I’VE BEEN AN EDUCATOR IN BOSTON public schools for more than 30 years. I am a high school biology teacher, who holds a graduate degree from Harvard. I spent three […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inOpinion
Testing isn’t punishment, it’s a matter of social justice
LAST YEAR WHILE CASUALLY asking my son about taking his first MCAS exam as a third grader, he responded with an adverse physical reaction at the mere mention of the […]
Posted inThe Download
School start times zero sum game
One day after the Boston School Committee voted unanimously to change school start times next fall so teenaged students could get a little extra sleep, Boston Magazine published a story […]
Posted inOpinion
We cannot test and punish our way to better schools
THE CLOSER THEY ARE to actual public-school classrooms, the more Massachusetts residents understand it’s time to abandon the failed test-and-punish approach to school improvement. For two decades, we’ve seen how […]
Posted inEducation
Editor’s note: Tang vs. Kerr
HERE AT COMMONWEALTH we are great believers in open debate; that’s why we run so many opinion pieces. But sometimes the debate becomes so spirited that people want us to step in […]
Posted inThe Download
Eminent domain dust-ups
Brookline says it needs a new elementary school to accommodate its bulging population of school-age children. Waltham says it needs a new high school. Both seem like perfectly worthy pursuits. […]
Posted inThe Download
The great equalizer?
Public education is the great equalizer, the place where everyone gets the same chance to learn and develop to his or her full potential. Or so the mythology goes. In […]
Posted inEconomy
Where have all the children gone?
EVERY 10 YEARS, the Massachusetts Legislature must go about the arduous task of redistricting our House and Senate districts. Because of the continued shift in population within the state, each […]
Posted inEducation
Moving beyond MCAS
HOW ARE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS in Massachusetts doing? Are they nurturing engaged thinkers who value learning? Are they expanding the way young people see the world? Are they fostering creativity? […]
Posted inEducation
Invest in young children now
Four years ago, after 20 years of a corporate career that I absolutely loved, I hung up my business suit and pursued a very different calling. It began when my husband […]
Posted inEducation
AP courses are bridge to college
GREAT TEACHERS NOT ONLY LOVE to teach, they love to learn how to be even better teachers. That’s why over 520 teachers from Massachusetts and across the country gathered recently […]
Posted inThe Download
Another hit for football
We may be known as home to the reigning NFL champions, but Boston is also the center of research efforts that have methodically plowed through the defensive line the multibillion-dollar […]
Posted inThe Download
A Metco take-down
The headline on the Sunday Globe front-page story suggested the 50-year-old school integration program known as Metco was a mixed bag, but the story painted an almost uniformly dismal picture […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
For Jackson, tight squeeze to Walsh’s left
Marty Walsh is out of touch with issues affecting working-class people and those in the city’s less affluent neighborhoods. He’s more attuned to downtown development than down-on-their-luck constituents, and he […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Letters to editor, Summer 2017
PREP SCHOOL CLAIM SPECIOUS While I applaud Michael Jonas’s commitment to presenting all sides of the ongoing debate that surrounds the operation and performance of Massachusetts’s public vocational- technical high […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Where Mass. ranks on education tests
IN THE SEASON OF GRADUATIONS, it is worth looking at how Massachusetts and Boston stack up against international competitors in education. According to global university rankings and international school achievement […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Why Lowell is torn over new high school
MEETINGS OF THE LOWELL CITY COUNCIL are typically sparsely attended affairs, characterized by amicable discussions among councilors and unanimous votes. This has all changed in recent weeks, as the city […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
From refugee camp to high school grad
The following is a pre-graduation speech delivered at the City on a Hill charter school. MY NAME IS MARYAN ADEN and I am a member of the founding class at […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Charting common ground
National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee is going to need that sabbatical that comes with the honor. The Codman Academy educator, the first Bay State teacher to win the […]
Posted inEducation
Rural schools caught in ‘death spiral’
ON A SUNNY October day, students play at recess outside Hawlemont Elementary School tucked into the wooded hills of Charlemont, which are electric with fall color. As they head back […]
Posted inEducation, Microphilanthropy
Contributing to debate
Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known needs that could benefit from generosity, […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Lessons from Singapore
ON DECEMBER 6, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the results of the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an assessment administered in 72 nations every […]
Posted inEducation
State must signal arts education matters
ARTS EDUCATION PROVIDES vital learning benefits, helping students develop 21st Century skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and teamwork. Research has also shown us for years […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Time to invest in voc-tech
THE DEFEAT OF QUESTION 2 to lift the cap on charter schools has left many on both sides of this issue wondering if any common ground can be found to […]
