FOR MOST OF the 20th century, America truly was the land of opportunity. The nation emerged as the world’s dominant economic superpower, and the prosperity that resulted was widely shared. […]
Elementary and Secondary Education
Posted inEconomy, Education, Health Care
97.4
the bay state economy expanded by more than 10 percent last decade—8 percent growth on a per capita basis after accounting for inflation. It’s not the Massachusetts Miracle, but given […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Mass. scores high but reading a concern
The results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress were announced yesterday and, once again, Massachusetts topped the country in fourth-grade reading. Yet only half of the Commonwealth’s fourth […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Mass. to try for federal early ed. money
State education officials are busy finishing the commonwealth’s application for the $500 million federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge, the Obama administration’s signature early education initiative. Massachusetts […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Student churn hinders progress
Massachusetts education officials are celebrating the dramatic MCAS test improvements posted by the state’s most chronically underperforming schools. These impressive gains are testimony to hard work and a stubborn unwillingness […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Confronting our dropout crisis
Across the state students are settling into a new school year. Unfortunately, more than 8,000 of their former classmates won’t be joining them—the result of a dropout crisis that affects […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
The early education benefit
Much of the research on the long-term effects of high-quality early education has focused on children from low-income families. What about children from middle class families? A new working paper […]
Posted inEducation
Middle class schools called underperformers
A new education report by the Third Way, a Washington, DC-based think tank, found that the nation’s middle class schools aren’t performing up to par. The report found that three […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Special needs misspending found
Auditor Suzanne Bump today released her audit of the embattled Merrimack Special Education Collaborative (MSEC), along with audits of the Southeastern Massachusetts Education Collaborative (SMEC) and READS Collaborative. The audits found serious […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Education, The Download
Just between us, watch what you say
Mark Tremblay is, by all accounts, a reasonably intelligent family man who works two jobs, including installing “kill switches” in police cars. A 5-2 majority opinion by the state’s highest […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Mixed media
the trend at first seemed heartening. The problems in the US education system had become so compelling that filmmakers recently produced several documentaries on the topic, with some even enjoying […]
Posted inEducation
MCAS becomes test for teachers
Jeff Howard, a member of the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, may have put it best. “I can’t imagine a logic that would lead in any other direction,” […]
Posted inEducation
A new day for public education in Boston
The war is over. Sure, there had never been an all-out declaration. But for years public education in Boston was characterized by deep tensions, which not infrequently spilled over into […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Back Story
Supply and demands
Four charter schools are opening in Boston next fall and they need classroom space. The Boston Public Schools are downsizing and will have 10 empty buildings at the end of […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
Schools set aside funds for special ed increases
Brookline Public Schools are scrambling to close a nearly $1.5 million budget gap for the fiscal year beginning in July, yet the School Committee is nevertheless setting aside $400,000 in […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Obama on message
President Obama hit all the right notes yesterday afternoon at TechBoston Academy in Dorchester. This wasn’t a visit to break new ground with big policy announcements; it was a chance […]
Posted inEducation
High-stakes test for Gateway Cities
What can be done to close the achievement gap in the state’s Gateway Cities, the mid-sized urban centers that are home to so many of the students who sit at […]
Posted inEducation
Tiger mother lessons
Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has set off a frenzied national debate that shows little sign of letting up. The Yale law professor’s memoir of her no-nonsense approach to […]
Posted inEducation
Study says students are good judges of teacher quality
if your child raves about having a great teacher—or rails about a bad one—believe it. That’s the finding from a new report that gives some research backing to an idea […]
Posted inEducation
Grade expectations
TO JUDGE BY its demographics, Brockton High School looks like lots of urban high schools that have failure written all over them. The sprawling complex is the largest public school […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
A new look at the rankings
Every fall Boston magazine releases a back-to-school issue ranking the state’s best high schools. And every fall the skeptics sneer. These critical observers regard the magazine’s rankings as little more […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Not all districts “Race to the Top”
State officials and school district leaders across Massachusetts are eagerly anticipating an infusion of $250 million in education funding over the next four years from the federal Race to the […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Health Care
Correspondence Fall 2010
MY MRI COST $7,200 Your article, “Overexposed,” in CommonWealth’s summer edition was superb. It revealed so many of the failures and successes of our medical system.I have only one thing to […]
Posted inEducation, Health Care, Politics
Advice to the Governor: Think smart
Click here for more advice for the governorDuring a painful recession, gubernatorial candidates make too many promises about fixing our near-term problems and too few commitments about the investments needed […]