education reform

Schools need to focus more on relevance than rigor

Education/ Opinion

Schools need to focus more on relevance than rigor

Ed reform has gone stale and needs a reboot

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IN THIS CRAZY, chaotic and often perplexing age we live in teachers are required, more than ever before, to fill a larger role in our children’s lives. Teachers have always been an important influence, but now the support they provide transcends the classroom as they help students find their way in this confusing challenging time.(...)

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The Download/ Education

The Codcast: Riley’s collaborative ways

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Jeff Riley won the backing last week of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to be the next state education commissioner based in large part on his work over the last six years as the state-appointed receiver for the Lawrence schools. If somebody can show real gains in what was arguably the lowest-performing,(...)

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Preserve ‘Grand Bargain’ in education 

Education/ Opinion

Preserve ‘Grand Bargain’ in education 

Legislation, Democratic Party platform plank against testing are steps backward

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IN 1993, THE Democratic-led Legislature, together with a Republican governor, entered into a “Grand Bargain” in education policy: The state would substantially increase education funding in exchange for schools using high standards and implementing a strong accountability system to measure progress against those standards. The Patrick administration and the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature renewed and strengthened that bargain in(...)

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School committees support stronger, lasting reform

Education/ Opinion

School committees support stronger, lasting reform

Five steps to guide any “Education 2.0” initiative

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SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS from across the Commonwealth are a varied but pragmatic bunch. During this budget season they are focused on balancing budgets and working with school administrators to reallocate existing funding in order to best meet the needs of their community’s children. Responding to the tremendous complexities of federal and state educational policies turns(...)

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Charter backers get schooled

Education

Charter backers get schooled

Funding questions sank ballot question. But what now for struggling schools?

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NEARLY A YEAR AGO, charter school proponents threatened to force a statewide debate on education issues by mounting a ballot campaign lift the cap on charters schools. Be careful what you wish for. It turned out teachers unions, school leaders, and municipal officials across the state were eager to have that conversation. When the contentious(...)

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Stop the attack on teachers and schools

Education/ Opinion

Stop the attack on teachers and schools

It's education "reform" policies, not educators, that are failing our children

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The beatings will continue until morale improves… -Unknown THESE ARE CHALLENGING times to be in education. Today, more than any other time in our history, education is in the national spotlight. Since the publication of a 1983 report by a commission established to examine public education in the United States entitled A Nation at Risk,(...)

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