THIS PAST TUESDAY, after a careful review of the Holyoke Public Schools, Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended that the state Board of Education take a vote on whether to place our […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Chester calls for state takeover of Holyoke schools
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE SHOULD take over the Holyoke Public Schools, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended Tuesday, saying “persistent and pervasive” problems in the school district make receivership […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
PARCC will work
AT THE City on a Hill Charter School in Roxbury, where I teach high school math, 91 percent of students are designated as high needs. Before my students returned for […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Charter battle heads to court
The debate over charter schools, which has been waged largely in the political arena, looks like it’s heading to court. The Globe reported on Sunday that three top Boston lawyers […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Madeloni critical of Sagan appointment
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S highly political appointment of Paul Sagan as the chair of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education underscores educators’ concerns about the Baker administration’s public education agenda. […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Marty’s man
HE HAS SAID it is the most important hire he will make as mayor, and that was certainly not lost on Marty Walsh as he wrestled with which of the […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Opinion, Politics
MTA chief calls Baker budget troubling
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S proposed budget is troubling for its lack of vision and absence of meaningful investments in education and other vital community services. Although some of the governor’s ideas […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Marty’s moment of reckoning
When all the snow has melted and the debates are done about space-saver policies and how well — or poorly — the city did at digging out from under it […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Waging the war on poverty
IN 2015, THERE are emerging signs of bipartisan energy to address poverty. While contemplating a third presidential run, Mitt Romney vowed that a potential campaign would include a pledge to […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Holyoke students being shortchanged
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER Mitchell Chester is not ready to recommend that the Holyoke Public Schools be put into receivership, but he has not ruled it out […]
Posted inThe Download
Eavesdropping on Instagram
The police and school departments in Lowell are preparing to hire a company to monitor social media use within the city’s borders, scrubbing public posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other […]
Posted inEducation
Guerrero’s trying time at Dever
THE GOOD NEWS for Guadalupe Guerrero, one of four finalists for the Boston school superintendent post, is that, as the only candidate with prior experience in the district, he is […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Gaming Commission challenge fails
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Caesars Entertainment against Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby. The ruling uses language that could spell trouble for […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
A chance to lead on early education
“SUDDENLY, THE WORLD is waking up [to the fact] that it matters what you do with young children,” Abigail Adams Eliot told the Boston Globe in 1965. A Boston native […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
Boston teachers hit top salaries fast
CORRECTION: Due to miscalculations in the original National Council on Teacher Quality report, the data furnished to CommonWealth contained errors in the cost of living adjusted rankings. The story has […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
A diminished role for school committees
Twenty years ago the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) restructured K-12 public education. Among the many changes – Chapter 70 funding, charter schools, learning standards, curriculum frameworks, and more – […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
State board grants waiver to Brockton charter
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Against the wishes of local school officials, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education granted a waiver Tuesday to a proposed charter school in Brockton, […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Back Story
Patrick’s education-policy split personality
When the Boston Globe reported on its front page earlier this month on a brewing backlash against what critics say is an overemphasis on standardized testing in Massachusetts schools, the […]
Posted inEducation
Boston Schools shifted school funds to nonprofit
The Boston Finance Commission says the Boston Public Schools rented out school buses and facilities and funneled the proceeds to an affiliated nonprofit that was able to pay for “miscellaneous […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
PARCC assessment a step forward
This summer my school’s principal and teacher leadership team prioritized projects for the year. At the end of the discussion, we put preparing staff for the Partnership for the Assessment […]
Posted inEducation
Evaluations score most teachers highly
The second year of a new state educator evaluation system has produced results that largely mirror those of the first year, with nearly all teachers and school administrators in Massachusetts […]
Posted inEducation
With a six-hour-long court hearing on the settlement agreement between Partners HealthCare System and the Attorney General’s office coming to a close, Martha Coakley rose from her seat in the […]
Posted inEducation
Boston failing thousands of students, says reform group
A new education group is sounding the alarm on dismal outcomes in Boston schools, saying thousands of students remain mired in failing schools, a situation that demands urgent action and […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Collaborative leadership up against the charter school cap
Leaders in Brockton and Fitchburg are distressed by the reaction to last week’s news that charters will not be awarded to applicants looking to open new schools in their communities. […]
