Seeking out the educational accountability muse

The Gateway Cities Journal

“Sometimes we live no particular way but our own” goes the Grateful Dead lyric which, in a nut shell, describes the educational accountability vibe in Massachusetts’s plan for implementing the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA invites states to hold schools accountable for delivering a wider range of learning. In contrast to a host of states that

A plan for building social-emotional support systems

BC’s School of Education visits State House

As much as two-thirds of the variance in student achievement has been attributed to out-of-school factors such as health, neighborhood safety, and family instability. Studies have demonstrated that systemic and coordinated effort to promote social-emotional development can help address these barriers to learning. The Gateway Cities education vision called for establishing such a system. Our research

Gateway Cities Legislative Caucus renews its commitment to lead on urban education

Investing significant energy and political capital

The Gateway Cities Legislative Caucus met on March 22nd to reaffirm their commitment to work collaboratively this session on issues affecting urban school districts. Caucus members were joined by Superintendents Kathy Smith of Brockton, Mary Bourque of Chelsea, and Dianne Kelly of Revere. The superintendents expressed grave concern over the future of funding for urban

Gateway Cities take a big step forward on early college

Expanding access to early college programs

Education leaders from across the state gathered in Boston on March 23rd to launch an initiative to dramatically expand access to early college programs in Massachusetts. A model pioneered by Gateway Cities over the last decade, early college was a central strategy outlined in the 2013 Gateway Cities education vision. The new initiative seeks to scale

Uncovering the economic growth/criminal justice reform link

Forum on criminal records

MassINC, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston co-hosted a forum on criminal records policy last week at the John Adams Courthouse. The forum featured new research by the bank examining the impact of criminal records and criminal records reform legislation on employment. Bob Triest, a labor market economist who leads

The Art of Repeal

The Topline

Health care bills moves votes. They cost seats. They start waves. The Democrats’ two runs at health care reform ended with Republican gains of 54 seats in 1994 and 63 seats in 2010. In the latter case, Massachusetts was the canary in the coal mine, as health care helped propel Scott Brown past Martha Coakley

Increasing access to high-quality summer learning

The Gateway Cities Journal

Next week, Rep. Alice Peisch will host a briefing on her new bill, An Act to Increase Access to High-Quality Summer Learning Opportunities. This legislation will give more students the chance to participate in high-quality summer learning programs all across our Commonwealth. Mayors and school leaders from Worcester, New Bedford, and Salem supported an earlier

MassINC issues public comments on state’s proposed ESSA plan

For the past 12 months, MassINC has been focused on the potential the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers to further educational excellence in our Gateway Cities. This work builds on over a decade of MassINC research on education accountability, including the seminal report Incomplete Grade: Education Reform at 15. Our efforts to

Profiles in Courage

The MassCJRC Journal

Last month, Governor Baker introduced much anticipated legislation to address recommendations made by the Council of State Governments (CSG) on backend criminal justice reform. In public remarks given on the same day the CSG legislative package was unveiled, Chief Justice Gants called this work a “first down, not a touchdown.” Calling attention to the State
|<< 51 52 53 54 55 >>|

Our sponsors