THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION on Friday ramped up pressure on the roughly 23 percent of school districts teaching remotely to return to in-person classes by releasing new metrics that downgraded the risk of COVID-19 in most communities and issuing new guidance suggesting hands-on teaching is safe even in hot-spot areas. Gov. Charlie Baker said the evidence […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inThe Download
Enrollment declines crop up in public schools
Two months into the new school year, some communities are beginning to report enrollment declines, presumably an offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Worcester school district lost 1,046 students, about 4.2 percent of last year’s total of 25,049, according to the Telegram & Gazette. It was the second year in a row that enrollment declined, […]
Posted inEducation
Enrollment declines cropping up in public schools
TWO MONTHS into the new school year, some communities are beginning to report enrollment declines, presumably an offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Worcester school district lost 1,046 students, about 4.2 percent of last year’s total of 25,049, according to the Telegram & Gazette. It was the second year in a row that enrollment declined, […]
Posted inOpinion
Voc school admission guidelines racially unjust
DR. IBRAM X. KENDI, author of How to be an Antiracist, says racism is “like a metastatic disease that literally has spread to every part of the body politic.” What’s the cure? Identify racist policies and replace them with antiracist policies. One such policy is Massachusetts’ current guidelines for admission to vocational schools. These guidelines […]
Posted inEducation
MCAS exams coming in spring, education officials say
TOP MASSACHUSETTS EDUCATION officials on Tuesday insisted MCAS exams will be held next spring and urged districts to conduct in-person learning even if they are located in communities at high risk for COVID-19 – as long as there is no evidence the transmission is occurring in schools. Testifying virtually before the Legislature’s Education Committee, state […]
Posted inOpinion
Civic education works: Let’s keep doing it
CIVICS EDUCATION is vital to the development of all youth and to the health of a vibrant democracy. Current events show us how young people are already leading efforts to shape our communities on issues from climate change to racial justice. Yet civic education, the very thing that prepares young people for robust democratic participation, […]
Posted inOpinion
Vocational schools need a lot more support
COVID-19 has magnified many of America’s already acute economic disparities. According to research by the Pew Research Center, those without any college education have fared particularly poorly in the economic contraction spawned by COVID. For instance, Pew reported that college graduates saw employment levels decrease 6 percent in the first months of the COVID downturn. […]
Posted inEducation
Don’t let the school year go to waste
EVEN BEFORE schools started reopening, some were already predicting this school year would be a loss, and that rampant inequities would only worsen. Yet, we take inspiration from school leaders who are stepping up, thinking outside the box, and creating high-quality learning experiences even now. While the challenges are immense, there are also opportunities. We […]
Posted inEducation
Riley: No break from MCAS exams next spring
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS STUDENTS should expect to take their MCAS exams next spring, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Tuesday. In spring of this year, after schools were abruptly forced to transition to remote learning as COVID-19 cases mounted, state officials suspended the MCAS testing requirement for 2020. A federal decision […]
Posted inEducation
Baker denies ‘bullying’ school districts
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Thursday continued to push schools to bring students back in person while denying allegations by the state’s largest teachers union that his administration is “bullying” local districts. “If you are a low-risk district, and you’ve been a low-risk district for eight weeks, and you have no plan to return to in-person […]