Entries by Editorial Staff

Moving the goalposts on NCLB

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http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2012/02/moving_the_goalposts.html Massachusetts and nine other states made news last week by seeking and receiving waivers from major provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  The law was never a favorite of mine but I think the way it was upended and why says a lot about the centralizing worldview of federal and state policymakers. First thing is to separate process and substance.  The process on the waivers is wrongheaded—and likely illegal.  Stay tuned for more on that. On the substance, US Department of Ed Secretary Arne Duncan outlined the key requirements he wanted Massachusetts to fulfill, on standards (what Sec. Duncan calls college- and career-readiness standards), instruction and leadership, and accountability. On standards, Massachusetts met the feds’ […]

State-Based Education Reform Needs Tough Common Standards: View

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-21/state-based-education-reform-needs-tough-common-progress-standards-view.html The Barack Obama administration has begun issuing long-awaited waivers giving states some flexibility in complying with the No Child Left Behind education law. But with the exception of politicians, educators and parents in the 11 states that have received them, nobody seems very pleased with the changes. Advocates for the disadvantaged raise concerns that poor and minority children will be forgotten under the new regime, which will allow approved states to set their own benchmarks on school performance and improvement. Conservatives say the conditions attached are a new federal intrusion into states’prerogatives. And Washington politicians of both parties claim that the executive branch has overstepped its bounds. The good news is that all of these concerns are overstated. The […]

State-Based Education Reform Needs Tough Common Standards: View

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-21/state-based-education-reform-needs-tough-common-progress-standards-view.html The Barack Obama administration has begun issuing long-awaited waivers giving states some flexibility in complying with the No Child Left Behind education law. But with the exception of politicians, educators and parents in the 11 states that have received them, nobody seems very pleased with the changes. Advocates for the disadvantaged raise concerns that poor and minority children will be forgotten under the new regime, which will allow approved states to set their own benchmarks on school performance and improvement. Conservatives say the conditions attached are a new federal intrusion into states’prerogatives. And Washington politicians of both parties claim that the executive branch has overstepped its bounds. The good news is that all of these concerns are overstated. The […]

S.C. Lawmakers Hear Testimony on Anti-Common-Standards Bill

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http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/02/south_carolina_bill_to_withdra.html A bill to prevent implementation of the common standards in South Carolina is rumbling through the state Senate. According to the Associated Press, there were so many people that wanted to testify at yesterday’s subcommittee hearing that another hearing was scheduled for next week. The bill was introduced last year in the state Senate, as we reported to you. Sponsored by Republican Mike Fair, S. 604 would bar the state from putting into practice the standards that were adopted by the state board of education in July 2010. Interestingly, the hearing yesterday drew common-core opponents from out of state. A Senate education committee staffer was kind enough to supply me with a list of those who testified. Supporters of […]

War Against the Core

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http://www.cato.org/blog/war-against-core With the release of a new Brookings Institution report today, and one from a consortium of groups last week, resistance to the national-standards offensive seems to be mounting. And even though almost every state in the union has adopted the Common Core, and few are likely to formally undo that, the war against the Core can still be won. Today’s new front comes in the form of the Brookings Institution’s 2012 Brown Center Report on American Education, which includes three sections attacking rampant misuse of standards and tests. The first focuses on the Common Core, looking at the discernable impacts of state-level standards on achievement, and finding that (a) varying state standards have no meaningful correlation with achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, […]

Open Checkbook: State vendors in Arlington

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/news/x1569726331/Open-Checkbook-State-vendors-in-Arlington#axzz2O6UfvORR Earlier this month, state Treasurer Steve Grossman launched Open Checkbook,  fulfilling a campaign promise creating a new window into the inner-workings of  government. The site contains a trove of data, listing every state employee’s salary,  the line-by-line spending in each department and even the pensions of state  retirees. Open Checkbook also provides a searchable database of all state vendors –  many of which have locations in Arlington. In the last full fiscal year – fiscal 2011 – a total of 70 Arlington  entities received some form of payment from the state. The amount ranged from  $2.6 million, paid to Park Avenue Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the form  of Medicaid reimbursements, to $10 paid to Whole Health New England, […]

