THE PIONEER BLOG

Jim Stergios

Donal Fox!

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I know I am supposed to spruce up the blog with references to pop culture, but I don’t know how to do that. I’ll leave that to education bloggers at the Fordham Institute and to Jay Greene’s crew. It’s Sunday so cut me some slack, and let me tell you about an incredible night of music. Last night I was blown away by one of the greatest nights I’ve spent listening to music in a long time. Scullers has some great acts, but last night I went to see Donal Fox and was completely blown away. I mean completely blown away. Technically blown away, musically blown away, still blown away. Donal Fox owns his piano in a way few people […]

Jim Stergios

How Washington is undermining the Bay State's high education standards

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We did not miss out on the Race to the Top primarily because of the fact that we have not yet adopted the Common Core standards that are still in draft form. But that is the easy give for the Patrick administration. First, the Patrick folks don’t want to do the hard work necessary to address the major failing in the application — the lack of any sense as to how they would evaluate teachers using student and other data. That would take imagination, the expenditure of political capital, and good blocking and tackling. They lack all of the above. Adopting the Common Core standards is an easy one for an administration that has been willing, as Charlie Chieppo and […]

Jim Stergios

Why MA finished 13th of 16 on the Race to the Top

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Yesterday’s piece in the Globe by Jamie Vaznis strikes me as making pretty clear that Legislative leaders are pretty soured on how the administration handled the RttT. We finished outside the winners’ circle (the winners were TN and DE), and we got trounced. The Senate President’s quote in particular shows that she expected the legislative actions taken in the fall and January to be matched by a strong proposal and equally difficult actions on the part of the administration. Now, it seems that the Patrick administration is blaming the state’s poor finish on the RttT on MA’s non-adoption (yet!) of the national standards. OK, let’s go to the facts, and they are all written in black and white in the […]

Amy Lischko

MA vs. US: Round 1: Individual Mandate

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A mandate made sense in MA for a few reasons.  First, it was clear that our non-group market was failing due to adverse risk.   It was sort-of like a high-risk pool but there were no options for healthy people.  Because of changes that were made to the insurance laws in the mid-1990’s including guarantee issue, adjusted community rating (no underwriting allowed), and very limited product choice in the non-group market, the market was unaffordable.  The only people purchasing in this market were people who really “needed” insurance.  We saw large drops in enrollment each year  (insurance jargon calls this a death spiral) leading up to the reforms in 2006. Second, we had VERY EXPENSIVE safety net, the Uncompensated Care Pool, […]

Steve Poftak

A Low Cost Counterweight to Partners?

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I’m fascinated by the thinking behind the Caritas-Cerberus tie-up and today’s Globe speculates that the plan is to create a low cost provider of health care. I suspect that the Globe is right and I’d throw a few more ingredients into the pot: First, if Cerberus wants to play nationally in this market, they need to establish a reputation as an operator and not just short-term financial engineers. Building out the Caritas group gives them a chance to do this and get some rub from Caritas’ brand equity. Having Ralph de la Torre on your team doesn’t hurt either. Second, Caritas has tried to extend their value chain into insurance once before and almost succeeded. Depending on the structure of […]

Steve Poftak

How to Kill Off Manufacturing in Massachusetts

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Manufacturing in Massachusetts is dead, right? Rusted out and superseded by other, sexier industries. Wrong, its still the fourth largest employer in the state (behind healthcare, retail and education). And its disproportionately important in places like the South Coast and the Merrimack Valley. Plus manufacturing wages are above the state median wage. Check out this 2008 manufacturing chartbook put out by the state. What’s one of the key challenges facing the manufacturing industry? Its heavily reliant on energy as one of its major inputs (as opposed to other industries like financial services) and Massachusetts has one of the highest energy cost rates in the country. So, a new solar power mandate that may add up to $250m per year to […]

Jim Stergios

Race to the Top out of reach

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Holy s^&*! Jamie Vaznis of the Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts is not among the winners of the first round of the Race to the Top competition. Kudos to Delaware and Tennessee for wining the first round. A lot of hard work (900 pages of it in the application, plus a legislative process, lots of print, lots of arguments, and a few fried political relationships) in Massachusetts did not get us there. Time for a deep breath. How is it that the top performer on the Nation’s Report Card did not make it? Vaznis reports on Ed Secretary Paul Reville’s view: “We are committed to reworking the application and filing it again,” said Reville, who added that he is […]

Jim Stergios

Auto insurance does not equal health insurance

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What’s wrong with a government mandate for health insurance? After all, government mandates auto insurance, right? In any basic conversation about health care — especially in MA where the idea of a mandate started — that is a basic line of argument from pro-mandate folks. My problems with that line of argument are three: 1. The federal government does not mandate auto insurance, and it should not mandate health insurance. (In fact, three states do not have auto insurance mandates.) The point is, states can choose to or not to. I have no problem with the health mandate in Massachusetts – if the system that is scaffolded on top of it works. States constitutionally have the power to mandate such […]

Jim Stergios

Are Large-Scale School Turnarounds A Myth?

