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
US HISTORY
ACADEMIC STANDARDS
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
VOC-TECH SCHOOLS
METCO & INTERDISTRICT CHOICE
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:

Tackling equity at Boston’s exam schools

August 5, 2019/by Jim Stergios

Melville readies students for rough seas ahead

July 31, 2019/by Jamie Gass

The Supreme Court Is Set To Decide Whether Religious Kids Are Allowed A Good Education

July 19, 2019/by Jamie Gass

Boston companies can partner with public universities to create fintech skills pipeline

July 12, 2019/by Eamon McCarthy Earls

Study Calls for Tying Additional State Education Aid to Reforms

July 2, 2019/by Editorial Staff

Pioneer Alert: Supreme Court Will Rule on Highly Significant School Choice Case

June 28, 2019/by Editorial Staff

Denying students the opportunity to study classic works of literature leads to a culture of mediocrity

June 20, 2019/by Jamie Gass

More students, employers need to benefit from voc-tech schools’ winning formula

June 19, 2019/by Tom Birmingham

Study Finds Student Growth Percentile Is Unreliable, Limits Access to Charter Public Schools

June 5, 2019/by Editorial Staff

Pioneer Public Statement on Legislative Demise of New Bedford Charter School Deal

June 3, 2019/by Editorial Staff
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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: