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Arne Duncan goes DC
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byThere was/is the big push to centralize health care. Now centralize academic standards? Yesterday, speaking to the National Governors Association President Obama made it clear that he now is ready to open up a second front in centralizing authority within the federal government. When he originally proposed improving academic standards, the President promised a “state-generated” set of common standards that states would adopt voluntarily. Yesterday, the façade of voluntary adoption fell, and instead President Obama and US Education Secretary Duncan made clear that they would now tie Title I funds for K-12 schools to coerce states to adopt the standards proposed by the Common Core State Standard Initiative. So, essentially, the federal government has decided that it needs a takeover […]
That Didn't Take Long
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byI heard it for the first time last night — “Benedict Brown”. And read the comments for yourself on Senator Brown’s facebook page. Its going to be a tough few weeks for our junior Senator as the dissonance between his national profile and political reality (particularly the local kind) get reconciled.
Legislature Skips Plan Design
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThe Legislature is rolling out a “Municipal Relief Act” today, shepherded by Committee Chairs Representative Paul Donato and Senator Jamie Eldridge. Unless I’ve missed some grand strategic plan to insert plan design on the floor, this Act is an embarrassment. Everyone agrees that healthcare costs are killing local governments. By my estimation, its gone from roughly 6% of local budgets to over 12% over the last ten years — no other municipal department is growing like that. One potential avenue to controlling healthcare costs is joining the state employee’s insurance pool, the GIC, but many municipalities either object to that or don’t think it will save money. The next option then is to give municipal managers greater control over health […]
Randi blah-blah-blah?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byCentral Falls (RI) School Superintendent Frances Gallo is moving to fire all that city’s high school teachers as part of corrective action mandated by RI education commissioner Deborah Gist. The CF high school and five schools in Providence would be affected. “We need to be able to move this school,” Gallo said Tuesday afternoon. “We are persistently in the low-performing category and therefore we have options we must look to.” Gallo said that the 74 teachers can re-apply, but their job descriptions would be different. Under the termination-of-teachers reform model, no more than 50 percent can be re-hired. I know CF really well having spent my youth next door, having relatives there, knowing folks who were police officers and teachers […]
Charters and disadvantaged students
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byWe’ve had some long discussions with legislators and the media over the past few years about “disadvantaged students” and how they fare at charters. As we often note, the number of poor and minority students in charters are higher on statewide comparisons; and they are well within the range on “sending” district to charter comparisons. And their students by and large do far better those in district schools. But the question raised during the recent legislative debate was, well, how about Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Special Needs (SPED) kids. A new study out by Angrist, Dynarski, Kane, Pathak and Walters takes a micro-look at this question by focusing on the KIPP Academy in Lynn, a school that is mostly […]
Calling Glenn Koocher
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byI am pretty sure you have seen the number of online tools Pioneer has created for citizens interested in government transparency and civic engagement on issues like government performance, regionalization, the quality of our schools, etc. Here is a breath of fresh air blowing north from Rhode Island. I was going to say Rhode Island of all places, but then remembered that I am a former Rhodey guy… MassOpenBooks MassReportCards MassCityStats MassHousingRegulations The Regionalization Clearinghouse The GIC Cost Estimator (general, Revere, and there are other community estimators – just ask) So, we were very interested to see that the RI Association of School Committees now puts all their collective bargaining agreements on-line for members — something that could help communities […]
The missing link – student data and teacher performance
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /byDan Willingham’s good piece in the Boston Globe on what makes for effective accountability in our schools chided the lack of detail behind the Obama administration’s Race to the Top criteria seeking to “hold teachers accountable for student scores.” There are ways of making accountability work. The two key elements are evaluations that take place over long periods of time, to increase stability, and evaluations that are conducted by people who are knowledgeable and are known by teachers to be knowledgeable. Unfortunately, neither element is part of the Obama administration’s plans. Data is super-important, but how we use it matters. So where does MA stand on the use of data, you might ask. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is a […]
Time for the Essex County Retirement Board To Go
