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Anti-Common Core initiative moves one step closer to ballot
Voters in Massachusetts might be the first in the nation to weigh in directly on Common Core educational standards. Last week, End…
PARCC
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The Common Core journalism blackout
Earlier this month, a deliberately anonymous teacher set forth some of the problems she saw in the Common Core-based test she…
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New Bedford presses parents to accept PARCC exams
NEW BEDFORD – School officials in this seaside city are pressing parents to allow their children to take the controversial PARCC exams, claiming…
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Committee forms to oppose Common Core ballot question
BOSTON – Former Fitchburg State University president Robert Antonucci will lead a new committee to fight a ballot question that would allow Massachusetts…
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Maine Common Core foes cross party lines to push repeal
AUGUSTA, Maine – A bipartisan group of Maine lawmakers is pushing a measure to repeal national education standards, known as Common Core, adopted…
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Second Common Core video released as Mass. considers dumping the federal standards
BOSTON – A second undercover video portraying Common Core as an exercise in profiteering by publishers including Boston textbook giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt…
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Ballot group sees MCAS 2.0 as bid to ‘mollify our movement’
BOSTON — As Massachusetts school districts prepare for the MCAS 2.0 era to launch in the spring of 2017, ballot activists are…
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Obama signs education law rewrite shifting power to states
WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling it a "Christmas miracle," President Barack Obama signed a sweeping overhaul of the No Child Left Behind…
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Voters may soon get to weigh in on charter schools, Common Core
BOSTON — Proponents of two ballot initiatives aimed at reforming Massachusetts public education dropped off boxes of signed petitions to Secretary of State…
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MCAS or PARCC? The choice is clear
Next month, education policy makers in Massachusetts will decide whether to keep the highly regarded Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) or adopt…
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Common Core opponents ‘anxious’ about meeting signature requirement
STATE HOUSE — Donna Colorio is anxious and exhausted, but happy. The former Worcester School Committee member has been leading a volunteer effort…
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Let’s do Next-Gen MCAS right
The Baker administration and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education should be applauded for maintaining Massachusetts' academic independence and testing autonomy,…
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Ed board backs MCAS 2.0 plan for new standardized tests
MALDEN – Bay State education policymakers voted Tuesday to create an MCAS 2.0 standardized testing program that combines elements of the multi-…
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Ed board urged to take time before deciding student assessment course
MALDEN, MASS. — On the eve of a potentially critical vote, educators, parents and elected officials pressed the Board of Elementary and Secondary…
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MCAS 2.0 called for by Bay State ed chief Chester
BOSTON – A "next-generation MCAS" is the route Massachusetts should take in choosing its new standardized student assessment program, Elementary…
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Reform based on pre-2011 MCAS draws support from Pioneer Institute
BOSTON – As Massachusetts education officials gear up to decide next month whether to adopt the national PARCC exam to assess academic achievement,…
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Bay State reformers backed MCAS over PARCC, think tank says
BOSTON – Debate over standardized testing in Massachusetts schools heated up Wednesday as the Pioneer Institute, an independent policy research organization, rebutted an…
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Bay State lawmakers call for dropping federal PARCC test
BOSTON – A quarter of state legislators urged Education Secretary Jim Peyser and other policymakers to reject federal PARCC academic assessment testing, raising…
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Study: Kids take 100-plus required tests through 12th grade
WASHINGTON (AP) — Students, parents and teachers have long lamented the hours that kids spend taking standardized tests, especially since the introduction of…
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Ed commissioner floats standardized testing compromise
MALDEN — As the state prepares to decide whether to adopt a new standardized test known as PARCC or stick with the existing…
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Keeping MCAS, but upping math standard seen as alternative
STATE HOUSE — Education Secretary James Peyser wrote an op-ed in September laying out the choice the state Board of Education faces…
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Important tests ahead for Mass. education reform
As we turn the pages of our calendars to September, and children return to school, policymakers face important decisions about the way…
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The power of knowledge in every century
"Knowledge is power," Sir Francis Bacon famously said. Although he may have had a more pragmatic, empirical approach in mind,…
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Schools face incomplete data after Common Core test troubles
Written by Sally Ho LAS VEGAS (AP) — Last school year, Common Core-aligned standardized tests marched forward, going from paper-and-pencil…
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Rotten to the core: Big money pushes PARCC and Common Core
Each year, much is written and said about K-12 education when students head back to school. That will be especially true…
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Initial Common Core goals unfulfilled as results trickle in
Written by Christine Amario LOS ANGELES (AP) — Results for some of the states that participated in Common Core-aligned testing for the…
