On Monday, 2014 Massachusetts Governor candidate Juliette Kayyem held a press conference at the Thomas A. Edison K8 School in Brighton to announce her ideas for an educational program that would span from pre-kindergarten until a career is achieved should she be elected to succeed Governor Deval Patrick on Beacon Hill.
Kayyem, former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of Homeland Security, along with Joe Avellone and Steve Grossman are the only gubernatorial hopefuls to have outlined a comprehensive educational plan.
Kayyem’s initial educational blueprints, though, do fail to separate her candidacy and educational prowess from those of Avellone and Grossman.
Her initiative, dubbed Providing Education from Birth to Career, is a three-pronged attack on where Massachusetts, a state that’s made its bones in the field of education while becoming the standard by which all others are measured, has recently come up short.
According to Kayyem’s press secretary, her upstart calls for “a quality pre-kindergarten seat for every child by increasing Massachusetts’ Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program” to work in tandem with “center-and family-based early child development programs;” an increase in technological innovation at the collegiate level to foster a deeper commitment to retaining home-grown talent while increasing graduation rates; and a substantial overhaul in curricula as well as graduation requirements “to teach students the content and skills needed in college and employer settings and to better prepare them for productive independence and leadership.”
All of these will help to close the achievement gap and give Massachusetts youth a fighting chance in the classroom and when they reach the workforce.
“For Massachusetts to continue to be a leader in education and ensure economic stability of our residents we must strengthen our education system, especially linking community colleges with high schools,” said Kayyem in a statement. “Doing this will prepare students for higher education, reducing the need for remedial classes and increase preparation for careers.”
Avellone has the most substantial education reform plan thus far announced in the early stages of the governor’s race, noting the need for a higher stress on STEM fields(science, technology, engineering, mathematics) as well as vocational education, all of which take Kayyem’s plan a step further in preparing Bay State high schoolers for the next level, whether it be a career in the workforce or higher education.
In similar fashion, Grossman recognizes the importance of STEM education but thinks incorporating them with arts and humanities will better teach students “the creative problem-solving skills they need to thrive in today’s innovation economy.”
It’s still early in the race, remember, and Kayyem’s initiatives appear to be nothing more than a sign of things to come. She’s a scarily intelligent woman having lectured at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government – not to mention kickstarting the response to the notorious BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – so stay tuned to BostInno for the latest information from her campaign.
To read more about Kayyem’s education plans check out her campaign website here.
