The growth of homeschooling from a somewhat fringe movement during the 1970s and 1980s to a more widespread and socially accepted approach in recent decades has provided a strong foundation of flexible learning models. When Florida's school choice expansion, House Bill 1, was introduced in January 2023, one of its goals was to allow more…

This article reports that special interest groups opposed to charter schools and high-stakes testing have hijacked Massachusetts's once-independent board of education and stand poised to water down the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests and the accountability system they support. President Barack Obama and Massachusetts…

Over the past decade and a half, the Commonwealth has moved steadily to increase expectations on school districts, schools, teachers, and students to meet the demands of a global economy. It has also added fiscal resources to support reaching these expectations, increasing state aid for education by almost 11 percent per year throughout the 1990s.…

Provides a brief history of the Brooks-Hobb magnet school program (originally the Hervey magnet school) in Medford, Massachusetts, and presents excerpts of an interview with the school's current principal, Shirley Kountze. (GC)

Labeled a "citizen assessment," this study evaluates the effects of Massachusetts 2-1/2 during the first year after its enactment. The law limited taxes and changed laws relating to school budgets. The study focused on two areas: (1) the effect of loss of fiscal autonomy on school budgeting procedures, and (2) the changes in school…

Race desegregation in Massachusetts is a major enterprise. Desegregation realigns school assignments to bring together students from residential areas that are racially different to establish a truly "common school." Programs in specific towns and cities are detailed. (BJV)

This Massachusetts Senate committee study examined public endowment fund development at public institutions of higher education in the state in comparison with institutional development at institutions in other states. The study used data from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Division of Public Charities, from colleges and universities, from…

Beginning with the background to the 1980 passage of Massachusetts' Proposition 2 1/2, the authors analyze the first-year effects of the property tax limitation measure. Section 1 describes Massachusetts' previous high dependence on property taxes and outlines the provisions of Proposition 2 1/2. Section 2's analysis indicates that the state's…

The papers in this document feature four themes: religion and education, the nature of childhood and its relationship to education, urban educational problems, and the character of educational journalism. Part 1 begins with "A Common Faith for the Common School? Religion and Education in Kansas, 1861-1900" (J. C. Carper) which compares…

This study examined efforts at the local level to reduce the fragmentation of services to students with and without disabilities through the consolidation or blending of federal and state categorical educational programs. Twenty-two state and local program administrators in California, Maryland, and Massachusetts were interviewed. Findings include…

A rapid feedback evaluation of state- and local-level implementation of the Career Education Incentive Act (PL 95-207) was conducted. (This act established K-12 and postsecondary career exploration as national priorities.) Site visits were made in nine states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana,…