World-Class Schools for All Children

PioneerEducation generates practical ideas that public policy makers, individual schools, and school districts can implement by publishing research that offers constructive recommendations; sponsoring forums supporting school reform; publishing commentary in state and national news outlets; and testifying before the legislature and government agencies on pending education reform issues.

Pioneer’s work is built on the premise that the Commonwealth should uphold its constitutional obligations to all our schoolchildren by increasing academic rigor and ensuring the equality of educational opportunity.

Get Updates on our Education Research!

PIONEER EDUCATION POLICY AREAS

CHARTER SCHOOLS
COMMON CORE

California’s Common Core Apologia

In a recent blog, Dr. Michael Kirst, past president of the California State Board of Education, attempts to defend his record of Common Core implementation during that period. But policy experts Ze’ev Wurman & Williamson Evers set the Golden State's record during Common Core straight.
US HISTORY
ACADEMIC STANDARDS
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
VOC-TECH SCHOOLS

Don’t mess with success of voc-tech high schools

For more than 25 years, Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools have done everything state officials have asked of them. Instead of moving the goal posts by compelling them to switch to a lottery system, we should expand the schools. 
METCO & INTERDISTRICT CHOICE

VIDEO: Making a Difference Through METCO

A new video about the METCO program centers around the friendship between two Wayland High School students; one who lives in Wayland and the other from Boston. It also features interviews with METCO CEO Milly Arbaje-Thomas and Mabel Reid-Wallace, Director of Wayland's METCO program.
HIGHER EDUCATION
ONLINE LEARNING & HOMESCHOOLING
AFTER-SCHOOL & SUMMER ENRICHMENT
MASS ANALYSIS

Find your own facts at MassAnalysis!

Find out what your city or town spends on education, compare it to other Massachusetts cities and towns, or review spending compared to previous  years.

Read More of Our Commentary:

Public Statement: Pioneer Institute Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Espinoza School Choice Case

June 30, 2020/by Editorial Staff

Pandemic, Lost Instructional Time Reveal Massachusetts’ Digital Learning Weaknesses

June 11, 2020/by Editorial Staff

Easthampton High Scores A National Educational Victory During The COVID-19 Pandemic

June 5, 2020/by Tom Birmingham

Mass. schools must recommit to knowledge-based curriculum

June 4, 2020/by Tom Birmingham

Experts Find K-12 Online Education Can Be Appropriate for Most Special Needs Students

June 4, 2020/by Editorial Staff

Study: Officials Must Address Basic Questions to Improve Public School Computer Science Education

May 27, 2020/by Editorial Staff

Pioneer Institute Relaunches “One-Stop Shop” for Education Performance Data

May 5, 2020/by Editorial Staff

Study Finds Historic Drop in National Reading and Math Scores Since Adoption of Common Core Curriculum Standards

April 27, 2020/by Editorial Staff

New Report Offers Case Study for Transition to Online Learning

April 13, 2020/by Editorial Staff

Students still need to learn during the coronavirus pandemic

March 31, 2020/by Jim Stergios
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Watch our videos on U.S. History, voc-tech education, charter, parochial, voc-tech & other school options!

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VIEW ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Book: The Fight for the Best Charter Schools in the Nation
Film: "Big Sacrifices, Big Dreams: Ending America’s Bigoted Education Laws"

Over two decades ago, Massachusetts introduced its first charter public schools, planting seeds that would grow some of the highest performing public schools in the nation. No one could have known then how successful this experiment in education reform would be—nor how controversial. 

The Fight for the Best Charter Public Schools in the Nation draws on data and interviews with education policymakers and school leaders to trace the history of charter schools and document the stellar academic outcomes that they help students achieve. Learn more:

In Massachusetts, the Know-Nothing amendments prevent more than 100,000 urban families with children in chronically underperforming school districts from receiving scholarship vouchers that would allow them access to additional educational alternatives. These legal barriers, also known as Blaine amendments, restrict government funding from flowing to religiously affiliated organizations in nearly 40 states and are a violation of the first and fourteenth amendments.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case this year, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, that could end these amendments. In 2018, Pioneer produced a 30-minute documentary on the impact of the Blaine amendments on families in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Michigan. Watch it now and learn more: