MORE ARTICLES
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
What if Bill Gates rewarded results?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byLast winter, two things clarified my views on the utility of the Gates Foundation in education policy. One was an opportunity I had to spend time at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, an Oklahoma-based foundation that focuses primarily on plant and seed sciences. Their campus was intensely focused on experimentation and rewarding results in the field. Its buildings were not ostentatious but rather highly focused on their mission. They were also interested in investing in high-value ROI obtained from places like the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California. The other came in Sam Dillon’s December 2010 New York Times article on the Gates Foundation’s effort to scope out the perfect way to evaluate teachers. Using value-added statistical models, […]
Governor, When is Excessiveness Excessive?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare, News /byThe state senate is trying to decide whether to override the governor’s veto of provisions that were included in the state budget that …narrow the amount of time the insurance commissioner has to review [health insurance] rate-hike proposals to 30 days from 45 days. In addition, if the commissioner fails to make a judgment within 30 days, the proposed rate hikes would automatically take effect. These provisions were included in the budget in response to the Division of Insurance’s denial of 235 of 274 increases proposed by insurers for plans covering individuals and small businesses, last April. However, the madness of this debate from the Administration comes in the next paragraph of the State House News Services ($) story: Under […]
Setting the Record Straight
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /by Jim StergiosWhen blogging, sometimes you shorthand — summarize too quickly. In yesterday’s blog, I suggested that Rick Hess, American Enterprise Institute scholar and EdWeek blogger, has been straddling the fence on things like national standards and assessments, generally giving the US ED the benefit of the doubt on debates concerning whether the education department is overstepping its bounds, whether one-size-fits-all national education strategies actually work, whether the national standards were any good and whether the national assessments will be a qualitative step forward. That’s pretty accurate on the national standards and assessments, where Rick is sympathetic to the case for common standards, but wonders if it is going to get bungled. He’s in wait-and-see mode. It’s less accurate on the US […]
Mr. Commissioner, Open This Road!
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Steve PoftakOne of the great mysteries of urban life is the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s penchant for blocking a lane on Storrow Drive for events. For events ranging from charity walks to radio station concerts to the Fourth of July celebration, DCR blocks a lane of traffic stretching from the esplanade to at least the first ‘rest pull-off’ on the westbound side of the Storrow. The impact of the lane closure typically backs up traffic onto the Leverett Connector and back into the tunnel , creating delays of a half hour or more in some instances. The stated rationale for the practice is visitor safety, with the row of parked cars serving as a barrier between vehicles and participants. In […]
Wishful Thinking On Romneycare & Obamacare for Employers
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Healthcare, Healthcare /byOver at the left-of-center blog The Incidental Economist, Austin Frakt has picked up the misplaced logic of those on the left to compare the experience of Massachusetts and extrapolate it to the national level, especially for employer behavior. Perhaps some wishful thinking. By pointing to recent state data on employer offer rates for insurance, it seems to prove that employers under a mandate system at least still offer insurance. But I am not sure offer rates are a good indicator of much, especially in a down economy. Weaker companies go under and push up the rate. Plus if you look at historical data, offer rates have always been higher in Massachusetts compared to most of the rest of the nation. […]