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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
From Garden to Table: How Alicia Garcia Reshapes Home Ec with ESAsSeptember 5, 2024 - 11:59 am
Over Confidential
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Jim StergiosBeing a litigious society, we have all received emails from lawyers that include signature sections with name, position, organization, street address, floor, suite, city/state/zip, email, fax, phone, favorite non-profit or case, favorite quote, serial number, favorite cereal, and so on. That’s lots of information to share, but below it is 15 miles of confidentiality verbiage as to why this is protected, privileged, blahblahblah communication. It makes you laugh in the private sector, but it’s not something you expect in the public sector. Let me share two items I noticed just this morning in various communications with our public servants (state and local): CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This electronic transmission is for the intended recipient only and may contain information that is privileged, […]
Proven Approaches to Dropout Prevention
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byTomorrow the state’s Joint Committee on Education will meet to discuss a raft of proposals to address Massachusetts’ inability to bring down its dropout rate. It’s about time. The problem is that few of the proposals actually do much more than beef up a cadre of coaches and support staff for at-risk kids. Perhaps that can help, but the data in reports like The Silent Epidemic are pretty clear in noting that kids drop out for two reasons: – Nearly half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that classes were not interesting. These young people reported being bored and disengaged from high school. Almost as many (42 percent) spent time with people who were not interested […]
If You Want to Run for Office…
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, News /by Jim StergiosThis is a good year to do so. The Gallup numbers are no surprise (been in this range for a while), but the dissatisfaction with incumbents is, if anything, deepening. As regards Congress and Washington’s ability to get things done, this and other polls do suggest that the view that states should have a larger role in decision-making is gaining steam on both sides of the aisle. The findings include – 82% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. – 69% say they have little or no confidence in the legislative branch of government, an all-time high and up from 63% in 2010. – 57% have little or no confidence in the federal government to solve […]
Heroes of the MBTA
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Steve PoftakIt’s bloodsport in these parts to complain about the MBTA. But the latest MBTA scorecard makes one thing clear — their operations staff is doing a close to miraculous job keeping the system running in the face of massive deferred maintenance and dwindling equipment options. The Green Line is a prime example — in June 2011, their vehicles traveled an average of 3,663 miles between breakdowns, 33% below their goal. That’s just under 146 round-trips on the Riverside Line between failures. And the failures are having an impact, there was only a single extra vehicle above the required 150 available in June. The commuter rail has a similar issue, with just enough locomotives to provide service. Part of that is […]
Pension reform is reform-lite
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Pensions, News /byMore proof that those employed in Massachusetts’ public sector live in a parallel universe: The gentle – very gentle – reforms approved by the state Senate last week to head off a total collapse of the pension system are being portrayed as cruel and unusual punishment. Take a look at the specifics. The reforms, if adopted, would: – Raise the retirement age for most employees from 55 to 60. – Calculate pensions based on the top five earning years instead of the top three. – Raise the age for maximum retirement benefits from 65 to 67. And, to offset such draconian pain, the reform would cut contributions for some veteran employees and provide all pensioners with larger cost-of-living increases. Also, […]