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The missing link – student data and teacher performance

Dan Willingham’s good piece in the Boston Globe on what makes for effective accountability in our schools chided the lack of detail behind the Obama administration’s Race to the Top criteria seeking to “hold teachers accountable for student scores.” There are ways of making accountability work. The two key elements are evaluations that take place over long periods of time, to increase stability, and evaluations that are conducted by people who are knowledgeable and are known by teachers to be knowledgeable. Unfortunately, neither element is part of the Obama administration’s plans. Data is super-important, but how we use it matters. So where does MA stand on the use of data, you might ask. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is a […]

Time for the Essex County Retirement Board To Go

Governor Patrick, either through PERAC or through legislation, needs to put the Essex County Retirement Board into receivership until it can demonstrate a minimal level of compliance with basic standards of transparency, ethical conduct, and board governance. It seems support for this position is growing. What should be the final straw occurred at a meeting last week when the board tried to reelect Tim Bassett (yep, that Tim Bassett) after the Essex County DA had ruled that a previous election was invalid. And the state’s pension oversight agency, PERAC, reiterated that they alone had the right to elect the chairman. The board’s blatant unwillingness to comply with the legal and ethical standards set by the Commonwealth are the latest demonstration […]

Together We Can…Fight Adverse Selection

Charlie Baker and Deval Patrick seem to agree on something. In June 2009, the then-CEO of Harvard Pilgrim complained that loose enrollment rules were letting individuals hop in and out insurance policies, depending on when they needed a high volume of services. The Governor’s Small Business Jobs Bill tries to limit that practice by permitting two open enrollment periods a year for the purchase of individual coverage. I just got the GOV’s Bill, so I don’t understand exactly what he means by that. (Will you only have two chances per year to get coverage as an individual? What if you lose group coverage at a point in time outside the open enrollment period?) I’ll post a clarification once I fully […]

Don't Say That – Deval Patrick Edition

My youngest has the charming habit of responding to my unwelcome comments with a wag of her finger and “Don’t Say That” sternly delivered. With that in mind, I’ll kick off a new feature on this blog. Today’s example is Governor Deval Patrick in his address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. In his closing remarks, he relates: ..But I am not motivated by the usual things that motivate people in elected office. I am not motivated by ambition for higher or other office, or by entitlement or powerful connections urging me on. I am motivated by simple gratitude…. At first read, it sounds like a boast about his own virtue, but read it again, its both a boast […]

Giving the Convention Center Its Due

Let’s hear it for the MCCA — they just posted their audited financials online. Good for them. A tip of the pen to Jim Rooney and Mac Daniel. And to make it more impressive, they did it on a day while they are simutaneously dealing with a State House protest by Patrick Administration appointee (and union head) Janice Loux about the Authority’s new food service vendor. Let’s hope the other authorities follow suit. They may have to — the Senate’s economic development legislation (filed yesterday) contains no less than 12 provisions about transparency at the quasi-publics — including the disclosure of audited financials.