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Does the heroic reform model work?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, Related Education Blogs /bySchool Choice Models & Public School Reform from Mike Dean on Vimeo. With the recent electoral defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty, a strong advocate of school reform and school choice, and the subsequent resignation of DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, many have reflected on the attempt to fix the DC schools from within. The recent release of the film Waiting for ‘Superman’ has, while drawing attention to the plight of children trapped in mediocre public schools, also advanced the motif of the “heroic superintendent.” I’ve never been terribly convinced by the “heroic superintendent” line of thinking. And my guess is that the long line of foundations and private investors who have bet the house on a single personality’s heroic endeavors […]
Questioning the Convergence on National Standards
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, Related Education Blogs /byThe Southern writer Flannery O’Connor’s Everything that Rises Must Converge is a collection of tragicomic pulp fiction stories about dangerous human flaws and the “blind wills and low dodges of the heart” found in everyday life. People have failings. That’s the way we’re built and that’s the way of the world. But there are “game days” when a lot is riding on decisions and you have to muster the courage of your convictions for the benefit of all. This summer, that game day came on a scorcher in late July and concerned whether Massachusetts should or should not adopt national standards. In exchange for $250 million in federal support over four years (about 1/144 of overall school spending over that […]
Pete Peters
/1 Comment/in Blog, News /byFour things come quickly, indelibly, to mind about the life of Pete Peters. First is the power of a single committed human being to effect good in the world. This represents the final rejection of determinist nonsense that, for example, the sonnets of Shakespeare were all written in the primordial universe that emerged from the Big Bang. In human affairs, there are choices, and those who choose to do for others can create innocence out of cynicism. When they are gifted and persistent, as Pete was, they can palpably improve the world. Secondly, Pete had faith, as Lincoln put it at Cooper Union, that “right makes might.” He put his faith in reason and in the ability of ideas to […]
Massachusetts Health Care Transparency: Bright Enough Spotlight?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare, News /byMassachusetts officials published online this week a database containing “payments drug companies and medical device makers made to hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care providers in the state.” This is a move in the right direction for transparency, but I have to wonder why these two industries were the sole targets. I know the Legislature has focused on gift restrictions in past legislation, but why the narrow focus. While it is nice to be able to download the data in a spreadsheet and manipulate it yourself, the site is not the most user-friendly. For example, it took me 10 clicks deep to get to an individual report. There is much more work ahead before an average consumer would […]
Rumblings of an earthquake in national education policy?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byWith Rick Perry said to be a shoo-in for the head of the Republican Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), which was one of a handful of lead groups pushing states to adopt national standards, may find itself in deep trouble. In fact, Perry, as the head of the RGA, may force the National Governors Association, which together the CCSSO, Achieve Inc., and the Gates Foundation, acted as cheerleaders for national standards, to revisit its position in support of national standards. Here’s why. Governor Perry opposed the national standards because Under the program’s rules, Washington gives preference and dollars to states that agree to adopt national standards that haven’t even been written yet. Texans strongly support […]
Pioneer Senior Fellow on PBS's NewsHour
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare, News /byPioneer’s Senior Fellow on Health Care, Amy Lischko, was interviewed on PBS’s NewsHour for a series on the reform law here in Massachusetts. I personally think the report glosses over the connection between increased costs for small businesses and policy decisions by the Legislature and the Connector. You can read more about this in a Boston Globe op-ed by Jim and Amy. For more history you can read my report from the Heritage Foundation “The Impact on Small Business of Health Care Reform in Massachusetts“. Please check out the video below, or click the link NewsHour Amy appears at 7:44.
Time to Remember
/35 Comments/in Blog, News /byLovett C. Peters died Thursday, November 11, at the age of 97. After a fall this summer that led to a fractured hip, it was his hopeful determination that took him from hospital emergency room to rehab center, to his home, to a walker and even a cane. In October, Pete came to the office and attended board meetings. His death came after a fall at the theater, when his walker got caught on a carpet. His was a great life—a hopeful, principled, determined, and undiscouraged life. We were all touched by it, as were thousands and thousands of children in the Commonwealth and elsewhere in the country, because of his work to improve the academic excellence and equality of […]
Health Care Costs Crushing States– Is the Solution to Drop out of Medicaid?
