AFT MA News Archive

High-stakes testing has become one of the most overwhelming and daunting issues in the world of education today. In many cases, test days become sick days for students who cannot bear the thought of facing another day of wasted learning time filling out bubbles or tapping on keyboards.

For Chelmsford High School Hall of Famers Peter and Paul Reynolds (see September, 2013 issue), co-founders of the Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning, and Creativity (www.reynoldstlc.org), testing has not been just a cause célèbre for their innovative, pro-learning, not-for-profit organization but an opportunity to get creative and use humor to deal with this heated issue.

As music is such a universal language, it may not be so surprising to learn that, in addition to launching the careers of some of the most successful artists, producers, and other music industry movers and shakers, Berklee College of Music also counts among its graduates many world leaders as well. Among these is Frederik Gassita, a Gabonese musician who also serves as an advisor to His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic.

When the Gabonese government began to devise plans for a music school, Gassita suggested that they reach out to his alma mater for advice and support. The result is the African Music Institute (AMI).

Though the academic and overall benefits of studying and even listening to music are undisputed, music can do more for those who perform and appreciate it than help them learn a new skill or stay calm in stressful times. That is why programs like the Josiah Quincy Orchestra Program (JQOP) are so important to students and to the community.

“Many of our families and partners see us as just a music program,” admits JQOP Executive Director Graciela Briceno. Even so, she and her colleagues have been trying to encourage participants, parents, and others to appreciate the larger benefits of the JQOP and of music education in general.

According to a recent report by the US Department of Education, Massachusetts had teacher shortages in 23 content areas in 2013-14 and 2015-16.  In addition to these teacher shortages, the compositional diversity of teachers working in most urban districts, including Boston, does not reflect the diversity of the students in the classroom.  Precollege programs designed to encourage young people to enter professions like STEM or business have existed for decades.  Among the most notable of these is Educators Rising (EdRising), a national organization that has partnered locally with Boston University to bring new people and new ideas to the field of education.

“We’re a national network all about helping communities start early and grow their own highly skilled, well-prepared teachers,” explains Dan Brown, co-director of EdRising (www.edrising.org). “Currently, 11,600 students and teacher leaders across the country are members and we have 11 state and 2 regional affiliates, including BU.

For many students, William Shakespeare is just another “dead white guy” whom they have to get through in order to graduate and be considered “smart.” For those who are fortunate enough to engage his texts with support from the talented educational team of Actors’ Shakespeare Project (www.actorsshakespeareproject.org), however, the words of the Bard can become essential descriptions of and connections to their everyday lives.

While Boston is blessed with many amazing and award-winning performance groups, most of them perform in home venues, which requires audiences to come to them.  Some offer outreach programs, but these often run into challenges concerning how to connect the theatre’s community and the audience’s. Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) strives to see the entire city as an artistic playground where Shakespeare resonates across neighborhoods and audiences.

With so much focus on all that public schools lose when charter school supporters throw their weight around and try to stuff a district with schools that really do not measure up, it is nice to hear of a district in which losing is actually a good thing!

This past year, nearly 50 teachers and other staff members in Salem participated in a school-based version of the popular weight los program “The Biggest Loser.” Instead of feeling isolated (as people trying to change habits and lifestyles often do), the Salem staffers banded together, creating a good-natured and well-intended competition that ended with hundreds of pounds lost and many years of better health gained.

August 13, 2014 forever changed the educational landscape. What some consider the biggest “education reform” that benefits all children was signed into law.  The law was intended to support schools by creating and maintaining “safe and supportive schools” (SSS) which allows students to better focus thus improving their learning.

Safe and Supportive Schools is part of a larger gun violence-reduction act that had been inspired by the tragedy in Newtowne, CT, that provides a framework to integrate such important elements of school safety as bullying, truancy, and dropout prevention, as well as social-emotional education into a strong foundation for learning. It also established a statewide Safe and Supportive Schools Commission to advise the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on proper implementation.

“This is a big time for us,” observed AFT MA President Tom Gosnell in his introduction to the nearly 90 members in attendance at the 2016 AFT MA Leadership Conference. “We have a big challenge, and it is not just for K-12 schools.... Question 2 affects all of us!”

Noting how AFT MA also represents 31 public libraries and groups of paraprofessionals, custodians, and other dedicated workers, as well as public and private sector institutions of higher education, Gosnell suggested that, “We’re all part of the challenge.”

Many of us grew up building with LEGO blocks. Others played with miniature robots.

In recent years, these childhood activities have matured a great deal and become a major source of school pride and learning.

On November 19, hundreds of students from Wakefield, Weymouth, North Attleboro, Mendon, and Marlborough gathered at Assabet to take their favorite LEGO blocks to new heights in a collegial competition known as the FIRST LEGO League (FLL). The event was an offshoot of the FIRST organization, which was created by inventor Dean Kamen.