Plan for Massachusetts Education "Czar" Threatens Reforms

Charles Glenn:

Education reform is often stifled by the vested interests that resist accountability and new models like charter and pilot schools. In Massachusetts, the independence of the state Board of Education provided the continuity that allowed reform to be successfully implemented year after year.

The board was responsible for the initiatives that were the heart and soul of reform, like the MCAS exam, teacher testing, and academically rigorous curriculum frameworks. It was the board that followed a prudent course by creating rigorous charter school approval and closure processes.

Each of these reforms was the target of substantial resistance from a powerful and change-averse education establishment. Only an independent Board of Education, insulated from politics, could have made them a reality.

Despite these unparalleled successes, all we have achieved is now at risk. A proposal to eliminate the Board of Education's independence seems to be breezing through the Legislature. The proposal would make the board just another part of Governor Patrick's administration and thus politicize an institution that has been insulated from politics since 1837, when Horace Mann was its first leader.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 8, 2008 8:05 AM
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