Condition of Education in Western Massachusetts

Thursday, October 10, 2019 - 8:00 AM

Basketball Hall of Fame | Mass Mutual Room | Springfield, MA

Thank you to those who joined us for a conversation on the status of education in Western Massachusetts. The event put a local focus on findings from the Rennie Center’s Condition of Education in the Commonwealth report and brought together members of the business and education communities around preparing students for college and careers. In addition to discussing the impact of the recently released Student Opportunity Act, we talked about how giving students leadership opportunities and a chance to shape their own education helps prepare them for success in the workforce. Attendees also heard from local educators, employers, business leaders, and students about promising programs in the region.

SPEAKERS

Delcie Bean | Chief Executive Officer, Paragus Strategic IT
Sinead Chalmers | Senior Associate, The Rennie Center
Chad d'Entremont | Executive Director, The Rennie Center
Sean Flynn | Career, Vocational, and Internship Coordinator, Monument Mountain Regional High School
Lane Hall-Witt | Student, Northampton Public Schools
Edward Lambert | Executive Director, MA Business Alliance for Education
James Peyser | Massachusetts Secretary of Education
Ayele Shakur | Chief Executive Officer, BUILD.org
Henry Thomas | President and Chief Executive Officer, Urban League of Springfield

Blog

Rethinking Grading

March 28, 2024

Schools have assessed student learning and growth with essentially the same grading system for more than a century. Since this system was created, the field has learned so much more about the way students learn, the systemic inequities embedded in the design of traditional grading and assessment, and what type of learning leads to success in life. Grading should be aligned with what we know about the learning process, child and adolescent development, and the demands of career, college, and community life. But traditional grading is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that making changes to this system can seem like an insurmountable task. That’s why we partnered with DESE and reDesign to support five unique high schools as they interrogate their traditional grading practices and make shifts toward new systems that better measure student learning and growth.