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Science for Consumers

/0 Comments/in , , /by Jim Stergios

The Massachusetts department of education (DESE) is under way with a revision to the state’s science standards. Context here is that we have had strong science standards in place since 2006, which served as the basis for students preparing for 2010—the year in which the new MCAS Science test became a graduation requirement. There’s nothing wrong with a review—the state is supposed to update its standards every few years, and to improve them. I wish as it did, the state would also inch up the passing grade for the MCAS—deliberately but so that over a five-year window, the passing grade was more like 230 than 220. It would be more meaningful. And the kids can do it. But it’s time […]

Massachusetts is 1st in the Nation on Health Care Cost!

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However, this gold medal is one we wish we could return. Kaiser Family Foundation released a report this week that documents the wide ranging differences in health insurance premiums across the country. Massachusetts led the pack with an average individual insurance premium topping $437 per person per month. This is almost double the national average. It should be noted that this report does acknowledge the many factors that lead to high insurance costs, such as  cost of living, patient cost-sharing, generosity of benefits, the base cost of care, age-based demographics, and cost control efforts. As a result, most of the Northeast is considered expensive. From a long term health policy perspective, the report will provide a baseline to measure changes […]

Thinking Snow? SnowCOP Technology

/0 Comments/in , /by Steve Poftak

What? You aren’t thinking about snow right now? Well, while you swelter, city workers are busy fine-tuning their snow removal technology. Yes, you read that right– Technology. If you think ‘snow removal technology’ just means plows and salt trucks, then meet SnowCOP, Boston’s snow removal data system. Each plow driver, public and private, carries a GPS-enabled phone which feeds data in Boston’s SnowCOP. The data is plotted onto a map of the city, which is broken down into 200 snow zones. The map shows the current location of the vehicles, as well as color coding each street to show whether it has been plowed in the last hour, two hours or longer. This lets Public Works Department (“PWD”) managers know […]

False Alarm on Science

/0 Comments/in , , /by Jim Stergios

In a nicely timed alarm, the state’s department of education is noting that kids aren’t learning science as well as they are learning reading and math. You can never rest on your laurels, but this strikes me as alarmism of the worst kind. An article in the MetroWest Daily News notes, On the 2010 MCAS, for example, 36 percent of 10th graders in the state scored below proficient on the science and technology exam, compared to only 24 percent on the math and 22 percent on English. The problem is that in the next breath, MWD’s Scott O’Connell suggests that those results on the first science MCAS that counts as a graduation requirement constitutes a crisis: Globally, American students are […]

Do exam schools add value?

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Historically, many of Massachusetts’ political and economic leaders have built their success on the education received at the city’s historic exam schools—Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and the John D. O’Bryant High School of Mathematics and Science, which in total enroll about 5,300 grade 7-12 students. They have received accolades from the usual sources of school rankings, and led other states to follow our example, with New York City building on its own historic grade 9-12 exam schools (Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, and Brooklyn Technical High School) by establishing in 2002, the High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College, the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, and Queens High School […]