MORE ARTICLES
Becket Fund’s Eric Rassbach on Loffman v. CA DOE, Religious Liberty, & SchoolingNovember 27, 2024 - 10:30 am
Pioneer Institute Statement on Vocational-Technical School AdmissionsNovember 26, 2024 - 8:00 am
FY2026 Consensus Revenue Hearing – Forecasting of Revenues is Tricky BusinessNovember 25, 2024 - 8:00 am
CUNY’s Carl Rollyson on William Faulkner & Southern LiteratureNovember 20, 2024 - 10:36 am
Pioneer Institute Study Finds Massachusetts Saw Four-Fold Loss of Income to Net OutmigrationNovember 19, 2024 - 11:25 am
Massachusetts Job Market Bears WatchingNovember 18, 2024 - 2:10 pm
NH Gov. Chris Sununu on School ChoiceNovember 13, 2024 - 2:02 pm
Five Reasons Why Project Labor Agreements Are Bad Public PolicyNovember 12, 2024 - 9:27 am
Statement of Pioneer Institute on MCAS Ballot Failure and State of Education in MassachusettsNovember 6, 2024 - 2:01 pm
Dr. Helen Baxendale on Great Hearts Classical Liberal Arts Charter SchoolsNovember 6, 2024 - 12:08 pm
Painful Reading
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byYou know that feeling you get when you are watching a particular genre of murder mystery and everyone in the audience sees the criminal lurking but the clueless protagonist has no idea? That’s the feeling you get when you read the SEC’s Inspector General’s report on their decade-long, multi-office, multi-inquiry bungling of the Madoff investigation. All throughout the document, you read about how close they came to revealing his fraud but always fell short. The problems seem to fall into three main categories — 1) inexperienced staffers who did not understand investment operations and strategy (a bad thing if you are an enforcement officer at the SEC), 2) a remarkable lack of follow-through on basic inconsistencies or easily verifiable assertions […]
Closing Sprinfield’s Achievement Gap: Innovative Ways to Use MCAS Data to Drive School Reform
/0 Comments/in News, Related Education Blogs /by Editorial StaffInnovative Ways to Use MCAS Data to Drive School Reform Author(s): Dr. Kathleen Madigan, Theodor Rebarber, and Dr. Bruce Bean — Publication date: 2009-10-19 Category: Education Abstract: Business leaders, educators, policy makers, and civil rights advocates are increasingly dedicated to fundamental reform to close the achievement gap that limits hope and opportunity for students from historically disadvantaged groups. Substantial gaps in academic achievement between groups of students based on race, ethnicity and similar factors should have no place in American society in the 21st century. For those students facing such deficits, the effects can be profound. They dictate which students receive the preparation necessary to succeed in their choice of college and work, and which ones continue to be left […]
Serious Charge by Kevin McCrea
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byMayoral Candidate Kevin McCrea levels a serious and inflammatory charge on Blue Mass Group today — “There are many fine public schools, but serious inequities continue because our “lottery” is not genuine, and politically connected people get their children the schools they want. Does it surprise anyone that Mayor Menino, Councilor Flaherty and Councilor Yoon were all just “lucky” and their progeny ended up in their first choice of schools?” I’ve been a long-time observer, critic (see here and here), and participant in the Boston Public Schools lottery process. I’ve never heard anyone provide credible evidence that the BPS lottery process is anything but on the level. It can be difficult to understand and frustrating, but not fixed. If McCrea […]
It's not cool to….
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /by…use colonoscopy metaphors (third para, first sentence) about someone with Crohn’s Disease. Really, it isn’t.
Who Knew Jon Keller was a Deadhead?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Liam DayIt’s been a long week here at Pioneer. We finally joined the social media revolution (check us out on Facebook and Twitter). We also released – in conjunction with the Boston Municipal Research Bureau – our first four issue briefs on the upcoming mayoral election. (If you missed them, you can check them out here.) So, I have to admit to being a little spacey. Therefore, in that vein, today’s post is a lighthearted one. I wanted to tweak Mr. Keller, who is moderating Wednesday’s mayoral debate (Jon, check out our questions for the mayors; they might prove useful) for basing his objection (which you can find at his blog) to Time’s list of the 10 greatest electric guitarists on […]