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The Governor No One Voted For

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I’ve written about New York’s insane political world in the past, and it took another turn this week, when the NY Times finally (after two whiffs) printed its stunning piece on NY Governor David Paterson. To start at the beginning, Eliot Spitzer got elected Governor with a little known LG, David Paterson. Spitzer had to resign after the “Client 9” scandal and Paterson took over. During the fighting over control of the state senate, Paterson appointed Richard Ravitch as LG. To give you a sense of the drama involved, Ravitch was sworn in tableside at Peter Luger’s steakhouse to beat a court injunction. His appointment was invalidated, then allowed up the rungs of the court system in NY, before finally […]

Why soft skills are pernicious

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Jim Stergios

Way back in February 2009, we criticized a report issued by the 21st century skills task force report produced by an ad hoc committee established by the chair of the board of education. The report pushed for a move away from the state’s focus on rigorous content-based academic standards and objective tests toward soft skills and portfolio assessments. We criticized the report on many fronts, including its focus on skills rather than content, lack of familiarity with existing state standards, lack of facility with empirical evidence, and on and on. One of the key criticisms we had was that the report wanted to focus this effort on underperforming districts. Hold that thought. The Board of Education has never voted to […]

Time for nailbiting

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Massachusetts has submitted its Race to the Top application and the feds have their scales out, weighing all of the documents, included MA’s 900+ pager. So you’d think that a visit from the US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the Hub of the Universe would be newsworthy, right? Hmm. The USED website noted that Secretary Duncan to speak at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Askwith Forum. 2:30-4:00 p.m. at the Askwith Lecture Hall, Longfellow Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Education. 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138. Limited space for press. Calls into USED provided no information and rather asked things like – who are you? why do you want to know? Not an auspicious start. Everybody tightlipped. You […]

Murphy Beats Grossman!

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See, I told you so, someone needed to join Steve Grossman in the Treasurer’s race. Right there in today’s Suffolk poll at Question 19, Murphy leads Grossman in the race. OK, its only 15% to 13% but still… early momentum?

Where's Martha?

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Its not easy being the Attorney General. You step on too many local officials and you end up like Scott Harshbarger — you might get nominated but everyone sits on their hands when you need them to work for you. Martha Coakley seemed to have solved that problem through her office’s seeming disinterest in public corruption of high-ranking public officials. During a period that has seen an unprecedented level of indictments and investigations, the US Attorney’s office has done almost all of the heavy lifting. Now, the Amy Bishop case has captured the headlines and raised serious questions about who among the major players — then-DA no-Congressman Delahunt, Braintree Police, and State Police — was delinquent in their duties. The […]