Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education drives much of the discussion on making Massachusetts schools not only the best system in the US, but how our system needs to change to make it the best in the world. It has created systems for allowing parents to understand their schools systems, promotes continuous quality improvement, and advocates for changes that will allow graduates of Massachusetts schools to get into careers that make both our economy and our residents stronger.
MBAE is action oriented, effectively engaging Massachusetts businesses in driving excellence in education. MBAE serves as a key source of information and education for me in this space.
MBAE serves a unique role as the voice of the business community on issues related to education policy. SInce the 1980s, MBAE has been the single, most credible voice calling for education policy reform to close the achievement gap and ensure that policies prepare our children for the workplace an d world of the future. MBAE has taken the important step of recognizing that while Massachusetts is a leader in terms of quality public education that in order to maintain that lead our children need new skills not contemplated under current policies. There is still important work to be done to ensure that curriculum is robust and that all children in the Commonwealth are provided with a meaningful opportunity to succeed. MBAE does its work with great efficiency and leadership and continually stives to measures it success and think of creative and practical solutions.
As a mother of three attending public schools, a business owner and employer of students from our public education system, I know first hand the importance of a high quality public education system which will prepare students so that they can be active contributors to our global economy and society. The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education works with businesses and educators to promote education policies and practices based on measurable standards of achievement, accountability for performance, and equitable educational opportunities for all students. Education is the key to a stronger economy and all students should have access to a high quality public education because it makes great business sense.
Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education has been a trusted partner in the education reform movement for 25 years and continue to aggressively push for positive reforms that will improve education for all students. The state is fortunate to have them working in this critical area.
MBAE has been the leading voice for the Massachusetts business community regarding excellence in education for 25 years. The organization's Executive Director is a trusted resource for unbiased information and knowledge that ensure's the Commonwealth maintains one of the most successful education systems in the United States.
Education happens in the schools, but the improvement in Massachusetts schools from mediocrity to national leadership over the past two decades has been driven by state-level policy. For 25 years, MBAE has advocated successfully for standards-based education reform as the voice of the state's employer community - a voice of particular importance today, when college and career readiness is the focus. The policy emphasis is not one that comes naturally to most individual companies; and education (though vital to our economy) tends to be a secondary concern for general business organizations like my own employer. MBAE's existence and its commitment to policy are essential to the ongoing improvement of our schools and to the future of our state and it's young people.
MBAE has been THE business association most responsible for the consistent, productive drive in Massachusetts for student success. MBAE's leadership and credibility on education issues have been essential in achieving accountable education reforms since the early 1990s, and the alliance remains the key component for business in Massachusetts in pushing for continued improvement in public education.
There are many reasons that Massachusetts is a national education leader, but a big one is the diligent, intelligent, and unrelenting advocacy for high standards and true accountability that MBAE has effectively delivered for many years. MBAE has credibility among policymakers of all stripes, based on a track record of understanding the big issues and keeping the pressure on the adults to do what's right children. Education reform is a field that frequently suffers from fads and the search for silver bullets. MBAE avoids both; the organization is pragmatic, not ideological. MBAE provides an invaluable and unique service to policymakers, to the interests of employers in the business community, but most of all to the children attending Massachusetts schools.
For the better part of twenty years MBAE has taken on the most pressing challenges in Massachusetts public education. It is the voice of business and a trusted source for state policy makers. MBAE was the driving force for the state's landmark 1993 Education Reform Act which has since been acknowledged as a national model for improving public education. Continued vigilance is needed. For as long as the gaps persist in achievement for far too many disadvantaged students and districts the work of this group will remain unfinished.
MBAE is the voice of the Massachusetts employer community on k12 education policy. The three major statewide general business organizations participate, along with companies, institutions and individual leaders. MBAE launched the standards-based reform movement that has given Massachusetts the top-performing schools in the nation, and continues to advocate for reforms founded on hard-headed analysis. In 2010, for example, MBAE sponsored studies of personnel policies in the Boston public schools, and of the alignment of the proposed national Common Core standards with Massachusetts' standards.
Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education represents the interests of employers in advocating for education reform. MBAE this year was an essential ingredient in the state's passage of the Race To The Top reforms that allowed the state to add new charter schools and pushed districts to allow more reforms, and also studied and pushed the "common core" approach to testing of students. Education reform would look very different without MBAE.
MBAE is the state's premier sspokesperson for business interst in guiding state education policy. It has led education reform since 1991 by gathering the collective voices of manufacturing, technology, service, eeucation, and legal employers in Massachusetts. Most recently, MBAE was recognized by the governor for guiding the successful Race to the Top federal grant for $225,000,000. In addition, a recent report sponsored by MBAE identified that less than 1/2 of Boston teachers had received a recent performance evaluation. This prompted a renegotiation of Boston's teacher contract to improve teacher evaluation practices.