The Battle Over Common Core Math Standards: Will A Larger Federal Role Help or

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http://educationnext.org/the-battle-over-common-core-math-standards-will-a-larger-federal-role-help-or-hinder-curriculum-improvement/ CAMBRIDGE, MA – More than 40 states have now agreed to adopt the Common Core standards in English Language Arts and math.  In a forum released today on the website, www.educationnext.org, former U.S. Department of Education official Ze’ev Wurman and Johns Hopkins University professor of mathematics W. Stephen Wilson offer differing opinions about the standards.  Wurman and Wilson address key issues raised – including 1) how much the standards will improve on those currently in place in various states, 2) whether they will resolve deep disagreements over what skills constitute sound math education, and 3) whether they might have the unintended consequence of removing incentives for further improvement. Both Wurman and Wilson acknowledge the urgent need for improvement in […]

Q&A: Michael Morisy, Co-Founder of MuckRock

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MuckRock is an online startup that helps journalists streamline, track, and fulfill their public records requests. Since May 2010, when the beta version of the site debuted, they’ve had 851 requests filed, 232 requests successfully completed, and 66 requests denied. The site has helped facilitate the release of 25,254 pages of government documents. MuckRock is currently part of the Boston Globe’s GlobeLab incubator program, working out of the Globe’s offices alongside other tech start-ups. Erin Siegal recently interviewed co-founder Michael Morisy, 28, about how the site works, what it’s accomplished, and where it might go from here. You guys got some great press (Boston Phoenix, NiemanLab, and Mother Jones, to name a few) when you first came out. How are […]

MCAS history exam in need of funding, fine-tuning

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http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/ci_19943615 Although I share many of the concerns that Jamie Gass expressed in his  article “U.S. history an innovative field worth teaching” earlier this week, I’m  alarmed by Gass’ approach to the issue. In the article, Gass lambastes state officials for postponing the history  MCAS, a statewide standardized exam that high-school students would need to pass  in order to graduate. Without the exam, Gass argues, history classes are seen as  less important for school districts, and are more likely to be cut. And I agree. In my school, and in those around me, I have found time and time  again that history and social-science programs are more understaffed than those  areas currently subject to the tests: English, math and science. […]

Think Tank Raises Alarm of Federal Overreach Into Curriculum

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http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/02/a_new_white_paper_raises.html A new white paper raises questions about whether the U.S. Department of Education has violated prohibitions against a federally dictated curriculum in its work to support common standards and assessments across states. It also outlines steps to address the situation, including a call for congressional hearings and new legislation to explicitly prohibit “conditional waivers” under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (a.k.a. the No Child Left Behind Act). The report from the Pioneer Institute, a free-market think tank that has been critical of the common standards, suggests that the Education Department is moving on “the road to a national curriculum,” despite provisions across several federal laws to prohibit such intervention. “The department has designed a system of discretionary grants […]

Parents Hope ‘No Child’ Waiver Helps Improve Schools

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http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/parents-hope-no-child-waiver-helps-improve-schools/ WINCHESTER (CBS) – At Lynch Elementary School in Winchester, parents have seen first hand the impact of No Child Left Behind: The school has been labeled as failing for several years. Charlie Mancotty says her two children have struggled with the tests. She says, “When I watch parents who get so upset that there are kids failing the tests and wondering what does that mean about the school, believing it is not a good school, it’s really hard. I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s descriptive.” Now she says she is welcoming news that No Child Left Behind is no longer in Massachusetts. The Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Tom Scott says the […]

