This study, produced by Pioneer Institute’s Center for School Reform, analyzes school district performance assessment data reported by the Massachusetts Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). This agency regularly audits school districts to evaluate their progress in implementing the reforms articulated by the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA).
Download Report: Education Reform in Massachusetts: Using Student Data to Improve District Performance
Our goal in this paper is to highlight how current thinking on transportation is needlessly and wastefully constrained by the bureaucratic structures of the past. To maximize the region’s economic potential and conserve scarce fiscal resources, transportation planning needs to be objective, transparent, and data driven.
Download Report: Beyond the Gas Tax: Defining Transportation Needs, Emphasizing Economic Growth, and Maintaining Our Assets
The conventional wisdom among most regional economists, business leaders, and even policy experts is that Massachusetts is a high cost state for businesses. The purpose of this paper is to take a granular look at the issue by considering the specific components of business costs and how they vary across nine key industries in Massachusetts and six neighboring and competitor states.
Download Report: Measuring Up? The Cost of Doing Business in Massachusetts
“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”
“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”
“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”
“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”
In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.
The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.
in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.
This study, produced by Pioneer Institute’s Center for School Reform, analyzes school district performance assessment data reported by the Massachusetts Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). This agency regularly audits school districts to evaluate their progress in implementing the reforms articulated by the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA).
Download Report: Education Reform in Massachusetts: Using Student Data to Improve District Performance
Our goal in this paper is to highlight how current thinking on transportation is needlessly and wastefully constrained by the bureaucratic structures of the past. To maximize the region’s economic potential and conserve scarce fiscal resources, transportation planning needs to be objective, transparent, and data driven.
Download Report: Beyond the Gas Tax: Defining Transportation Needs, Emphasizing Economic Growth, and Maintaining Our Assets
The conventional wisdom among most regional economists, business leaders, and even policy experts is that Massachusetts is a high cost state for businesses. The purpose of this paper is to take a granular look at the issue by considering the specific components of business costs and how they vary across nine key industries in Massachusetts and six neighboring and competitor states.
Download Report: Measuring Up? The Cost of Doing Business in Massachusetts
Education Reform in Massachusetts: Using Student Data to Improve District Performance
/0 Comments/in Academic Standards, Education /by Jamie Gass and Grant WynnThis study, produced by Pioneer Institute’s Center for School Reform, analyzes school district performance assessment data reported by the Massachusetts Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). This agency regularly audits school districts to evaluate their progress in implementing the reforms articulated by the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA).
Download Report: Education Reform in Massachusetts: Using Student Data to Improve District Performance
Beyond the Gas Tax: Defining Transportation Needs, Emphasizing Economic Growth, and Maintaining Our Assets
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Transportation /by Steve PoftakOur goal in this paper is to highlight how current thinking on transportation is needlessly and wastefully constrained by the bureaucratic structures of the past. To maximize the region’s economic potential and conserve scarce fiscal resources, transportation planning needs to be objective, transparent, and data driven.
Download Report: Beyond the Gas Tax: Defining Transportation Needs, Emphasizing Economic Growth, and Maintaining Our Assets
Measuring Up? The Cost of Doing Business in Massachusetts
/0 Comments/in Economic Opportunity, Massachusetts Economy /by Pioneer InstituteThe conventional wisdom among most regional economists, business leaders, and even policy experts is that Massachusetts is a high cost state for businesses. The purpose of this paper is to take a granular look at the issue by considering the specific components of business costs and how they vary across nine key industries in Massachusetts and six neighboring and competitor states.
Download Report: Measuring Up? The Cost of Doing Business in Massachusetts