THE PIONEER BLOG

Joshua Archambault

“Barrier-Free Care”: An Idea That Should Hit the Wall in Committee

/0 Comments/in , , /by

House Bill 2084, “An Act Relative to Keep People Healthy By Removing Barriers to Cost-effective Care,” joins the list of well-intentioned, but ill-conceived healthcare reform ideas in Massachusetts. No one likes paying money when they visit the doctor, and certainly those with chronic conditions should be able to receive the care they need, but is making some services “free” the answer? While I give the non-profit Health Care for All (HCFA) credit for trying to think creatively about how to make care affordable, they missed the mark with this bill. It ignores basic economics and fails to fix the problem it claims to address. The bill received a hearing last month in front of the Joint Committee on Public Health, […]

Editorial Staff

The Gettysburg Address at 150: Reflections from Civil War Historian James McPherson

/in , , , , /by Editorial Staff

Today, as the nation commemorates one of history’s most famous speeches, Pioneer Institute proudly presents an archived video and transcript of a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian and Princeton University Professor Emeritus James M. McPherson. He spoke at “The Legacy of Lincoln: U.S. History in American Schooling,” a Pioneer forum held earlier this year, marking the 150th anniversary of both the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQuwJz4nzxY&list=PL0BWHvcPmNxt7vs5f7v9aEksx_6TfmHRr&index=1 [wpdm_package id=390] In the video, Professor McPherson quotes from the Gettysburg Address, and shares thoughts on its significance: [quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]”‘Four score and seven years‘ in the past, said Lincoln, ‘our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty. Today, in 1863, our generation faces […]

Going Beyond in Lawrence, Mass.

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , /by Editorial Staff

Pioneer Institute believes that all kids deserve access to a great education. That’s why we have always supported choices for parents and students, whether through interdistrict programs, vocational-technical schools, private and parochial schools, or high-quality charter schools. Earlier this year, we visited Community Day Charter Public Schools, an excellent group of schools serving grades K-8 students in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Lawrence is an older, industrial city, marked by high unemployment, a significant crime issue and a dysfunctional government. Its school district is in state receivership due to chronic underperformance and criminal malfeasance by the previous superintendent. Community Day has played a vital role in improving the prospects for children in the city. We wanted to learn more about why LCDCPS is […]

Jim Stergios on Fox & Friends: Common Core lessons politicize classrooms

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Jim Stergios discussed political propaganda in Common Core lessons for 5th grade students on Fox & Friends (Nov. 8, 2013). View his interview with Elizabeth Hasselbeck below. Here’s the original Fox report.

Sandra Stotsky

On Marc Tucker’s Credibility (by Sandra Stotsky)

/7 Comments/in , , , , /by

In October, members of the New Hampshire legislature heard Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, tell them more fibs than Pinocchio ever dreamed up. How many legislators will prove to be gullible Geppettos is another matter. We don’t know. But here’s an analysis of just a few paragraphs of his fib-filled comments. 1. A well-known mathematician, who was a member of the Validation Committee for the Common Core, has denounced the math standards as too low in relation to the standards set by other countries; this proves that the standards are dumbed down. They are not only lower than the standards of other countries, but also the standards of Massachusetts, Indiana, Texas, Minnesota, and […]

Joshua Archambault

In Pictures: 15 Facts Pres. Obama Needs To Know About Mass.’s Healthcare Reform

/1 Comment/in , , , , /by

During President Obama’s Boston visit to talk about the ACA and the Massachusetts experiment, it is important to remember some context. Here are a few pictures that help to illustrate the successes and failures of Mass reform. However, caution should be used when expecting the same results under the two laws, since the laws are different, and Massachusetts is not the same as Arizona, or Texas, or Alabama, or Ohio, or etc…. For example, read five reasons why employer behavior will not be the same under the ACA as it was under RomneyCare, Part 1 and Part 2.  But before we begin, let’s pause to recognize that the ACA will impact Massachusetts in some significant ways. ACA Comes to Massachusetts 1)     ACA Increases Costs […]

Joshua Archambault

ACA Comes to Massachusetts: Post #1: 40% Premium Increase and Higher Co-pays On the Connector

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Paul Levy has a compelling post over at his must-read blog, Not Running a Hospital. It will serve as the first post in an occasional, but ongoing, series documenting what the real impact of the ACA means in Massachusetts. For the last three years, our state leaders have been promising that the ACA will mean only improvements for the citizens of our state. Now reality is starting to set in… Do you have a personal story about the ACA you would like to share? E-mail me the details… josh [at] pioneerinst.wpengine.com I am happy to keep any story anonymous. Didn’t they promise lower costs? Ross Douthat writes in the New York Times that Americans will soon be able to get “a real look at what […]

Joshua Archambault

More Americans In 3 States Have Had Their Insurance Canceled Under ObamaCare Than Have Filed An Exchange Account In All 50