Boston Superintendent: Parents shouldn’t worry

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http://www.necn.com/02/09/12/Boston-Superintendent-Parents-shouldnt-w/landing_health.html?blockID=648384&feedID=8368 (NECN: Alison King) – “In September, after waiting far too long for congress to act, I announced that my administration would take steps to reform no child left behind on our own,” said President Obama on Thursday. The result?  President Obama is freeing ten states from the “no child left behind” education law, which was signed with great fanfare in 2002 by President Bush when it was celebrated at the Boston Latin school with the late senator Ted Kennedy. Obama said the goals of no child left behind were good ones:  promoting high standards, accountability and closing the achievement gap. “But we’ve got to do it in a way that doesn’t force teachers to teach to the test. Or […]

U.S. gives Mass. waiver from No Child Left Behind

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/fall-river/news/x2112939403/U-S-gives-Mass-waiver-from-No-Child-Left-Behind#axzz2NReSO0VO President Barack Obama’s decision to free Massachusetts from some  requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law was a vote of confidence  for a system the state designed to assess the performance of public schools, top  state education officials said Thursday. Massachusetts on Thursday was among the first 10 states to be granted  waivers from the 2002 law, which set a goal of having all children proficient in  reading and math by 2014. “This is really a case where perfect has become the enemy of good,” said  Mitchell Chester, commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and  Secondary Education. Under the federal measuring stick for No Child Left Behind, known as  Adequate Yearly Progress, about 80 percent of […]

U.S. history an innovative field worth teaching

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http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/ci_19909427 Last month, the federal government declared lights out on the incandescent light bulb. Now we’re supposed to convert over to compact florescent bulbs, or jars filled with fireflies. Thomas Edison’s hot-filament-in-a-bulb technology lasted more than 130 years and would have kept going except for regulatory decree. Schoolchildren should know something about revolutionary breakthroughs like the original light bulb. But since 2009, when state officials canceled a plan to make passage of a U.S. history MCAS test a graduation requirement, our students haven’t been learning much about history, or the legacy of scientific discovery that has made America unique. In 1743, Benjamin Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society, a forum for scientists and thinkers to discuss their gadgets and ideas. […]

A halfhearted school budget

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http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2012/02/a_halfhearted_school_budget.html You know you’re in for trouble when a school district with major graduation and dropout rates problems announces a new budget and leads with the hiring of five new nurses.  That is not the definition of urgency. The big new Boston budget of $856 million came with big headlines about more nurses and an overhaul of Roxbury’s Madison Park Vocational Technical High School.  $856 million for about 54,000 students.  That breaks down to almost $16,000.  Of course it does not include additional funding sources and is not the complete picture.  Last year’s NCES estimates pegged Boston as the most expensive urban school district in the country, clocking in at around $21,000 per student. There is an obvious problem with […]

February a Month to Remember (or Forget) in National K-12 Standards Debate

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http://www.ediswatching.org/2012/02/february-a-month-to-remember-or-forget-in-national-k-12-standards-debate/ Last spring I told you about a growing movement to oppose the Common Core standards and accompanying assessments, as well as the momentum toward a national curriculum. Well, a recent spate of evidence suggests that the Common Core cause has fallen on hard times, to say the least: Two recent Pioneer Institute reports not only call into question the legality of the Common Core push but also estimate the transition costs at a daunting $16 billion South Carolina leaders have pushed back hard against the nationalization of education, prompting a loud response from Education Secretary Arne Duncan The only expert Education Next could find to defend the Common Core math standards in an online debate turned out not to […]

Is It Manufacturing’s Moment?

