Massachusetts employers told us that as technology advances, the hardest skills to find are not technical — they are human.
Education Reform Act
Posted inOpinion
Passing end-of-course assessments should be part of new graduation requirements
Students should be required to pass end-of-course assessments to measure whether they have mastered core academic content and foundational skills that prepare them to think critically, creatively, and innovatively. These assessments would provide a clear, consistent, and objective signal of readiness regardless of where the student lives or their socioeconomic status.
Posted inEducation
The new Massachusetts ‘grand bargain’ in public education
ANY PARENT WHO has watched her child walk into school for their first day of kindergarten – or dropped her off at college some 13 years later – knows it […]
Posted inEducation
Renewing our commitment to public education
MASSACHUSETTS HAS A long and proud commitment to public education. John Adams, the author of our state constitution, saw public education as the spark that would set the fire of […]
Posted inEducation
Lawmakers must do right by low-income students
WE WANT WHAT all parents want. We want our kids to succeed, to lead happy lives, to contribute to their communities, to grow up to catch their dreams. We wake […]
Posted inEducation
Reform, revenue both needed in education funding formula
READING, WRITING, AND ARITHMETIC are the three Rs most of us remember from our grade school days – the foundation of our education. As the governor and Legislature revisit the […]
Posted inEducation
Local accountability in schools lacking, says report
MASSACHUSETTS HAS BUILT its school reform effort on a combination of new state funding and accountability measures that track student and district achievement, but that has largely let local districts […]
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, Opinion
Voc-tech schools are a Mass. success story
MASSACHUSETTS VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL high schools are like the person who toils for years, only to be termed an “overnight sensation” when he or she finally achieves recognition. For over a decade the […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
The missing piece of education reform
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago a broad coalition of legislators, business people, education experts, and state officials put together and passed a wide-reaching education reform law. That law reflects a set of […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
End the charter school wars
IT SEEMS TO have become an annual ritual now, like taxes, the flu, or hurricane season. The charter schools war flares up to a point of intensity, sucking up all […]