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Scaling Up Educational Innovation

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Author(s): Jamie Gass — Publication date: 2008-06-01 Category: Education Abstract: In recent years, a vast majority of schools in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, not to mention Fall River, New Bedford, Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke, and Brockton were placed on the federal ‘In Need of Improvement’ list, as mandated under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Today, in these urban districts in the Bay State, nearly 70 percent of the students score in the ‘Needs Improvement’ and ‘Warning/Failing’ categories on the MCAS test. [wpdm_package id=75]

Learning From Springfield: Lessons in Effective Fiscal Management

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Lessons in Effective Fiscal Management Author(s): Steve Poftak — Publication date: 2008-04-01 Category: Economic Opportunity Abstract: The Middle Cities Initiative seeks to develop concrete policies to help the Middle Cities grow. One foundational element for economic growth is effective fiscal management by the public sector. The Middle Cities Initiative includes a benchmarking program that would establish incentives for good municipal management, and also equip municipal leaders with the tools they need to succeed. This Policy Brief considers Springfield as a case study in effective fiscal management and reform, and as an example for other communities. It integrates specific policy proposals derived from Springfield’s experience with Pioneer’s work on benchmarking [wpdm_package id=78]

Parking garages are silly investments for the State

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Today’s Globe reports on a bond bill earmark that gives Salem funding to build a parking garage. The article focuses on environmental advocates objections. They (correctly) don’t want to see the bulk of Transit-Oriented Development funding going to a single project. And I’ll give you another reason to dislike the idea — parking garages should be able to support themselves. If there really is ‘demand’ for parking, then people will pay for it. And if parking generates a revenue stream, then it should be able to finance some portion of the garage, if not all of it. Perhaps a private developer could be given a 20 year lease to take any risk off of the community. Don’t believe me, take […]

Zoning out or zoning in-clusionary

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Hot trends in local zoning include age-restricted villages, in-law abodes, and inclusionary zoning – a requirement or incentives to include affordable houses in market rate developments. Our 2004 survey revealed that 99 of the 187 communities within 50 miles of Boston have inclusionary bylaws on the books. Developers argue that some inclusionary laws drive up the cost of development (and ultimately the price of market rate housing), and can make some projects infeasible. Housing advocates argue that inclusionary policies are the best way to ensure that affordable housing is integrated throughout communities, and built in the first place. NYU just released a study comparing inclusionary laws in MA localities to San Francisco and DC regions. If you are considering inclusionary […]

Results in on Teach for America

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What kind of impact does the influx of young, motivated people (ahem, without formal training in our dear schools of education) have on student performance? A big thank you to the Urban Institute for looking into this question. From their press release (last week): Teach for America teachers may be new to the profession, but they are generally more effective than their experienced colleagues, finds a new Urban Institute analysis. On average, high school students taught by TFA corps members performed significantly better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science, than peers taught by far more experienced instructors. The TFA teachers’ effect on student achievement in core classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers with […]