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http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2012/02/03/is-it-manufacturings-moment/ Manufacturing has a bad image these days.  For those of us inside Route 128, it can feel like there’s nothing left.  But the reality for the rest of the state is very different. Manufacturing still employs approximately 260,000 people or 8 percent of the workforce. And these people are working in good jobs at good wages — in the areas where manufacturing is still going on, wages in the industry are above the area median. If you’d like to know more about manufacturing in Massachusetts, I’d encourage you to look at work by the state’s Commonwealth Corporation and Northeastern’s Barry Bluestone. With Obama’s State of the Union, there’s increased attention to the industry. (I’m happy to see the attention […]

The Serpent in Finland’s Garden of Equity:Essay Review of Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learnfrom Educational Change in Finland by Pasi Sahlberg

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Essay Review of Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland by Pasi Sahlberg (NY: Teachers College Press, 2011) Author(s): Sandra Stotsky — Publication date: 2012-03-05 Category: Education Abstract: About four decades ago, Finland introduced major reforms to grades 1-12 and teacher education, with noteworthy results. In 1970, less than 10% of its students graduated from high school. By 2010, most high schoolage students attended high school and most of these students graduated. What did Finland do to achieve such a dramatic increase in high school graduation rates? And to be among the highest-scoring countries on all the mathematics, science, and reading tests for 15-year olds given by PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) since 2000? […]

Danvers man’s proposal for EZ-ID license plates endorsed

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/danvers/newsnow/x132492920/Danvers-man-s-proposal-for-EZ-ID-license-plates-endorsed?zc_p=1#axzz2NcNYjWOG The New England Association of Chiefs of Police has unanimously endorsed the  EZ-ID bill state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, filed and  state Sen. John F. Keenan, D-Quincy, and state Rep. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer,  co-sponsored. Senate Bill 1798, also known as Molly’s Bill, would direct the Registry of  Motor Vehicles to issue license plates that combine the traditional letters and  numbers already used with universal, easily distinguishable symbols, such as  triangles, squares and other geometric shapes. Robert D. Campbell, president of the police chief’s association, recently  wrote a letter on behalf of the organization’s Board of Directors labeling the  EZ-ID proposal, which was crafted by Danvers resident Gary P. Richard, “truly a  worthwhile project that deserves the […]

Pioneer and Northeastern Present State Transportation Scorecard

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Use Pioneer’s Transportation Dashboard, an online, interactive application designed to model a performance measurement system that could be deployed by the state’s Department of Transportation. It features an array of publicly-available data in an easy-to-digest format, and includes the latest information on key indicators of performance such as congestion, throughput, safety, construction management, and environmental stewardship.

Recent history of the T

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http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/opinions/x364057122/COMMENTARY-Recent-history-of-the-T?zc_p=2#axzz2NuhDIn7u On Tuesday, Jan. 3, the MBTA outlined two proposals to reduce the more  than-$161 million budget deficit projected for fiscal 2013 in a presentation to  legislators. Both proposals included fare hikes, the reduction of services and a  complete elimination of the commuter boat subsidy. As the senator representing  the South Shore, I know this will have a negative effect on my district. I am  frustrated with the MBTA’s proposal, especially the elimination of the commuter  boat subsidy. The Hingham commuter boat has been a means of public transportation that I  have supported since its inception. In fact, during the years of negotiations  over the construction of the Greenbush commuter rail line from 2001 to 2007, I  strongly advocated for […]

This Week at Pioneer: Better Government Competition

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http://www.redmassgroup.com/diary/13733/this-week-at-pioneer Enter Pioneer’s 2012 Better Government Competition for your chance to win $10,000! As RMGers, you all spend a lot of time thinking about how to fix the problems created by Washington. If you share Pioneer’s belief that the federal government has too much control over a number of roles that should be done by the states, then we want your ideas for this year’s theme – federal programs that can be devolved to the states across the following policy areas: education, healthcare, Regulations, Urban Redevelopment, Transportation, Interstate Commerce, Banking and Finance, and any others you can think of. Click here to learn more about the contest and three easy ways to enter! Today, Mass. Education Commissioner Mitch Chester names […]

Introduction to the Massachusetts Transportation Dashboard

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Author(s): Steve Poftak — Publication date: 2012-01-24 Category: Better Government Abstract: Pioneer’s Transportation Dashboard is intended to communicate the performance of the state’s transportation system and inform the public about the effectiveness of the state’s transportation leadership. As a single-page of primarily visual communication, it necessarily simplifies the complex nature of the transportation system. Pioneer developed the dashboard in partnership with Northeastern University’s School of Engineering, led by Professor Ali Touran. We offer the dashboard as a starting point for the development of richer and deeper analysis of system performance. [wpdm_package id=52]

