INCSpot

By John Schneider

Snowstorms!  A good time to sit by the fireplace (mine is a “Yule Log” CD we play on our DVD player) and get some reading done.  Here are a few suggestions.

John Schneider

The day it was announced that A. J. Wright was closing its distribution center in Fall River, I was in city hall meeting with the mayor.  We were talking about education and employment and the challenges of raising educational attainment in a small city.

By John Schneider

Now that the election is over, the real work begins.  And the real work for Governor Patrick for next year is all about WORK and how we can get more of it here in Massachusetts.

By John Schneider

On October 16^th, the Boston Globe ran a front page story about school choice.  The Globe reported that enrollment in the program has increased by 60 percent over the last decade.

By John Schneider

I have just one reaction to issues raised at this week’s fine “Reinventing the University” conference sponsored by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE): How serious is higher education about change?  If we are indeed living during a period of “transformation” in higher education, as Pat Callan asserted at the NEBHE event, we have a lot of work to do and we need to do it with a greater sense of urgency.

By John Schneider

UMass Amherst’s announcement that it will start offering a three-year undergraduate degree is good news for ambitious students and cash strapped families looking to save some money.

By John Schneider

We get to meet and work with a lot of very talented people here at MassINC.  But over the years (nine for me and counting) no one has impressed me more than Elizabeth Warren, named on Friday by President Obama to lead the newly created Consumer Financial Protection agency.

By John Schneider

Brookings policy honcho and MassINC board member Bruce Katz’s call today in Politico about an emerging “pragmatic caucus” led by leaders in states and cities around the nation is just what we “wonk & rollers” want to hear.  It’s time for a lot more “bottom-up innovation”—too bad most of the media isn’t paying attention.  We got issues; now we need some new solutions (and being mad as hell isn’t going to get us very far).

By John Schneider

I’ve been a regular reader of the Washington Monthly since the 1980s and their annual college guide, out this week, has become one of my favorite issues.  Here’s why: it turns the college rankings system on its head by trying to measure how well colleges are contributing to the nation’s wellbeing.