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byGovernor Patrick, either through PERAC or through legislation, needs to put the Essex County Retirement Board into receivership until it can demonstrate a minimal level of compliance with basic standards of transparency, ethical conduct, and board governance. It seems support for this position is growing. What should be the final straw occurred at a meeting last week when the board tried to reelect Tim Bassett (yep, that Tim Bassett) after the Essex County DA had ruled that a previous election was invalid. And the state’s pension oversight agency, PERAC, reiterated that they alone had the right to elect the chairman. The board’s blatant unwillingness to comply with the legal and ethical standards set by the Commonwealth are the latest demonstration […]
Together We Can…Fight Adverse Selection
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byCharlie Baker and Deval Patrick seem to agree on something. In June 2009, the then-CEO of Harvard Pilgrim complained that loose enrollment rules were letting individuals hop in and out insurance policies, depending on when they needed a high volume of services. The Governor’s Small Business Jobs Bill tries to limit that practice by permitting two open enrollment periods a year for the purchase of individual coverage. I just got the GOV’s Bill, so I don’t understand exactly what he means by that. (Will you only have two chances per year to get coverage as an individual? What if you lose group coverage at a point in time outside the open enrollment period?) I’ll post a clarification once I fully […]
Don't Say That – Deval Patrick Edition
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byMy youngest has the charming habit of responding to my unwelcome comments with a wag of her finger and “Don’t Say That” sternly delivered. With that in mind, I’ll kick off a new feature on this blog. Today’s example is Governor Deval Patrick in his address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. In his closing remarks, he relates: ..But I am not motivated by the usual things that motivate people in elected office. I am not motivated by ambition for higher or other office, or by entitlement or powerful connections urging me on. I am motivated by simple gratitude…. At first read, it sounds like a boast about his own virtue, but read it again, its both a boast […]
Giving the Convention Center Its Due
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byLet’s hear it for the MCCA — they just posted their audited financials online. Good for them. A tip of the pen to Jim Rooney and Mac Daniel. And to make it more impressive, they did it on a day while they are simutaneously dealing with a State House protest by Patrick Administration appointee (and union head) Janice Loux about the Authority’s new food service vendor. Let’s hope the other authorities follow suit. They may have to — the Senate’s economic development legislation (filed yesterday) contains no less than 12 provisions about transparency at the quasi-publics — including the disclosure of audited financials.
NY and IL Always Make Me Feel Better
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byThis has been a tough year for MA politics, with multiple indictments and arrests of public officials. But we always can fall back on our friends in New York and Illinois to make us feel better. New York, fresh off a summer of discontent where leadership of the Senate shifted back and forth (at times, it seemed based on who could physically control the chamber), is now facing some weird sort of slow-motion-sorta-crisis with Governor Paterson. Paterson is desperately unpopular and the NYTimes, allegedly has some sort of ‘bombshell’ story that it is preparing with some observers whispering that it might force him out of office. Its gotten to the point where a Republican gubernatorial candidate has actually called for […]
Small thought on TV personalities
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byI have always been more interested in U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan – what he is about and how he thinks about stuff – than any other of the president’s entourage because he seems real and he seem to really care without wearing it on his sleeve. He’s not the best speaker, and he’s not “colorful” or a “celebrity.” Nor does he cultivate that. On the other hand reading in The Hill about the flak that Rahm Emanuel is getting for the “collapse of healthcare reform” seems only poetic justice. The Hill‘s Alexander Bolton notes: The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. Bolton is […]
Globe Metro Columnists Take A Victory Lap on UMASS Law School
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byAdrian Walker picks up where his colleague Yvonne Abraham left off last month. While Abraham’s column was primarily a 640 word exercise in ad hominem attack, Walker actually talks to the current SNESL (and future UMASS law school, apparently) dean. It’s a shame that neither columnist could divert from their talking points to ask a few basic questions, like 1) Why isn’t the current performance of the students at SNESL mentioned in UMASS’ proposal to take over the law school, 2) How do you reconcile the almost $10m discrepancy in library assets between UMASS’ proposal and SNESL’s tax return, and 3) Why would current SNESL leadership (which has failed to achieve accreditation for ten years) be retained? But don’t worry, […]
Let's Lose the Fast Lane Gates on the Tobin
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byOn Jan.1, MassDOT took over the Tobin Bridge from MassPort. Sadly, my Boston MPO monthly TransReport informs me that: Drivers who pay tolls in cash or by using Fast Lane or E-ZPass transponders will not experience any changes when they travel over the Tobin Bridge. That’s too bad, because I’ve always been perplexed by the Tobin’s insistence on using gates in conjunction with their Fast Lane electronic tolling system, slowing down throughput. None of the many Turnpike Fast Lane stations use gates. Are Tobin users less trustworthy than Turnpike users? Let’s take them down and get traffic moving.