Incentives, Capacity, and Implementation: Evidence from Massachusetts Education Reform

Since the 1980s, most of the states and the U.S. federal governmenthave enacted policies based upon the theory of standards-basededucation reform. These policies attempt to use incentives toovercome the difficulty of implementing policy in a looselycoupled system. This article presents a case study of the implementationof standards-based reform in Massachusetts. The case study showshow poorly thought-out incentive structures, lack of capacity,and lack of trust impeded implementation of the reforms. TheMassachusetts experience has implications for the educationreform movement nationwide, because Massachusetts has been aleader in the movement. Analysis of the Massachusetts case alsocontributes to the literature on how context affects policyimplementation.     

Universal Health Insurance in Massachusetts:

The Massachusetts Health Security Act is the first universal-access financing legislation in the country, and sets a precedent for providing health coverage for the 600,000 uninsured in the state. The bill is the product of prolonged negotiation among hospitals, business interests, insurers, and advocates of universal access, who debated the extent of benefits, the cost of care, and the system which will monitor and regulate its provision. While the bill represents an important first step in addressing the service requirements of the uninsured, it falls short of meeting the needs of the underinsured, for example, elderly persons unable to afford Medex insurance to supplement Medicare coverage. The article reviews the points of negotiation which led to adoption of the bill.     

Infrastructure planning in rural Massachusetts

This paper describes the importance of understanding and dealing with the problems of infrastructure planning and maintenance in rural communities. Infrastructure is defined to include roads, bridges, water and wastewater collection and treatment systems, and public buildings and capital equipment. The authors base their findings primarily on the experience of communities in Massachusetts, but these findings are readily applied to the situation of rural communities elsewhere in the U.S.A. and other developed countries. Three major conclusions are presented in the paper: the need for rural communities to develop long-range plans for infrastructure maintenance and finance; the need to develop effective local institutions to assume this responsibility, and the importance of managing growth in fast-growing rural areas in order to minimize the need for major expansion of infrastructure systems.     

Pathological gambling among adolescents: Massachusetts Gambling Screen (MAGS)

This article describes the development of the Massachusetts Gambling Screen (MAGS). The purpose of the MAGS is to provide a brief clinical screening instrument that can (1) yield an index of non-pathological and pathological gambling during a 5 to 10 minute survey or interview and (2) document the first psychometric translation of the proposed DSM-IV pathological gambling criteria into a set of survey or clinical interview questions. The development data for this instrument were obtained from a survey of 856 adolescents who were students in suburban Boston high schools. The results provided evidence that weighted item scores (i.e., discriminant function coefficients) could correctly classify 96% of adolescent gamblers as pathological, in transition or non-pathological when DSM-IV criteria were employed as the conceptual referent. The results also describe the prevalence of a variety of social and emotional problems associated with adolescent gambling. Finally, the discussion examined the normalization and contemporary social context of gaming and the impact of these influences on the measurement and identification of pathological gambling.Thanks are extended to Dr. Thomas Sharkey, Mary Kaddaras, Alan Bryce, David Shaffer, and Reingard Heller for their assistance during the development and implementation of this project.     

Ethnic Concentration and Nonprofit Organizations: The Political and Urban Geography of Immigrant Services in Boston,Massachusetts

This article considers the geographic distribution of nonprofit organizations serving immigrants across municipalities within the Greater Boston area in an effort to identify variations in the levels of assistance available to major foreign‐born populations in the region. The analysis relies on data from the Census and the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Results suggest that geographic context matters, including immigrant settlement patterns, racial heterogeneity, and fiscal and institutional characteristics of towns and cities, in shaping availability of nonprofit resources to immigrants. These findings highlight large socio‐spatial disparities in immigrant services and challenge the wisdom of devolving responsibility for such assistance to local governments and ultimately nonprofits, as new entrants settle in larger numbers in areas previously unaffected by immigration and ill‐prepared to address immigrant needs. The research contributes to debates on the rescaling of immigrant policy and service provision and literature on the geography of integration by engaging with scholarship in urban and political geography.     

Free tuition for elders: intentions and effects of the Massachusetts policy

This analysis explores the development of the elder tuition waiver in Massachusetts, a policy that established an age-based entitlement to higher education. The research concludes that the original purpose of the waiver was to encourage participation, but that there was no expectation that large numbers of older adults would take advantage of this benefit. Nor, apparently, did advocates of the waiver seek to assure that a diverse group of older adults would take advantage of higher education opportunities through the waiver. A review of the history of the waiver is linked with data on implementation and the results of an exploratory study of motivations of older college students. The discussion points to a need for fundamental examination of the practice of providing social benefits based on age rather than need or universal criteria.     

Strengthening senior tax credit programs in Massachusetts

In the last decade, property taxes have increased, creating a financial burden on senior homeowners. In Massachusetts, senior property tax credit programs have arisen to address this problem, as well as to provide cost-effective volunteer assistance for municipal departments, offer seniors meaningful work that otherwise would not have been attempted, and foster involvement in municipal government among seniors. The success of the programs in retaining senior homeowners in the community remains to be evaluated. Program specifics are detailed, policy options are considered, and recommendations are made to strengthen existing programs and assist replication.     

Twenty-first century learning in states: the case of the Massachusetts educational system

A current crisis in education is leaving students less prepared to succeed in the working world than any generation before them. Increasingly complex external, nonacademic pressures have an impact on many of today's students, often causing them to drop out of school. Only 76 percent of Massachusetts high school students graduate, and only 29 percent earn a college degree. National figures are worse. Most educational institutions share a common goal to support students in becoming skilled, productive, successful members of society, but the author argues that this goal is not being met. Despite the constant changes in the world, educational practices have remained static. Most public schools are not adapting to meet the shifting needs of students. Universities are not able to prepare the right mix of prospective employees for the demands of the job market; for example, schools are graduating only 10 percent of the needed engineers. Institutions of higher learning cannot keep up with employers' needs in an evolving global market: strong math, science, and writing abilities; critical thinking skills; and the ability to work in teams. The author draws on exemplary efforts at work in his home state of Massachusetts--whose improvements in student achievement outcomes have been some of the best in the nation--to suggest there is promise in twenty-first century learning. Middle school students involved in a NASA-funded project write proposals, work in teams, and engage in peer review. Older students participate in enhanced, hands-on cooperative school-to-work and after-school programs. Schools are starting to offer expanded day learning, increasing the number of hours they are engaged in formal learning. Yet such programs have not reached significant levels of scale. The author calls for a major shift in education to help today's students be successful in the twenty-first century.