Many of these issues don't come as a surprise to working teachers, but it's rare to see them any of these assertions receive fair play in the Globe. The topic du jour in education policy circles is performance pay, and the … [Read more...]
Boston Gets an F in Teacher Appraisals (So Does the Globe)
Anyone familiar with education would not be surprised that 5,000 Boston Public School teachers haven't been evaluated. Anyone familiar with the Boston Globe shouldn't be surprised with a Globe headline giving the BPS a failing grade. And … [Read more...]
On Bullying, Suicide, and High School
It is this kind of action and leadership that also discourages bullying in our school. Bullying, of course, happens in every school, and mine is no exception. But our administration, our school resource officer, and our teachers deal with … [Read more...]
Martha, We Hardly Knew Ya
3. Have a narrative to give your agenda coherence. This failure doesn't belong to Coakley alone. If she had a narrative, it was "vote for me, I'm the next Democrat in line." The Democrat Party in general lacks a compelling narrative to … [Read more...]
Gubernatorial Do Over on the Soldiers Homes
This is a typical Patrick move. He did it when it with his gas tax proposal. The proposal had zero traction, but that didn't stop him from making sure he squeezed all the bad publicity from it that he could. He came out to Western … [Read more...]
Predictability and Polls: Nate Silver on the Senate Race
PPP conducted its poll on a day traditionally avoided: Friday. Silver says there is no proof that its polling method--robo-calls--are any less accurate than than live phone calls (some of the former actually outperformed some of the latter … [Read more...]
Repurposing Charter Schools
Purposes 5 and 6 seem a little odd, since Ed Reform established MCAS, which, at least indirectly, held teachers and administrators accountable. Purpose 4, in part, reflects the intentions of Shanker and Budde, though it also references … [Read more...]
And They Call It Ed Reform?
A sampling of lawmakers suggests there is no consensus on whether or not to lift the cap on the number of charter schools in the state. Gov. Patrick has argued that doffing the charter cap will help the Commonwealth garner federal Race to … [Read more...]
Scandal Rocks Springfield Charter School
Fewer than half of its teachers are licensed in their teaching assignment. The state auditor found that financial "mismanagement" included not using competitive bidding practices, overpaying the rent, and purchasing a … [Read more...]
Health Care Rationing at the GIC?
UniCare officials, in three separate letters, wrote that the SCOT trial is not a covered benefit.... The insurance company considers the SCOT trial experimental, says it's not medically necessary, and maintains that it lacks evidence … [Read more...]