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Media hounds…

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela Dawson

Who is?  We are!  Two op-eds in two days.  Ahem, you might want to dig Jamie Gass’ piece in the Metro West Daily News entitled “Teacher licensing rules just got more complex“. How about Alice White’s “City officials silent on looming health care liability” in the New Bedford Standard-Times? Then there is a wonderful piece by Howard Greis entitled “Lawmakers should reject Patrick proposal to drop EQA” in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Happy Bunker Hill Day

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Caught the annual parade in Charlestown on Sunday. This parade usually gets a good turnout of political types and the crowd’s reaction (or lack thereof) can be a telling sign. My award for the parade are: Biggest Reaction – Michael Flaherty, hands-down, got the biggest reaction from the crowd. And he gets extra credit for the retro-cool innovation of handing out emery boards with his name on them (Editor’s Note: This is not a retro-cool innovation, he’s serious.) Who The Heck Is That – City Council-At-Large Candidate Marty Hogan apparently marched in the parade. No one had any idea who the poor fellow was. It’s still not clear which of the roughly 3 – 5 people marching behind his banner […]

Outside of Boston, there is grumbling

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela Dawson

Outside of Boston the Governor’s plans are not playing well. The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune opined yesterday that Governor Patrick’s promises run afoul of fiscal reality. The following are the money quotes (unconnected excerpts): Gov. Deval Patrick has Republicans and members of his own party scratching their heads over his grand plans for spending money the state and its taxpayers simply don’t have. The rhetoric is soaring… But the reality is neither the state, nor the cities and towns on which the burden of paying for many of these mandates will inevitably fall, are in a position to afford such grand schemes. Such talk is certainly not appropriate at a time the Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission says it will cost between $15 […]

3 chairs to craft the education plan

/0 Comments/in , , /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela Dawson

A change of the guard seems underway for the “Readiness Project,” as the Governor calls his recently announced education plan. Rumor has it that Dana Mohler-Faria is on his way back to Bridgewater State College at the start of July. Also, there is the Governor’s announcement of the core leaders of the new new Task Force he is calling on to deliver a fleshed out plan, a budget, and an implementation plan. Up to the front come Tom Payzant, EMC Chairman/President/CEO Joe Tucci, and Wheelock’s Jackie Jenkins-Scott. Congratulations to the Governor for three solid picks, listed below with the strength they will bring to the TF. Strong on urban education reform: Payzant has the know-how and a strong record of achievement […]

MCAS and dropout rates

/0 Comments/in , , /by Scott W. Graves and Micaela Dawson

In a previous posting on the appointment of Ruth Kaplan to the Board of Education, I noted a significant problem with promoting the view that there is a connection between MCAS and increasing dropout rates: More than half of all dropouts have already passed the MCAS. Then, passed on from one of our wonderful Center for School Reform Advisors, is the editor’s commentary from last summer’s American Educator, a publication of the American Federation of Teachers (an affiliated international union of the AFL-CIO). Using two very different studies, the commentary, entitled “Conventional Wisdom on Dropout Rate is Questioned–Impact of Higher Standards is Not,” points out that high standards and exit exams have NOT driven up drop-out rates. So let’s set […]