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Study Finds Results of International Assessments Confirm Quality of MCASSeptember 30, 2024 - 10:47 am
Vitamin Parents Part 2: Twin Moms Converting a Decent Traditional School Experience Into a “Wow” Homeschool OneSeptember 26, 2024 - 11:50 am
Edward Achorn on Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, & SlaverySeptember 25, 2024 - 11:45 am
Vitamin Parents Part 1: Twin Moms Converting a Decent Traditional School Experience Into a “Wow” Homeschool OneSeptember 19, 2024 - 12:21 pm
PRI’s Lance Izumi on The Great Classroom CollapseSeptember 18, 2024 - 7:20 am
Learning From California: Policy Lessons From Golden State ExodusSeptember 17, 2024 - 10:35 am
Is Massachusetts at a Turning Point – 10 Data Points That Give Me PauseSeptember 12, 2024 - 3:57 pm
From Stress to Success: How Daniella Transformed Her Son’s Learning with ESA FundsSeptember 12, 2024 - 11:46 am
AFC’s Denisha Allen on School Choice & Black Minds MatterSeptember 12, 2024 - 9:54 am
New England Short Circuit: Distorted Incentives Drive Energy Prices Up and Reliability DownSeptember 10, 2024 - 10:30 am
Tough Times on virtual learning
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: Virtual Schools, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byBack at the start of December, I blogged on the need for both an open door to online learning and also a greater focus on accountability for those who would operate in that space. Understanding the quality of the choices in the marketplace will have to be informed by more than giddy passion about the promise of virtual learning. A cursory look at the research done on virtual learning suggests that there has been to date more energy than light on the impact of VL on sustained student achievement. … We are just at the start of the virtual learning movement, and there is so much promise in the short term regarding access to high-quality content, targeted instruction, peer tutoring […]
Payroll tax cut means thousands in savings for Mass. workers
/0 Comments/in Oped: Better Government, Oped: pensions, Opeds /by Editorial Staffhttp://www.wickedlocal.com/brookline/news/x550228243/Payroll-tax-cut-means-thousands-in-savings-for-Mass-workers?zc_p=1#axzz2OHGE6ymJ Congress has temporarily extended a contentious payroll tax cut that means significant savings for Bay State workers, but another battle looms in early 2012 on whether to keep the cut in place all year. After weeks of debate, Congress continued the tax cut through February next year, avoiding a Dec. 31 expiration date. But Democrats and Republicans still disagree on how to pay for a full-year extension. The temporary cut to Social Security taxes withheld from paychecks will yield about $1,290 in savings by the end of 2011 for a worker earning the state’s median household income of $64,500. A worker earning the median household income of $34,236 in Fall River would save $685 by the end of this […]
Filling the Red Kettle
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Steve PoftakThe Salvation Army is struggling to raise money this year through its traditional red kettle/bell-ringing campaign, with donations down 22%. It might be due to a down economy. I know that my dependence on electronic transactions frequently leaves me without bills or coins to donate. But new economic research suggests strategies to increase donations. A team of economists conducted a four day experiment at a Boston-area supermarket using two different approaches to the red kettle campaign. The first approach was passive — just bell-ringing, no speaking, no eye contact. The second was active — bell-ringing plus a direct ask for a donation. The result? People avoid being asked verbally (as opposed to the implicit, passive ask that the presence of […]
How to Fill the Salvation Army’s Red Kettles
/0 Comments/in Oped: Economy, Opeds /by Editorial Staffhttp://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2011/12/21/how-to-fill-the-salvation-armys-red-kettles/ The Salvation Army is struggling to raise money this year through its traditional red kettle/bell-ringing campaign, with donations down 22 percent. It might be due to a down economy. I know that my dependence on electronic transactions frequently leaves me without bills or coins to donate. But new economic research suggests strategies to increase donations. A team of economists conducted a four day experiment at a Boston-area supermarket using two different approaches to the red kettle campaign. The first approach was passive — just bell-ringing, no speaking, no eye contact. The second was active — bell-ringing plus a direct ask for a donation. The result? People avoid being asked verbally (as opposed to the implicit, passive ask that the […]
Mass and Feds Cut a Deal on Medicaid Waiver
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byThis afternoon the Patrick Administration announced a new deal with Federal HHS on the Medicaid waiver that serves as the backbone of our reform law. The last waiver expired in June of 2011. It is a 3-yr $26.75 billion deal. I need some more details before I can figured out how exactly this waiver will mesh with the Governor’s payment reform bill. But until then, some early thoughts: The Patrick administration looks like they withdrew a number of requests to get this deal done. The Massachusetts waiver deal raises some interesting questions for the future of the national health reform law. [Even if I think the lessons to be learned from Massachusetts are somewhat limited to the national plan.] A […]