/0 Comments/in , , /by

This week the reality of the ObamaCare roll-out appeared in a set of news stories that serve as an ironic juxtaposition. Over 500,000 individuals have seen their insurance policies cancelled in just 3 states.  In all 50 states, only 476,000 applications have been “filed” in an exchange. (Even though we are still learning the true definition of “filed.”) First from Anna Gorman and Julie Appleby at Kaiser Health News: Thousands get insurance cancellation notices Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about […]

Jim Stergios

6 Takeaways on New Orleans’ charter initiative

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Earlier this week, at a Pioneer forum we had the pleasure of hosting an impressive roster of speakers on the enormous shifts in the charter and school choice sectors in New Orleans and Washington DC.  Representing NOLA, we had Neerav Kingsland, the CEO of New Schools for New Orleans, who gave an overview of the student outcome data resulting from the significant expansion of charter schools in New Orleans post-Katrina, and Jed Horne, the author of  Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City. (Representing DC, we had former Mayor Adrian Fenty and University of Arkansas scholar Patrick Wolf, who has studied the impact of the DC Opportunity Opportunity Scholarship program for the federal […]

Joshua Archambault

Mass Health Connector 2.0: Limited Function and Unable to Provide Subsidy and Medicaid Information

/1 Comment/in , , /by

The Health Connector has spent the last 3 years telling everyone how great the new “Health Connector 2.0” will be. The state has  received $180 million to change the tires on health reform in the state, yet during week one of open enrollment…There were messages like this on Twitter: According to The New York Times, “the exchange is currently unable to provide subsidy or Medicaid information.” And from personal experience last week, the website was returning error messages for none enrollment information. For example, I spent 30 minutes trying to pull up past Board meeting minutes on both the new and old versions of the site with no luck. Is there a return policy for our tax dollars? Or at […]

Sandra Stotsky

Needed: Matriculation exams tailored to each state’s higher education system

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Several decades ago, self-appointed education reformers decided that more low-performing students should go to college and graduate than now do. They concluded that the quickest route to their goal was to lower the admissions requirements at public colleges. But they also realized that sending an even larger number of low-performing students on to any form of post-secondary education would increase the number now needing remediation in their freshman year. So they came up with what they thought was a clever idea. Call the K-12 standards “college readiness” standards so that those who pass a test based on these so-named standards in grade 11 get credit for courses they take in their college freshman year. No remediation. After all, they have […]

Shawn Musgrave

Watertown Police Department stubbornly refuses electronic public records requests

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Despite repeated appeals to reason and official state guidance, the Watertown Police Department stubbornly refuses to step into 2013 and accept electronic public records requests. Nor, apparently, will the department’s records chief even respond to electronic requests to direct their resubmission in another form. The citizens of Watertown and of the entire Commonwealth deserve access to their public documents by means that are both straightforward and which entail minimal difficulty. In the 21st century, that means being able to request records electronically. Having submitted five records requests since May to the Watertown police records unit – including one on behalf of the Pioneer Institute – without receiving any reply, MuckRock sent a direct message to the department on September 18 to […]

Joshua Archambault

Healthcare.gov Crashes During First Day, Why Massachusetts Never Had This Problem

/0 Comments/in , , /by

In the grand scheme of the ACA, the first day of open enrollment today is pure symbolism and nothing else, however the early signs are not good. Healthcare.gov has crashed, and users are receiving error messages as seen below. The Washington Post has just put up a story highlighting the crash of the Maryland exchange, which is full of irony given that often quoted consultant Bob Laszewski wrote in April that Maryland will be, “A Health Insurance Exchange That Won’t be a ‘Train Wreck‘” There have been reports on social media about the California exchange crashing as well, and Sarah Kliff has a sad story of a man that stayed up late in West Virginia, yet failed after two separate […]

Matt Blackbourn

An anniversary you may have missed

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

With the acrimonious standoff in Congress bringing about the first federal government shutdown in seventeen years, one can’t help but feel deep frustration and disappointment with our elected officials. At the beginning of a new fiscal year, we aim to look forward with optimism and faith in the direction of our government. Instead, we find ourselves observing playground bickering and refusal to compromise on critical issues—a bitter tug-of-war that puts a damper on any hopes of progress. Unfortunately, this soap opera of unwavering partisanship in Washington overshadows the first anniversary of something very much worth celebrating: the launch of the online government transparency tool, FOIAonline. A year after its initial launch, FOIAonline remains a dynamic concept that sets a great […]

Editorial Staff

Announcing The Frederick Douglass Prize U.S. History Essay Contest

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Your History Paper Could Win $2,500! Announcing The Frederick Douglass Prize U.S. History Essay Contest for Massachusetts High School Students New U.S. History Online Resource for Bay State Students: ACommonSense.org Pioneer Institute is pleased to announce The Frederick Douglass Prize U.S. History Essay Contest for Massachusetts’s high school students. Pioneer Institute is a private, non-partisan public policy think tank with a longstanding reputation for innovative education reform. We believe that Massachusetts’s students are capable of excellence in history. We need your essays to prove us right. Learn about The Frederick Douglass Prize US History Essay Contest (1st Prize: $2,500). Hear from Massachusetts’ students, policy makers, and education leaders on the importance of US History instruction. Explore our gallery of primary […]