THE PIONEER BLOG

Audio: Lead Mathematics Standards-Writer William McCallum

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These audio clips are from Professor William McCallum’s remarks on college readiness in Common Core’s mathematics standards at a meeting sponsored by the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America in San Francisco, California, in January 2010. Viewers might also be interested in the video clips with Jason Zimba’s comments on college readiness in Common Core’s mathematics standards at a March 2010 meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. https://pioneerinstitute.org/news/video-common-core-lead-writer-jason-zimba/

Sandra Stotsky

Debunking Common Core Myths

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One of the most interesting phenomena in the “Common Core War” is the number of “myths,” “claims,” and “facts” that have been put out by the advocates of Common Core’s standards. What they claim are “myths” are usually the facts, and what they claim are “facts” are usually myths or simply claims. No wonder uninformed legislators and journalists are confused. Some still think that the “fundamental” source of conflict in the Common Core War is growing opposition by members of a nation-wide Tea Party to a uniform set of demanding standards across this country, even though most of the Common Core opponents clearly identify themselves as parents and teachers. That is not the basic problem. The stakes are much, much […]

Mary Connaughton

Pioneer’s Transparency Update: “Sunshine Week” Edition

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While sunshine in government operations should be a 365-day calling, the dedication of this week gives focus to the necessity of transparency in a healthy democracy, the success of which is dependent upon actively engaged citizens. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Truth never damages a cause that is just.”  That statement that should apply to all governments. And that’s why we find it so troubling that our state legislature continues to shield itself from open meeting law, public records law and audits by the duly elected state auditor.  Legislators spend our money and make laws that impact on daily lives. Yet we, whom they represent, remain in the dark Once again during Sunshine Week, we took a look back at Pioneer’s […]

Editorial Staff

Massachusetts Deserves Better Education Leadership

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Massachusetts Deserves Better Education Leadership Education Secretary Matt Malone’s views on charter schools characterized by bigotry and demonization Can Matt Malone provide educational leadership in a state with the nation’s most successful charter public school sector? Emails recently obtained by Pioneer Institute show that Secretary Malone engaged in various forms of bigotry and demonization when, as superintendent of the Brockton Public Schools, he fought against opening the city’s first charter public school. After the 2008 rejection of a proposed Brockton charter public school under highly unusual circumstances, another charter proposal was submitted by a founding group with deep ties to Brockton.  The leadership group included former Mayor Jack Yunits, City Councilor Jass Stewart, and longtime advocate and business leader Faelton […]

Joshua Archambault

ACA Spiking Premiums in Massachusetts, More Than 300 Cancellations of Plans

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The Patrick Administration has been publicly touting that health care premiums are only going to go up 2% this year in the Commonwealth. However the anecdotal evidence fails to back up that assessment, and in a future post I will explain the intentionally misleading nature of that number. In short, the Division of Insurance asked the insurance companies to restate 2013 rates as if the ACA was in effect, to make the premium difference seem lower for 2014 under the ACA. I have written numerous times on this blog about the changes come to the Bay State under the ACA, and the roller coaster effect we can expect small companies to experience, and now we have some evidence. I asked […]

Mary Connaughton

Step it up, UMASS

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You’ve come a long way, baby! Or maybe not. It’s been 42 years since President Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law. While the legislation was enacted to ban gender discrimination in educational programs, over time it became a game changer for school-based athletic programs. School girls and young college women seized the opportunity to abandon the sidelines and join the game like never before. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, in 1972 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports compared to 2 out of 5 today. Female participation in college sports also grew markedly, increasing by 500%. Athletic excellence became a core value for women across the country. In 1972, the top female runner completed the […]

Setting the Record Straight on Common Core Part 2

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Pioneer Institute has been a prime mover in the debate over Common Core national education standards.  Pioneer was among the first to call attention to the nature of the threat, producing rigorous research and relentlessly raising public awareness. Last month, Pioneer released the first of two videos setting the record straight on Common Core, questioning its legality, transparency and financial toll. Today, we release the second video, to shed light on the mediocre academic quality of Common Core and its negative impact on school choice. Since 2010, Pioneer has commissioned academic-quality research exposing the mediocre quality of Common Core, which put Massachusetts’ two decades of educational gains in jeopardy. The reports, authored by national academic content experts, showed that Common Core contained weaker content in math […]

Jamie Gass

Common Core Math’s House of Hay

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More than once, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has described himself as a frustrated architect. But nothing highlights our governor’s questionable architectural chops like his unwise decision to dismantle the nationally-recognized K-12 academic standards that were central to Massachusetts’ landmark 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act and replace them with weaker national English and math standards known as Common Core. A third-grader educated under Massachusetts’ state standards, might recall the fable (and lesson) of the three little pigs. And they would likely notice that Gov. Patrick is like the character in the fable who built his house of hay. Too bad for him and proponents of Common Core that it doesn’t take a big bad wolf, a monsoon, or even the growing […]

