STATE LEADERS BEGAN this year with a renewed commitment to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. But one proven approach to doing so has not gotten enough attention: community schools. A community school organizes school and community resources around student success. If the governor and legislators are serious about improving outcomes for all students, they […]
Education
Posted inEducation
Charters facing backlash all over country
IT ALWAYS SEEMS to come back to charter schools. Los Angeles teachers went on strike for just over a week and the strike ended with the teachers getting much of what they wanted — smaller class sizes, full-time nurses at every campus, librarians at every secondary school, additional counselors at high schools, a 6 percent […]
Posted inOpinion
A blueprint for building affordable dorms
HAVING RECENTLY PARTNERED with the University of Massachusetts Boston to plan, develop, and build the first residence hall in the history of the campus, I understand the concerns around the affordability of student housing, and recognize that in a city where the average rent is over $2,100 per month there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to […]
Posted inOpinion
The college bubble is starting to burst
This op-ed has been updated with a revision to the initial reference to Hampshire College. THE FOURTH SHOE has dropped. Hampshire College just joined Wheelock, Mt. Ida, and Newbury College in throwing in the towel, with the school’s announcement that it is seeking a long-term partners to keep it afloat financially and may choose to […]
Posted inEducation
House bill quietly filed on education funding
WHILE BIG EDUCATION funding bills filed by Gov. Charlie Baker and a key state senator have garnered lots of attention, a third school financing bill was quietly filed in the House last week that also proposes a sweeping update of the state’s 26-year-old education aid formula. Rep. Paul Tucker, a Salem Democrat, submitted legislation hours […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston officials should stop slandering their own schools
LAST MONTH SAW the tragic spectacle of top Boston school officials saying two high schools should be closed because of falling enrollment and so-called “academic challenges.” But students, parents, and teachers with direct, first-hand experience of those schools painted a completely different picture. It was an extreme example of a distorted process happening throughout the […]
Posted inEducation
Baker calls for more school funds — and accountability
THE STATE’S SCHOOL reform efforts, beginning with the landmark 1993 Education Reform Act, have always involved a combination of spending increases and new accountability measures aimed at helping drive school improvement, especially among students at the bottom end of the achievement gap. Gov. Charlie Baker’s education funding proposal, unveiled on Wednesday alongside his 2020 budget […]
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Baker unveils school funding plan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday rolled out a seven-year plan to boost school funding by more than $1 billion dollars, including what his education secretary described as a “historic investment” in communities where students are facing achievement gaps. Baker said his plan, which also includes reforms around charter school reimbursements and […]
Posted inEducation
Globe series exposes dismal reality about Boston schools
WE DIDN’T NEED a multi-part, multimedia series of reports to know the Boston Public Schools fail to deliver a first-rate education to many students. Achievement scores and college completion rates among its graduates are more than enough to make that point. But the approach taken by a Boston Globe project that was published on Sunday […]
Posted inEducation
State board approves novel charter expansion plan
THE STATE EDUCATION BOARD approved a proposal to allow a New Bedford charter school to expand as part of an unusual partnership with the city’s district schools that would break down some of the barriers that have traditionally separated the two systems. Under the plan approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on […]