/1 Comment/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byThe headline says it all. “States’ Woes Spur Medicaid Drop-Out Talk” An article in The New York Times today highlights the serious consideration by at least a dozen states to withdraw from the Medicaid program. Supporters are arguing for either a state financed Medicaid program to allow for maximum “flexibility in benefit and cost design” or a federal waiver for states to make some changes on their own. At first glance, leaving the Medicaid program would seem illogical given the federal match that would be left on the table. However estimates that have been conducted– both by think tanks and independent sources– highlight a budget busting tidal wave on its way if the status quo is followed. Lanhee Chen has […]
Too many do-gooders?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byI’ve had a chance to talk by phone with a number of superintendents over the past month. After the election of Vincent Gray in Washington DC and the hammer ready to fall on the now former DC School Chancellor (the equivalent of the city’s superintendent) Michelle Rhee, I wanted to get their thoughts on how things are going. When you talk to superintendents, there are two things you hear. One is predictable (the lack of resources—and it is not just in Massachusetts that you hear it), the other isn’t. So after the first five or ten minutes listening about how there is no money, you often hear quite a bit on this: the number of people who show up on […]
Was Galileo Wrong?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byDiane Ravitch, the eminent historian of education, has noted that “[i]n the land of American pedagogy, innovation is frequently confused with progress, and whatever is thought to be new is always embraced more readily than what is known to be true.” Nowhere does public education’s intellectual fog envelope minds more obviously than when American educators think about how to improve the nation’s academic standing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Today’s Globe article makes it crystal clear that we are falling far short of the best countries and especially short of our global economic competitors. Nearly 400 years ago, Galileo Galilei, the “Father of Modern Science,” told the geocentric world, “science is written in the language of mathematics.” And […]
Regulating Regulations
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byDuring the gubernatorial campaign, Governor Patrick promised that if he were reelected, he would borrow some ideas from Charlie Baker. One particular idea that he should consider adopting is Baker’s proposed review and reform of regulatory procedures. When Congress and state legislatures enact laws, they authorize certain agencies to fill in gaps in the legislation by issuing regulations that clarify and expand on various legislative provisions. For instance, in Massachusetts, agencies have issued regulations ranging from rules regarding the manufacture of ice cream to procedures governing the licensure of optometrists. (Regulations are available on the state’s website organized by topic.) Lawmakers authorize agencies to issue regulations for several reasons: Agency staffers have greater expertise in a given area than lawmakers […]
Raining Cats and Dogs: Massachusetts Local Budgets
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, News /byA Boston Globe headline today seems to imply cities and towns are being irresponsible by saving, yet many local officials appear to be anticipating dark clouds ahead. As Jim Stergios, executive director of Pioneer is quoted in the article, “They [Massachusetts communities] know the stimulus money is gone, and that in 2011 and 2012, they’re going to get hammered.’’ As the town administrator of East Bridgewater expounds, “Since the state is out of control in the way they dole out their money, you have to solidify your own finances.” When will the state get it? Since 2008, Pioneer has been working with 14 Middle Cities to address some of these pressing fiscal issues in post-industrial cities. Without measuring performance, improvement […]
Patrick-Baker Compared to Brown-Coakley
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byScott Brown’s election in January 2010 was supposed to be the beginning of a Republican wave. Comparing the vote totals between the major party candidates in the special Senate election and yesterday’s gubernatorial race provides some insight. In total*, Patrick beat Baker by 153,000 votes. Comparing raw vote totals with the Brown-Coakley election, Patrick improved his raw votes by 5% – getting 105% of the votes that Coakley got. On the other hand, Baker severely underperformed Brown’s raw vote totals, attracting only 82% of Brown’s votes, an almost 200,000 vote difference. If you put Baker and Cahill’s totals together, you are up to 95% of the vote. Looking at the municipal level shows gives some additional texture: Patrick outperformed Coakley […]
Giving Voters the Information They Need
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog /byHere we sit on election eve. Before us are decisions not only for Governor and Treasurer, but also questions about reducing the sales tax and others. Our discussions to date – though many, varied and at times heated – have been general in nature. “Should we cut the sales tax or not.” “Cutting the sales tax will reduce State Aid to your community by $2 million.” These discussions are interesting but largely unhelpful (though I appreciate community-by-community data, which at least provides a basis for discussion). The question is, however, what does this mean to you, to me, to the people government serves? Would a loss of $2 million cause 1,000 fewer potholes to be paved in Town X each […]
Health Care in the Mid-terms: What the Polls really tell us
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byTrying to read the tea leaves of poll numbers on the general public’s opinion of Obamacare has been especially confusing this election cycle. Either 70% still want a public option or 70% deride Obamacare. Pundits gladly spin these numbers in support of their viewpoint, but could there be truth hidden in the seemingly contradictory numbers. An interesting article written by Robert Blendon and John Benson in The New England Journal of Medicine last week tried to uncover some of the nuance. Some of the more interesting numbers presented: “18% of registered voters believed that Congress should implement the bill as it currently stands, 31% thought Congress should make additional changes to increase the government’s involvement… and 41% believed that Congress […]