STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REJECTED BY THE voters in his bid for an expansion of charter school access, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday he will explore other means of reducing […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inEducation, Politics
Curtatone: Charter question goes way too far
$412 MILLION. That figure represents the amount of taxpayer money that was diverted from 243 local school districts across the Commonwealth and given to charter schools last year. If Ballot […]
Posted inEducation
Charter showdown
IN NOVEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS voters will have their say on a ballot question that would allow up to 12 new or expanded charter schools each year above the existing state cap […]
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
Charter cap debate clouds original intent
PROMOTING INNOVATION WAS the original purpose of charter schools. As first envisioned by union leader Albert Shanker and others, charters would benefit the educational system as a whole by serving as […]
Posted inEducation
What makes a Level 1 school?
IN THE STATE of Massachusetts, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education assigns all public schools a rating. Level 1 schools can boast they’ve received the state’s highest rating. […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
More time in school key to charter success
FOR MOST FAMILIES, August represents the dog days of summer. Temperatures are at their hottest. Camp is winding down. And the beginning of the school year is still weeks away. […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Education
State Dems say no to charter ballot question
STATE HOUSE NEWS THE MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC PARTY on Tuesday night voted to oppose a ballot question that would expand charter schools in Massachusetts, putting the party at odds with some […]
Posted inEducation
Musical chairs
Photographs by Michael Manning STATE EDUCATION OFFICIALS placed the Southbridge schools into receivership earlier this year, citing continual underperformance in all testing areas, high suspensions and disciplinary problems, and unacceptable […]
Posted inEducation
Southbridge schools get fresh start
THE NEWS WAS not unexpected when the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted in January to put the Southbridge schools into receivership. The small central Massachusetts district of […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Education, State House News Service
Common Core ballot question rejected
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A CITIZENS-BACKED INITIATIVE PETITION that sought to end the state’s use of Common Core learning standards was improperly certified by Attorney General Maura Healey and is […]
Posted inThe Download
In emergency, break glass, remove Contompasis
Boston Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang made the announcement about the new interim headmaster for the embattled Boston Latin School, but if you look closely, you can see Mayor Marty Walsh’s hand […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Latin School leadership lessons
When the city moved to mayoral control of the Boston Public Schools more than two decades ago, it brought clarity to one central issue that has bedeviled struggling urban districts […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion, Politics
Teacher licensure system needs overhaul
TEACHER LICENSURE IN the Commonwealth is a time-consuming, complex system, costing millions of dollars each year, and it is in need of reform. Massachusetts offers 47 different kinds of teacher […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Bringing the real world into the classroom
IN HIS REMARKS on General Electric’s relocation to Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh heralded a new era for public-private partnerships in education, saying that with GE’s help “we’re going to reinvent […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Boston student walkout about cuts — and more
For the second time this year, Boston Public Schools students walked out of classes to protest budget cuts they say imperil their ability to get a quality education. Tuesday’s walkout […]
Posted inEducation
More funding needed for afterschool programs
CHECK OUT THE NEWSPAPER, TV, or Twitter any day of the week and news floods in about the state of our educational system – debates over district versus charter schools, […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
On charters, rise above the divisiveness
BALLOT QUESTIONS ARE blunt instruments. The ballot question on charter school expansion is no exception. It has a very narrow focus, targeted only at increasing the number of students in […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Lift the cap on charter public schools
WHEN THE MASSACHUSETTS Board of Elementary and Secondary Education recently approved two new charter schools and the expansion of five others, it wasn’t acting on the basis of any ideological […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Boston students protest inadequate funding
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS STUDENTS held a protest march to the State House Monday to advocate for more school funding, Mayor Marty Walsh said that the […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service, The Download
Brockton charter is a first
Yesterday’s vote by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to approve two new charter schools and allow the expansion of three existing charters included one particularly noteworthy dimension: […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
State board votes 6-4 to close charter
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Â IN AN EMOTIONALLY CHARGED GYMNASIUM filled with parents and bureaucrats, the state’s education board voted narrowly on Tuesday to revoke the charter of Dorchester Collegiate […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
State receiver urged for Southbridge schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE SOUTHBRIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, which have had seven superintendents and seven high school principals since 2011, should be designated chronically underperforming and placed into receivership, Education Commissioner […]
Posted inEducation
Public schools extend their reach
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AROUND the state, faced with rising costs and stagnant budgets, are turning outside their districts —even outside the country—to attract tuition money from foreign students and students from […]