Wong and Fitchburg charter official ready to defend school

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http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_19805585 FITCHBURG — Supporters of the North Central Charter Essential School were  prepared to travel to Malden this morning to ask the state Board of Elementary  and Secondary Education to renew the school’s five-year charter with no  conditions. Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester has recommended the school be placed  on probation while renewing its charter, news that school administrators said  came out of left field last week, because they had been lauded by state  officials for the school’s academic improvements as recently as last fall. NCCES Executive Director Stephanie Davolos and Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong plan  to speak on behalf of the charter school, a junior-senior high-school program  that both said has served as a good complement to the city’s public […]

Chipping away at charter schools

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http://boston.com/community/blogs/rock_the_schoolhouse/2012/01/chipping_away_at_charter_schoo.html Charter school approvals are granted in February.  They shouldn’t be. They should have been granted on January 16th this year–Martin Luther King Day–for one simple reason: No education policy change has done more in Massachusetts to alleviate achievement gaps than charters.  None. We too often hear about how education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.  The fact is that education was the Civil Rights issue of the 20th century, starting with the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling and the battle to ensure that all kids, regardless of race or creed, had equal access to good schools. Today, the face of Civil Rights has many colors, and the principal battleground is in inner cities, places […]

Patrick’s economic development plan is flawed

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http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x66783145/GUEST-OPINION-Patricks-economic-development-plan-is-flawed Gov. Deval Patrick’s new economic development plan is well intended and for  the most part worthy. Released last month by the state’s Economic Development  Planning Council, “Choosing to Compete in the 21st Century” is welcome evidence  that the governor understands that Massachusetts can only address the state’s  persistent unemployment and generate revenues for public services by making the  Bay State an attractive place to grow businesses. Elements of the plan are realistic and wise steps toward that goal.   For example, the plan calls for government to execute on its core functions,  such as upgrading infrastructure.  It calls for government to remove  barriers to hiring by cutting the tangle of regulation, streamline permitting,  and make the corporate tax structure predictable […]

The 21 studies that generated the findings in “Civics Exam: Schools of Choice Boost Civic Values”

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http://educationnext.org/the-21-studies-that-generated-the-findings-in-civics-exam-schools-of-choice-boost-civic-values/ Campbell, David E. 2001a. “Civic Education: Readying Massachusetts’ Next Generation of Citizens.” White Paper 17, Boston: Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. Available by request of the author, Dave_Campbell@nd.edu. ———. 2001b. “Making Democratic Education Work.” In Charters, Vouchers, and Public Education, edited by Paul E. Peterson and David E. Campbell. Washington, DC: Brookings, pp. 241-67. ———. 2002. “The Civic Side of School Reform: How Do School Vouchers Affect Civic Education?” Working Paper of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton, NJ, April 16. Available by request of the author, Dave_Campbell@nd.edu. Coleman, James S., and Thomas Hoffer. 1987. Public and Private High Schools: The Impact of Communities. New York: Basic Books. Dee, Thomas S. 2005. “The Effects of […]

Poftak: Freeze the unemployment tax

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http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/opinion/columnists/x2062852269/Poftak-Freeze-the-unemployment-tax#axzz2NGLZfsv3 You don’t have to be a genius to know that you get less of whatever you tax.  And you don’t have to be an economist to know that now isn’t the time to tax  jobs. State senators from both parties recently called on Senate President Therese  Murray to stop a scheduled increase in the commonwealth’s unemployment insurance  tax. House and Senate Republicans have filed a bill to freeze the current rates  and the House is taking up a spending bill that would also freeze the rates. Unemployment insurance benefits are paid for by a tax on employers for every  person they employ. Without the freeze, the tax would go up 31 percent, from an  annual average of $715 per […]