State standardized testing season is upon us. Across the Commonwealth students in grades 3 and up will have the opportunity to prove what they […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Stop the attack on teachers and schools
The beatings will continue until morale improves… -Unknown THESE ARE CHALLENGING times to be in education. Today, more than any other time in our history, education is in the national […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Educating the whole child
IT IS A brave new world for public education in this country as schools become a focal point for ideological battles where policymakers seek to shape the educational environment to […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Replacing No Child Left Behind an inadequate step in right direction
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
More charter schools are not the answer
IT SEEMS THAT the debate over charter schools is once again heating up in Massachusetts. Proposed legislation by Gov. Charlie Baker, a lawsuit on behalf of students denied charter seats, […]