Patrick unveils sweeping plan for education reform

June 25, 2008 11:36 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff

Saying that "today is a new day," Governor Deval Patrick unveiled his sweeping education reform initiative today, a 55-point action plan he hopes will act as a blueprint for legislative and administrative action for the next decade.

With proposals that touch on everything from early-childhood education to the state’s university system, the 44-page report makes the case that Massachusetts’ education system must change dramatically in order to prepare all children for a global economy.

"Today is the day to ask ourselves what we are prepared to do to bring a system designed for the 20th century into the 21st," Patrick said.

Many of the governor’s proposals, such as those aimed at closing achievement gaps, better preparing teachers, and reducing the number of school districts in the state, have been unveiled over the past two days. Patrick has talked a lot this week about his ideas for pre-kindergarten to Grade 12.

However, the report issued this morning provides fresh details and outlines a few initiatives that had yet to be unveiled.

For example, the plan contains a host of recommendations for higher education. They include: closing the pay gap between faculty at Massachusetts colleges and universities and those at peer institutions in other states; increasing needs-based financial aid in the 2010 budget; guaranteeing that credits will be transferrable between the state’s public higher-education institutions; and supporting legislation that would allow undocumented children to pay in-state rates at public colleges and universities.

The report also lists a series of concrete goals for the state by 2020. The goals include: having a high-quality education and care system for children, beginning at birth, that will enable a smooth transition to school; reducing the high school dropout rate to less than 10 percent; and having 90 percent of high school graduates go on to college without needing to take remedial classes.