A nearly decade-long debate over admission policies at the state’s vocational high schools seems to be nearing a conclusion, but it’s been a tortured path and there is plenty of discontent with the likely outcome on both sides.
vocational technical high schools
Posted inOpinion
Voc-tech schools need support to build tomorrow’s workforceÂ
Voters, students and their families, as well as Massachusetts businesses want more voc-tech seating capacity. The primary and bedrock focus for policymakers, parents, and the business community should be providing as many students as possible with the high-quality opportunities that a voc-tech education provides while maintaining many of the tenets that have made this form of education so successful.Â
Posted inEducation
Vocational admissions debate getting heated
As state officials move closer to considering changes to admission policies governing vocational high schools, including potentially requiring the use of a blind lottery system to award seats, the temperature of the debate is getting turned up.
Posted inEducation
Dueling letters to Healey on vocational school admissions
More than two dozen lawmakers wrote to Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday, urging her to end the practice of using selective entry standards at the state’s vocational high schools and instead admit students by lottery.Â
Posted inEducation
Will bold plan for Boston high schools get traction this time?Â
YEAR AFTER YEAR, mayor after mayor, plans are hatched to transform Boston high schools – many of which have poor outcomes in subpar facilities – only to see them fade […]
Posted inEducation
Senator to push voc school admission changes through budget amendment
SAYING HE’S FRUSTRATED by state inaction over ongoing enrollment inequities from admissions policies at vocational high schools, state Sen. John Cronin has filed an amendment to the Senate budget that […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Time to end discrimination in vocational school admissions
CAREER VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL education is a powerful tool that can provide students desiring to enter the workforce with a path to high-wage, high-skill professions and the knowledge, critical thinking, and transferable […]
Posted inEducation
In Mass., vocational success – and admissions debateÂ
THE STATE’S VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL schools have long stood as one of the unheralded success stories of the education reform efforts begun in the early 1990s. A new book, published by Pioneer […]
Posted inEducation
State ed board approves vocational school admission changes
OVER THE OBJECTIONS of advocates who said the changes did not go far enough, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved new regulations Tuesday morning aimed at creating […]
Posted inEducation
Coalition says proposed voc school admission changes don’t go far enoughÂ
PROPOSED CHANGES TO vocational school admission policies, which the state has developed following years of pressure from municipal leaders and advocates, don’t go nearly far enough toward ensuring access to […]
Posted inEducation
State proposes sweeping change to vocational school admissions
FOUR YEARS AFTER elected officials and advocates began calling for changes to state regulations governing admission to vocational-technical high schools, Education Commissioner Jeff Riley is proposing a sweeping update to […]
Posted inEducation
Advocates, mayors renew push for voc-tech admission changes
AFTER YEARS OF frustration with admission policies at Massachusetts vocational technical high schools, which they say shut out disadvantaged students who might benefit most from hands-on learning, a coalition of […]
Posted inEducation
Voc-tech schools thriving despite pandemic stricturesÂ
HANDS-ON EDUCATION plays a critical role at Massachusetts regional vocational-technical high schools, where students alternate weekly between academics and shop classes. Given that reality, you’d think the schools would be particularly […]
Posted inEducation
As students leave district schools, charters and vocational schools see growth
MASSACHUSETTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS have seen a large decline in enrollment this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But the drop is not spread evenly across the public school system. Both charter schools and […]
Posted inEducation
Coalition to press state ed leaders on vocational school admissions
A COALITION OF groups pushing for changes to the admissions policies at Massachusetts vocational technical high schools is sounding the alarm on an issue that got sidetracked by the pandemic, […]