Mass EdForum

Laura Slover, CEO of PARCC, Inc., the nonprofit managing the assessment project for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) states, began her career as a high school English teacher.  In a recent update, she wrote about […]

This spring, about 81,000 Massachusetts students took the PARCC (Partnership for Assessing College and Career Readiness) exam for a test-drive. Some schools only took PARCC, some the usual MCAS tests, some both. As districts consider whether to administer PARCC or […]

The Boston Public Schools have a plan for driving improvements in the city’s schools that is both exciting and likely to bring about very positive results for children.  Interim Superintendent John McDonough and Assistant Superintendent for Human Capital Ross Wilson […]

For the second year, the National Council on Teacher Quality has reviewed 2400 teacher education programs across the country and found many lacking. Findings released last week reveal mixed results for Massachusetts.  The good news is that the Commonwealth is making […]

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and a dozen college and university presidents announced last week that they have “joined more than 200 college and university leaders from 30 states in a new coalition, Higher Ed for Higher Standards, to […]

Today Massachusetts’ education standards received a significant endorsement from the non-partisan, independent Worcester Regional Research Bureau. The bureau’s new report, Toward a Common Understanding of the Common Core, examines the origins and merits of the Common Core standards, and concludes […]

There is a new measure from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tying 12th grade results to college preparedness.  In 2009, for the first time, NAEP reported state results for 12th Graders from 11 volunteer pilot states including Massachusetts, […]

Budget Moves to Senate; House to Act on Bill to Improve Student Achievement May is always a busy month, but it is especially so this year as legislators work to complete the Massachusetts Budget for fiscal year 2015 and wrap […]

We routinely teach our children the importance of honesty and telling the truth, even when it is difficult or uncomfortable.   But, for years, we have been giving our children the false impression that passing the MCAS exams and earning […]

Is Common Core really taking control away from teachers? According to a new report, the answer is no. Latest research by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) finds that it is local teachers and districts that are leading the charge […]

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has issued a call for volunteers to join Working Groups that will develop recommendations for subject matter knowledge required for educator licensure.  This is a critically important endeavor with the potential to […]

In late March, Rick Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute,  wrote a column in Education Week with three questions for the two consortia of states that have developed assessments aligned to the Common Core State […]

The U.S. Department of Education is moving forward with a plan to improve the recruitment and preparation of our nation’s teachers.  This is welcome news since educator preparation programs have been shown to lack the rigor and training needed for […]

Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Freeland is joining the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) at their monthly meeting tonight to discuss “options for transition of the high school Competency Determination (CD) requirements – that is, the state standards […]

In the Constitution adopted in 1780 and in force today, the people of Massachusetts recognized that the “opportunities and advantages of education” were “necessary for the preservation of their rights had liberties,” and directed the representatives of the people to […]

Twenty years ago, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education and the business community played a leading role in bringing about changes that propelled our state to the top of the nation on most measures of K-12 education performance.  But we […]

The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education is thrilled to announce the launch of the Future Ready Massachusetts website. The Future Ready campaign was created to help students, their families, teachers and their mentors access the tools and resources that will […]

Last fall, as we embarked on our New Opportunity to Lead Campaign our partners at Associated Industries of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and asked MassINC Polling Group to conduct a statewide survey of employers to gauge their concerns […]

National survey results released Friday by Achieve, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education reform organization, show strong voter support for Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Although a majority of those polled (two-thirds) had heard “nothing” or “not too much” about the Common […]

Many thanks to Achieve for allowing us to share this important information from their February Newsletter! As states continue to implement college- and career-ready standards and prepare for the transition to aligned assessments, it’s more important than ever to remember […]