THE LATEST MCAS scores are definitely alarming.Scores are significantly below pre-pandemic levels. At current trends, it would take at least eight years for Massachusetts students to catch up. Here at […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inOpinion
Boston charter students not treated equitably
AS STUDENTS IN BOSTON and across the country continue to reel from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of conversation about the importance of students […]
Posted inOpinion
Police, metal detectors wrong answer in Boston Public Schools
RECENTÂ headlines have focused on a survey conducted by the MassINC Polling Group about school safety in Boston Public Schools. Out of the more than 800 families surveyed, 76 percent […]
Posted inEducation
MTA gearing up to push for new ballot questions
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS in 2024 could be asked to settle two major education debates, but retailers may pass on bringing tax cuts to next year’s ballot. The […]
Posted inEducation
Sex ed gets an update in state’s new curriculum framework
ABSTINENCE IS A WORD that appears frequently in the state’s current curriculum framework for health education, which was released nearly 25 years ago in 1999. The 1999 framework, a guide […]
Posted inEducation
Ludlow school committee taking up book ban proposal
THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE in Ludlow is expected to wade into the nation’s culture wars this week, taking up a proposal that would shift decision-making power around library book acquisitions from […]
Posted inPolitics, State Government
Fight erupts over committee rules on Beacon Hill
This story has been updated with a comment from Rep. Jeffrey Roy. A FIGHT is brewing on Beacon Hill over the rules governing how joint committees made up of House […]
Posted inEducation
Licensing changes eyed to address teacher shortage
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE EDUCATION board is exploring new ways to address the statewide teacher shortage through more “flexible” regulations for specialized educators. Board members voted Tuesday to […]
Posted inOpinion
Schools should look within to recruit teachers
THE AUDITORIUM at Haverhill High School was full of positive energy, as over 50 paraprofessionals and instructional aides heard about an opportunity to earn a master’s degree and a Massachusetts […]
Posted inOpinion
Striking shouldn’t be against the law for teachers
EARLIER THIS YEAR, Woburn educators, addressing the grossly unfair pay offered to highly valued paraprofessionals, won a 40 percent starting-pay increase for the district’s paras. The Woburn Teachers Association further […]
Posted inEducation
METCO students, parents lobby for more funding
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS and parents roamed the halls of the State House this week  to ask state lawmakers to support increased funding for the largest school […]
Posted inEducation
Illegal strikes are helping teachers win new contracts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS Association wants to legalize teachers’ strikes in the face of opposition to the idea from Gov. Maura Healey, but unions are simultaneously racking […]
Posted inOpinion
Summer learning is key to reversing academic losses
THE ROAD to pandemic recovery must run through summer, when programs draw on young people’s interests to help them learn. The steep decline in student test scores is concerning but […]
Posted inOpinion
3 steps for Mass. education course correction
GOV. MAURA HEALEY’S appointment of Education Secretary Patrick A. Tutwiler shouldn’t be a dramatic move. Having a veteran educator in this leadership position shouldn’t be unusual. Unfortunately, his experience as […]
Posted inPolitics, State Government
Special treatment considered for revenue from millionaire tax
TOP BUDGET OFFICIALS from the Legislature say they intend to abide by the will of the voters and make sure all revenue from the new millionaire tax goes to “new […]
Posted inEducation
Top Democrats assessing alternatives to MCAS
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TOP DEMOCRATS are leaving the door open to reassessing the role of Massachusetts’ long-controversial standardized testing system as some education advocates reinvigorate calls to abolish the […]
Posted inEducation
BPS parents concerned about safety at school
THE PANDEMIC has put the spotlight on the classroom, with national and statewide test figures showing that students have lost ground in academic subjects. As schools prepare for the new […]
Posted inEducation
Riley ‘shocked’ at MTA push for right to strike
ALLOWING PUBLICÂ school teachers to strike would be “a bridge too far” and disregards the pandemic lessons about the importance of in-person learning, the state’s education commissioner said Tuesday as the […]
Posted inEducation
Schools flush with cash, but need better plan on how to spend it
IN 2010, a young Mark Zuckerberg partnered with a rising political star, then-Mayor Cory Booker, to donate $100 million dollars to Newark Public Schools. The idea was that a massive […]
Posted inThe Download
Poll finds Boston teachers open to lessons on race, sexism
Boston public school teachers believe issues of race and racism should be taught in public schools, particularly in the older grades, according to a survey conducted by Educators For Excellence, […]
Posted inEducation
Poll finds Boston teachers open to lessons on race, sexism
BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOL teachers believe issues of race and racism should be taught in public schools, particularly in the older grades, according to a survey conducted by Educators For Excellence, […]
Posted inEducation
60% of Mass. high school grads stay, work here
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ABOUT 60 PERCENT of students who graduated from Massachusetts public high schools over the last 10 years were employed in the state years after graduation, according […]
Posted inThe Download
Page-led MTA leads fight for Question 1
The millionaire tax promises funding to education and transportation, but it is teachers who are footing the costs for the political fight to get the constitutional amendment passed. The amendment […]
Posted inEducation
Page-led MTA leads fight for Question 1
THE MILLIONAIRE TAX promises funding to education and transportation, but it is teachers who are footing the costs for the political fight to get the constitutional amendment passed. The amendment […]