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Tough editorial from the WSJ today, calling the “doubling down” on turnaround plans for schools, rather than simply focusing on creating more charters, a big mistake. Like its predecessor, the Obama Administration is focusing its education policy on fixing failed schools. Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls for a “dramatic overhaul” of “dropout factories, where 50, 60, 70 percent of students” don’t graduate. The intentions are good, but a new study shows that school turnarounds have a dismal record that doesn’t warrant more reform effort. “Much of the rhetoric on turnarounds is pie in the sky—more wishful thinking than a realistic assessment of what school reform can actually accomplish,” writes Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution. “It can be done but […]

Amy Lischko

The Devil is in the Details

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Anyone involved in the Massachusetts reform is probably being asked the same questions that I am being asked.  How does the federal reform differ from MA’s reform?  How will it affect what we’ve already put in place?  Why is there so much opposition, hasn’t the MA reform worked reasonably well?   The answers are not simple.   Unfortunately, one must review the 2000+ page bill and another 100+ pages of reconciliation language in order to prepare a comprehensive review.  And, even then, you’re only partially there.  Many details, which could have a material impact on MA and the nation as a whole, will need to be further detailed through the regulatory process during what will be a very lengthy implementation phase.  So, […]

Steve Poftak

Goldhill's Atlantic Article on Healthcare

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Thanks to all those who participated in last night’s Hewitt Healthcare Lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School. As promised, here’s a link to The Atlantic article by David Goldhill that Dr. Flier referenced in his lecture. We encourage you to give it a read and then share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Steve Poftak

What Am I Missing?

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The Cerberus-Caritas tie-up is a mystery to me. You’ve got a deep pocketed investor with no discernible links to this industry, and a reputation for being tough-minded financial engineers, not operators. And the deal announcement suggests a interest in follow-on investments nationally in the sector. Meanwhile, you’ve got this weekend’s reforms on the federal level, a state government that seems to want to play an even larger role in this market, and Caritas’ portfolio of hospitals, most of whom play vital roles in their communities (that won’t react well to much cost-cutting). Cerberus must have something in mind. What is it? PS — Nice work by whomever is doing Caritas’ PR — the banner ads on the Globe article about […]

Jim Stergios

Hit the accelerator!

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That’s my takeaway from the 2009 NAEP reading results. Here are just a few takeaways from the racial/ethnic subgroup data from 1992 to 2009 for the 4th grade and 1998 to 2009 for the 8th grade: Black students – 4th grade: The average scaled score goes from 204 to 216. At or above Basic goes from 47 to 62 percent. At or above Proficient from 10 to 23 percent. Advanced from 1 to 3 percent. – 8th grade: The average scaled score goes from 248 to 251. At or above Basic goes from 55 to 64 percent. At or above Proficient from 13 to 17 percent. Advanced drops from 2 to 1 percent. Hispanic students – 4th grade: The average […]

Jim Stergios

MA tops nation in reading for 3rd time in a row

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From the Department of Education’s press release: “Massachusetts 4th and 8th Graders Rank First in Reading on 2009 NAEP Exam. Results Mark Third Time in a Row MA Students Have Outscored the Nation.” Great news! According to results of the 2009 NAEP exam, the state’s 4th graders scored an average of 234 on the reading assessment, well above the national average of 220 and first in the nation. At grade 8, Massachusetts students achieved the highest average of 274, which exceeded the national average of 262 and tied for first with five other high performing states: New Jersey (273); Connecticut and Vermont (272); and New Hampshire and Pennsylvania (271). Some cause for concern is the flattening out of performance. Commissioner […]

Steve Poftak

Pitching 38

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Curt Schilling (formerly of the Red Sox, ahem) is now seeking a deal for his video game company, reportedly talking with Rhode Island to see what tax incentives might be provided. His inspiration? The film tax credits which he saw in action in his home town. Now, Curt’s got every right to get the best deal for his company but he might want to consider a few facts: 1) RI’s corporate tax rate is 9% while Massachusetts was 9.5% and is supposed to drop to 8.75% this year, then to 8% over the next few years, 2) RI’s personal income tax rate is progressive and rises pretty fast — it gets to 7% quickly and tops out at 9.9%. Not […]