MBAE Commentary

August 30, 2010

‘Surprises’ in Race to the Top

As the Deputy Director at MBAE, one of the main projects has been tracking, evaluating, and summarizing the education stimulus programs of which Race to the Top (RTTT) is, by far, the most high profile. As such, I’ve gotten quite […]
December 3, 2010

Missed Opportunity For School Cost Saving

The December 1 deadline has passed, and not one new municipality or school district signed on to provide employee health benefits through the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC) in fiscal 2012 – which means that hundreds of local government entities […]
December 9, 2010

Why Are Massachusetts Schools so Cash Strapped?

This morning, MBAE issued School Funding Reality: A Bargain Not Kept, our report on school funding and spending trends in Massachusetts.  We did the study to look at how the foundation budget was working and found that the explosive growth […]
March 14, 2011

Boston Renaissance Inspires

MBAE Board Members and staff were treated to an inspiring tour of the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School recently that reminded me of why it is so critical to extend these unique educational opportunities to more students and their families. […]
March 18, 2011

Student Achievement is Key to Educator Evaluation

For the past seven months, a 40-member Task Force has been working to recommend a new teacher evaluation system to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).  MBAE’s executive director represented the business community in this effort but MBAE […]
April 12, 2011

What’s Next for the Common Core? A Look at Assessments

This morning, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education and The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, held the second in a series of three forums to examine the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Massachusetts.  At our […]
May 25, 2011

Top MA High Schools Preparing Students for College and Career

In a Washington Post ranking of public high schools that most effectively prepare students for college, the schools ranked #1 and #2 in Massachusetts were both charter schools.  Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis came in first in Massachusetts and […]
January 23, 2012

The Critical Role of Community Colleges in Workforce Development

The connection between education and economic development is one that employers have emphasized for many years.  In fact, it is the reason MBAE exists – to provide every child the excellent education they need to prepare for the demanding jobs of an […]
March 9, 2012

New York State Website Tracks Educator Evaluation Progress

With the introduction this week of a new state-sponsored website that tracks each New York school districts progress on implementing teacher evaluation, Governor Andrew Cuomo once again puts the pressure on to get teacher evaluation implemented across the state. The […]
June 7, 2012

Legislature Should Act to Avoid Ballot Fight

It is good news that Stand for Children and the Massachusetts Teachers Association have come up with a legislative proposal that both organizations can support to address the issues raised in Stand’s Great Teachers Great Schools ballot initiative. MBAE joined […]
June 27, 2012

Reports Spotlight Need to Better Prepare Students for Careers

Reports Spotlight Need to Better Prepare Students for Careers Education is an economic issue. Simply put, today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce. Two reports released yesterday offer compelling proof that despite strong academic gains over the past twenty years, too many […]
September 11, 2012

Readiness for Workforce a Shared Responsibility

In his opinion column in The New York Times, Tom Friedman wrote again about how the game has changed and how Americans have to be prepared for new jobs and new technologies. The broader theme he often touts is that the […]
September 19, 2012

News on MCAS Scores

Although many of us tuned in this week to learn the results of the 2012 MCAS exams and were pleased to find continued growth in the number of 10th grade students reaching proficiency in ELA (88%) and math (78%), there […]
November 20, 2012

Report Measures Progress on State’s Education Data Systems

Data is an essential tool for teachers and school leaders as they work to bring about positive student learning outcomes.  Last year MBAE Board Member Beth Gamse blogged about a report from the national Data Quality Campaign (DQC) on states’ progress […]
March 25, 2013

Technology Can Supercharge School Improvement

It has become a truism to say that schools are the only sector that citizens of 2013 could visit that would look like they did 150 years ago, when fewer students graduated from high school or college.  Yet today society […]
August 26, 2013

New York Connects Teacher Prep to Classroom Performance

This month New York City became the first district in the nation to release reports on how teacher preparation programs relate to performance in the classroom. The Teacher Preparation Program Reports, released by the NYC Department of Education, evaluated the […]
August 27, 2013

Start Early with STEM

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is a critical component to developing a globally competitive workforce.  Business leaders across industries agree:  Investing to ensure a pipeline of workers skilled in STEM competencies is a workforce issue, an economic development […]
August 29, 2013

Debate Over Science Standards Continues

According to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Massachusetts’ current state science standards are “clearly superior” to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) which were issued earlier this year.  The Fordham report spurred a counter-statement by the National Science Teachers Association […]