Over the years the Boston Globe has routinely turned to Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts for commentary on privateering efforts aimed at public schools. So, it is notable that the Globe has paid no attention to the apparent demise of DFER. The coverage blackout is even more significant since DFER’s struggles were revealed in a…
Category: Boston Globe
Boston Deserves Democracy
The Boston Globe has an editorial today explaining again why poor and minority communities like Boston shouldn’t be trusted with democracy. The Globe has done this before about Lawrence, and I’ve written about it before. So, I’m just going to paste in what I wrote about the Lawrence school committee (just substitute “Boston” for “Lawrence”)…
Banned in Boston (Globe): Walton Family Massachusetts K-12 Political Spending, 2017-2023
Since 2017 the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) has poured a minimum of $10.79 million (in reality, millions more) into the Waltons’ campaign to privateer Massachusetts’ public education system. That spending binge has garnered zero press attention. This news is banned in Boston. So, here is our annual report on Walton spending. WFF is the IRS…
Lawrence Deserves Democracy
Given the ongoing rollback of democracy in America and throughout the world, it is discouraging to see columnist Marcela García join the crusade against democratically elected school committees. That is the Globe’s editorial position too. The Globe prefers mayorally appointed school committees. We don’t need less democracy, we need more democracy. The issue at hand…
How Boston Globe’s Education Coverage Educates Us About the Capital v. Labor Divide
When I was a kid in the Sixties we’d occasionally hear stories about some poor Japanese soldier, abandoned on a Pacific island after WWII, finally being rescued while believing he was still fighting the war. That’s sort of where the Boston Globe’s post-MCAS coverage is. But as a lesson in the biased media approach to…
The Globe Puffs Up Another Dubious “Science of Reading” Program
Last week in This teacher has a super power to help her young students learn to read the Boston Globe introduced us to a new “superpower” a “research backed practice” endorsed by “experts” based on the “science of reading, or scientifically based research on how to teaching (sic) reading.” Relax. It’s just the Globe promoting…
How the Boston Globe and Barr Foundation Rig the Discourse II: Voices for Academic Equity
We had another fine example yesterday of “What wealthy people do is rig the discourse” in the Boston Globe’s story about high school graduation requirements based upon a report by Voices for Academic Equity. Nice name—but what is Voices for Academic Equity? The Globe story is Half of all Mass. high schools don’t abide by…
Globe Gets the Big Stuff Wrong on Question One
Before reading my analysis below, go HERE and read the Globe’s endorsement of Question One. Done yet? If so, read on. I was quite pleased when the Boston Globe editorial board invited me to meet with them to explain why voters should reject or pass on Question One on the 2024 state ballot. The measure…
The Barr Foundation and the Boston Globe “Rig the Discourse”
When I wrote Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Groups Throw Their Weight (and Dollars) Around in May I closed with a quote from Anand Giridharadas, “What wealthy people do is rig the discourse.” That is where I should have started and added “and the Boston Globe helps.” So here is The Barr Foundation and the Boston…
Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Groups Throw Their Muscle (and Dollars) Around
The Barr Foundation Family of K-12 Interest Groups has had a heady two days with a story in the Barr funded Boston Globe touting a poll commissioned by the Barr funded Education Trust from the Barr funded MassInc Polling Group with remarks from Keri Rodrigues of the Barr funded National Parents Union and Lisa Lazare…