Mary Connaughton

The Dog Ate DCF’s Report Card

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It looks like the besieged folks down at the Division of Children and Families weren’t too happy about having to post their annual performance grades on the Governor’s Mass Results accountability web page this year. They thought they could pull a fast one by leaving off 11 of the 12 annual performance measures they established last year when they posted their self-reported performance evaluation. [quote align=”right” color=”#999999″]Given the horrific series of highly publicized administrative failures at DCF over the past year, Pioneer Institute decided to take a look at what grades the Governor’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ gave DCF on its 2013 performance measurements.[/quote] Under the Governor’s Mass Results program, each of his eight Secretaries were required […]

Jamie Gass

Fordham’s Petrilli Rodeo Clowning for ObamaCore, Gates $$, & the Great Society

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Commentary magazine did a great blog about how Common Core is really ObamaCore and how right-leaners and left-leaners alike across the country are now in open rebellion over the growing federal takeover of K-12 education standards, testing, and curriculum. See below: Wherever you stand on the Common Core, an attempt to provide a set of nationwide education standards, it can’t be good news for the program that it has begun to so resemble the disastrous process and rollout of this administration’s last federal reform, ObamaCare. Yet the opposition to the Common Core has followed a familiar pattern. As the Heartland Institute noted in 2011, “The Obama administration made adoption of the Common Core a criterion for winning part of $4.35 […]

Editorial Staff

Is the Commissioner of Education Complying with the Law?

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Twenty years after the passage of the landmark Massachusetts education reform law, how did the Bay State get to a place where it is unclear whether the Commonwealth’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is abiding by federal and state law on a key pillar of reform – testing for accountability? Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s rush to pilot new national exams has caused consternation among superintendents, with 38 districts refusing to participate in the effort to pilot the new PARCC tests. After repeated questions from district officials, Pioneer sent a January 27th letter to Commissioner Mitchell Chester questioning (1) whether the Commonwealth’s plan to pilot PARCC (while exempting certain students from MCAS) was aligned with the state’s landmark 1993 law and (2) […]

Video: Setting the Record Straight on Common Core

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There is so much misinformation on all sides of the debate on Common Core national education standards and tests.  In this first of two videos by Pioneer Institute, we seek to set the record straight on three key issues: Was Common Core State Led? Is Common Core Legal? What Will Common Core Cost?   [youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQoEvDS3ZX8&list=UUxPr4y_MBrcdji_ockXjuPA&feature=c4-overview[/youtube] (A second video we’re releasing next week addresses the academic quality of Common Core and its impact on school choice.) Pioneer Institute’s leadership in the debate over Common Core is recognized across the country. Pioneer has commissioned the most independent, scholarly research on multiple facets of a policy that will affect the lives of 45 million US schoolchildren. Common Core will affect millions of […]

Iliya Atanasov

Who’s Responsible for the MBTA Retirement Fund

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It cannot have been a particularly merry Christmas for Stephen Crawford, spokesman for the MBTA Retirement Fund. In the run-up to the holidays, a series of Boston Globe articles recounted a potentially fraudulent $25 million loss at the pension fund, blatant conflicts of interest and repeated failures to follow standard accounting practices – not to mention an ever-expanding investigation by the state attorney general, Martha Coakley. Seemingly unbowed by the controversy, Crawford told the Globe: “The pension fund is fully capable of meeting its obligations to its retirees and beneficiaries. The trust is solely responsible for meeting that responsibility – not the commonwealth.’’ [quote align=”right” color=”#999999″]Whether Mr. Crawford intentionally misrepresented the facts, fell victim to years of disinformation about past […]

Mary Connaughton

MassDOT’s Cost Savings Dead End

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In a joint press release praising the Transportation Reform bill of 2009, House Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Murray wrote, “the final bill eliminates the Turnpike Authority, streamlines communications, and creates a more efficient and cost-effective system under a unifying agency called the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), potentially saving the Commonwealth up to $6.5 billion during the next 20 years.” Eighteen months later, Governor Patrick down-sized projected savings from $6.5 billion to $2 billion. In its 2010 report, “Transportation Reform – Year 1 – Transportation Finance Commission Scorecard and Cost Saving Summary.” MassDOT’s management wrote, “as we move into year two, MassDOT will continue to seek more savings, efficiencies and continue to reform the way in which we govern […]

Editorial Staff

Let’s Not Waver on Testing: An Open Letter to MA Education Commissioner

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In the letter below, Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios raises important questions about academic accountability and legality with regard to Massachusetts’ administration of student assessments. New PARCC tests related to Common Core national standards are being field-tested in Massachusetts this year, in lieu of or in addition to MCAS, adding countless more hours teachers’ workloads. Schools and parents would not receive results of PARCC tests, despite federal and state laws (NCLB and MERA) that require testing for consequences of every child in grades 3-8 and again in high school. Stergios asks Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester to disclose whether the Commonwealth has received a waiver from the federal government that would authorize school districts to forego administering  testing for consequences. […]