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Race to the Top out of reach

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Holy s^&*! Jamie Vaznis of the Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts is not among the winners of the first round of the Race to the Top competition. Kudos to Delaware and Tennessee for wining the first round. A lot of hard work (900 pages of it in the application, plus a legislative process, lots of print, lots of arguments, and a few fried political relationships) in Massachusetts did not get us there. Time for a deep breath. How is it that the top performer on the Nation’s Report Card did not make it? Vaznis reports on Ed Secretary Paul Reville’s view: “We are committed to reworking the application and filing it again,” said Reville, who added that he is […]

Auto insurance does not equal health insurance

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What’s wrong with a government mandate for health insurance? After all, government mandates auto insurance, right? In any basic conversation about health care — especially in MA where the idea of a mandate started — that is a basic line of argument from pro-mandate folks. My problems with that line of argument are three: 1. The federal government does not mandate auto insurance, and it should not mandate health insurance. (In fact, three states do not have auto insurance mandates.) The point is, states can choose to or not to. I have no problem with the health mandate in Massachusetts – if the system that is scaffolded on top of it works. States constitutionally have the power to mandate such […]

Are Large-Scale School Turnarounds A Myth?

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Tough editorial from the WSJ today, calling the “doubling down” on turnaround plans for schools, rather than simply focusing on creating more charters, a big mistake. Like its predecessor, the Obama Administration is focusing its education policy on fixing failed schools. Education Secretary Arne Duncan calls for a “dramatic overhaul” of “dropout factories, where 50, 60, 70 percent of students” don’t graduate. The intentions are good, but a new study shows that school turnarounds have a dismal record that doesn’t warrant more reform effort. “Much of the rhetoric on turnarounds is pie in the sky—more wishful thinking than a realistic assessment of what school reform can actually accomplish,” writes Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution. “It can be done but […]

The Devil is in the Details

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Anyone involved in the Massachusetts reform is probably being asked the same questions that I am being asked.  How does the federal reform differ from MA’s reform?  How will it affect what we’ve already put in place?  Why is there so much opposition, hasn’t the MA reform worked reasonably well?   The answers are not simple.   Unfortunately, one must review the 2000+ page bill and another 100+ pages of reconciliation language in order to prepare a comprehensive review.  And, even then, you’re only partially there.  Many details, which could have a material impact on MA and the nation as a whole, will need to be further detailed through the regulatory process during what will be a very lengthy implementation phase.  So, […]

Goldhill's Atlantic Article on Healthcare

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Thanks to all those who participated in last night’s Hewitt Healthcare Lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School. As promised, here’s a link to The Atlantic article by David Goldhill that Dr. Flier referenced in his lecture. We encourage you to give it a read and then share your thoughts with us in the comments.