K-12 EDUCATORS are pushing to move ahead in the line for COVID-19 vaccinations, saying they deserve to get their shots sooner because of their jobs dealing directly with students. Teachers unions, which have fought in-person learning in many communities, say vaccines are a key tool to getting children back in to the classroom. Merrie Najimy, […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inEducation
Riley pushes lower-stakes MCAS test
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THIS YEAR’S MCAS exams will be conducted this spring but will feature “significantly” reduced testing time for third through eighth graders and no schools will be newly named underperforming in the upcoming school year, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley told superintendents in a memo Tuesday. “The sudden shift to […]
Posted inEducation
How do you teach hands-on voc tech remotely?
BIOTECH TEACHER Arlyssa LaPorte sits at a desk in her classroom at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, with one camera pointed at her face and another at her hands. She is sharing her computer screen with 20 tenth-graders who are watching on Zoom from their homes. LaPorte demonstrates how to use a spectrophotometer, […]
Posted inEducation
Boys & Girls Clubs become remote learning centers
TUCKED INSIDE the $46 billion state budget sitting on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk is a provision funneling $2.2 million to the Massachusetts Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs to help the facilities continue to serve as a home away from home for students doing remote learning. Sen. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow filed the budget amendment […]
Posted inEducation
Brookline lost 11% of its student population
MASSACHUSETTS school districts lost 3.9 percent of their students this year, amid a pandemic-related public school exodus, but those students are not spread evenly across the state. The districts that lost the most students include a mix of densely populated urban districts and wealthy Boston suburbs. Boston, the largest district in the state, unsurprisingly lost the […]
Posted inThe Download
Is in-person learning right for every community?
Everyone agrees children learn best in the classroom, but not every community is convinced it can be done safely when COVID-19 cases are growing within their borders. “You know, for decades, they’ve been telling us what to do, micromanaging us, giving us regulations. Now all of a sudden, they say, “well, you want local control. […]
Posted inEducation
Is in-person learning right for every community?
EVERYONE AGREES children learn best in the classroom, but not every community is convinced it can be done safely when COVID-19 cases are growing within their borders. “You know, for decades, they’ve been telling us what to do, micromanaging us, giving us regulations. Now all of a sudden, they say, “well, you want local control. […]
Posted inThe Download
House budget addresses COVID-related education dilemmas
The coronavirus pandemic created – and exposed – multiple problems with the state’s education system, from preschool through high school. Now, lawmakers appear poised to use the must-pass vehicle of the annual state budget to begin figuring out how to address some of these issues. A large consolidated amendment passed at the end of Tuesday’s […]
Posted inEducation
House budget addresses COVID-related education dilemmas
THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic created – and exposed – multiple problems with the state’s education system, from preschool through high school. Now, lawmakers appear poised to use the must-pass vehicle of the annual state budget to begin figuring out how to address some of these issues. A large consolidated amendment passed at the end of Tuesday’s […]
Posted inOpinion
How about a civics project instead of another MCAS test?
READERS MAY NOT BE AWARE that a number of landmark advancements occurred in late 2018 that vastly improved social studies education in Massachusetts public schools. The proposal we put forth here seeks to continue that positive momentum. In November 2018, our state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously to approve new frameworks for […]