Passing Notes
A Newsletter from MBAE                                         June 2009
MBAE welcomes a new staff member this week.  Kalia Waits-Smith is with us for the summer from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.  She will be working on a number of projects as the employer community engages in education issues during a time when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing new opportunities to improve public education!
 
MBAE is also pleased that Board Member Joe Esposito has been appointed to the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) Business Policy Task Force.  Congratulations, Joe!
 
In This Issue
  • Work-Based Learning at Risk - Action Needed to Restore State Funds
  • Charter Schools Funding Challenge Averted - Hearing Held on Lifting Cap
  • Research Reports on Teacher Evaluation, Massachusetts Education Reform and Expanded Learning Time
  • STEM Business Leaders Breakfast - June 18
Urge Legislators to Fund Connecting Activities Program
Maintain Opportunities for Jobs and Training for Youth
As the Legislature's Conference Committee meets to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the FY2010 budget, please contact your legislator about preserving a highly effective program that prepares students for the workforce and keeps them engaged in school!  Business leaders must act to ensure that the Conference Committee concurs with the House recommendation of $3.7 million for line item 7027-0019 funding the Deparment of Elementary and Secondary Education's School-to-Career Connecting Activities program!  The House funding is a 10% reduction from the FY2009 level of $4.1 million.
 
The state's Connecting Activities program pays for the staff work necessary to recruit employers and to prepare and place teenagers in employer-paid jobs and internships across the Commonwealth.  Last year, 14,729 students were placed in brokered jobs and internships at 5,624 employer sites.  The state's $4.1 million investment generated more than $37 million in wages for students. 
 
At the workplace, high school students learn the habits of paid work and productivity - communication, collaboration, problem solving, time management and initiative - all skills employers say are critically needed and that too few applicants bring to the workplace!  Participating students develop career awareness and aspirations that will motivate them to stay in school and to go on to college or other postsecondary training.  This program advances MBAE's priorities of preventing students from dropping out of high school, developing applied skills for the 21st century, and graduating all students ready for success in college and career.  Please support it by contacting the legislative leadership, House and Senate Ways and Means Committee chairs and your legislator!  Names and addresses available here!
 
See Tuesday's Boston Globe article for more information!
Charter Schools Get Legislative Attention
MBAE Supports Raising Caps - Opposed Funding Change
  
In his April 1 letter to Governors, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan specified that one of the metrics that will be used to determine whether states receiving economic stimulus stabilization funds continue to receive future distributions will be "whether the state allows charter schools and whether there is a cap restricting the number of such schools".  Recognizing that the time for action is now, MBAE joined other business leaders on May 12 presenting testimony to the Joint Committee on Education in favor of H.465/S.236 lifting the current caps.  The bills were filed by Representative Eugene Flaherty and Senator John Hart, respectively.
 
Funding Change Averted - During the Senate's budget deliberations, MBAE also joined other charter school supporters in taking action in support of Senator Hart's amendment to stop Governor Patrick's proposal to place 20% of charter school funding in a separate budget line-item.  By removing these funds, approximately $50 million, from Chapter 70 which allocates state aid to public elementary and secondary schools, the Governor's proposal would have resulted in unequal funding for charter school students since funding would not be automatically linked to district level spending, as is currently the case. MBAE applauds the action taken by both House and Senate members to support this revenue-neutral amendment and prevent an inequitable situation for charter school students compared to their district peers.  The Senate voted to establish a working group to study charter school finance and recommend future improvements to the system.  
 
Research You Can Use
Reports Provide Data to Drive Education Reforms
Teachers across Massachusetts identify time as the single most important teaching condition for promoting learning, yet fewer than 40% feel they have enough time to meet the needs of all students or even just to complete the curriculum. The data presented in this brief shows how expanded learning time makes a difference for teachers and students by improving opportunities for enrichment, raising academic achievement and improving student attitudes, motivation, engagement and relationships.  Read more and access the full report, Listening to Experts: What Massachusetts Teachers are Saying About Time and Learning and the Expanded Learning Time Initiative.    
  
MassInc has just released a report that provides new evidence that Massachusetts' investment in education since the Education Reform Act of 1993 has had a clear and significant impact on raising student achievement in previously low-spending districts.  Although not as large as it would have been without this law, the achievement gap, however, is still too big.  We have yet to reach the goal of educating every student to achieve high standards.  Given the scale of the state's investment, the report's findings suggest that doing more of the same will not close the achievement gap.  Among the recommendations in Incomplete Grade: Massachusetts Education Reform at 15 are lifting the cap on charter schools, expanding learning time, and rewarding teachers who are most effective in raising student achevement. 
 
A wide-ranging report released this week studies teacher evaluation and dismissal in four states and 12 diverse districts.  The Widget Effect finds that teacher evaluation systems reflect the fallacy that all teachers are essentially interchangeable.  One of several findings is that less than 1 percent of teachers receive unsatisfactory ratings, even in schools where students continually fail to meet basic academic standards.    Excellence goes unrecognized and poor performance is not addressed.  Click above for the website and full report, or here for the Executive Summary! 
STEM Business Leaders Breakfast - June 18
"Tapping Massachusetts' Potential" Report to Be Released
Join MBAE and 15 of the state's leading business associations for the release of Tapping Massachusetts' Potential: The Massachusetts' Employers STEM Agenda, a call-to-action from the state's business community to make science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) a statewide priority. Organized by the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the event will begin with breakfast at 8:00, followed by an informative program with distinguished panelists from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Museum of Science in Boston.  
 
MBAE Thanks Our Supporters
 
MBAE's work is made possible by the financial support of generous individuals and -
Abt Associates
AT&T
Braver
Citizens Bank
Comcast
The Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation
Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation
EMC Corporation
IBM
Intel
MassMutual Financial Group 
Microsoft
Nellie Mae Education Foundation
Shields Healthcare Group
Slowey/McManus
SolidWorks 
TD Banknorth
Verizon

You can support MBAE every time you search the web or shop online.  Just start at www.goodsearch.com for searches or www.goodshop.com for shopping and designate the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education as the charity you want to support.  A percentage of advertising revenues and purchases will be donated to MBAE! 
 
MBAE is committed to a high quality public education system that will prepare all students to engage successfully in a global economy and society.  We bring together business and education leaders to promote education policies and practices based on measurable standards of achievement, accountability for performance, and equitable educational opportunities for all students.