State return on federal taxes

When the argument over MCAS started heating up, in the late 1990s, it didn’t register with me beyond the swirl of sound bites on the local news. I was a […]

“It’s all about instruction.” People involved in school reform often say this, meaning that raising student achievement depends on improving the quality of instruction. I’ve said it plenty myself in […]

Education reform has long been the favorite pastime of Massachusetts state government. Since 1888, more than 100 commissions and official studies have put public education under the microscope. Many of […]

I am sincerely disappointed that my friend Mark Roosevelt, co-author of the Education Reform Act, has chosen this critical time not only to abandon his own efforts, but also to […]

Contrary to the fears of many, state government kept the extensive funding commitment–over $7 billion- made in the Education Reform Act of 1993. Now, every community in the state is […]

INTRO TEXT When school committee members take out a newspaper ad claiming that teachers are overpaid and underworked, it’s a pretty good sign that contract negotiations aren’t going well. Indeed, […]

INTRO TEXT James Madden will be ousted from the state Board of Education in June, but it’s not because he asks too many questions. Madden’s term will end when he […]

Surrounded by the auto body shops and waste haulers of Roxbury’s Newmarket section, the Samuel Mason Elementary School is a lonely educational outpost. But the brick schoolhouse is one of […]

Today is all about the letter Y, announces Kathleen Harvey to the 15 Latino students who make up her kindergarten class. “Y for yo-yo,” she says slowly, pointing to the […]

In the welding shop at Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School, in Lexington, Jessica Antonelli, a 17-year-old junior from Woburn, peers through protective goggles and aims the spitting flame of […]

For almost nine years now, ever since passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993, there has been endless discussion- ranging from earnest talk to frantic hand-wringing- over the effort […]

Eija Ayravainen doesn’t have time to waste on educational reforms that are headed nowhere, and two years ago, when College Now came across her desk, it seemed to fit that […]

Massachusetts improved its grade point average in Education Week’s annual “Quality Counts” assessment, thanks to more tests for both students and teachers. Tough MCAS requirements prompted Education Week to upgrade […]