Published July 21, 2010

If you want to understand the differences between Massachusetts’ senior and junior senators, you could watch them play softball.

The lanky Sen. Kerry, in suit shirt and pants, grounds out and doesn’t even run for first base. Sen. Brown, on the other hand, comes dressed to play with the number 41 on his jersey. (Get it?) Brown hits kind of puny-like — I mean the guy is a triathlete — but at least he puts in some real effort to getting to first.

Brown’s team ultimately prevailed 11-6, the Globe reports.

WBUR’s Dave Shaw, providing play-by-play as he watches over my shoulder, remarks: “That’s sort of a low-scoring softball game, to be honest with you.”

(Footage shared by freelance journalist Byron C. Tau, who might be going after the record for shakiest video ever.)

Published July 21, 2010

The state board of education votes today on whether to adopt national standards for math and English, called “Common Core,” or stick with the Bay State’s own highly regarded standards. (Our Bianca Vazquez Toness is there now.) Update: The board has approved adoption of Common Core standards.

Need to get up to speed? Here’s the latest.

On Monday, I linked to a Pioneer Institute report (read on Scribd) that finds deep flaws in the national standards and advises Massachusetts not to fix what ain’t broke. A member of the board of ed and a former superintendent of Boston schools debated the matter on Radio Boston.

Afterward, I received an e-mail from Jonathan Palumbo, the spokesman for the state’s executive office of education:

I see that you have posted on your website materials from a research group here in Boston with opinions on the Common Core national standards. Is there any way to post as well the reports from the Massachusetts teachers and professors who also reviewed Common Core and came to a different conclusion than this group?

The reports from English and math experts are on the ESE website: http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/docs/0710/item1.html.

I think it would be fair for your visitors to have the opportunity to see both sides as opposed on just one.

Agreed. Those findings prompted Education Commissioner to back the Common Core standards. The Boston Globe, in an editorial Tuesday, also backed the new standards.

Yet another report, released this morning by the nonprofit Fordham Institute (read on Scribd), is cagier, saying the pros and cons of adopting Common Core make it “too close to call.” The study’s lead author, Chester Finn, explained the findings to WBUR’s Bob Oakes on Morning Edition today.

More:

• State Republicans Seek To Block Education Reform Vote
• Board Members Take Sides
• Mass. Education Commissioner Backs National Standards
• Radio Boston: Standardizing Mass. Education Standards

Published July 21, 2010

Phoebe Prince

Phoebe Prince, the South Hadley teenager whose suicide led to the demonization of her bullies, may have been more troubled than we knew.

In a startling, 12,000-word article on Slate, reporter Emily Bazelon (@emilybazelon) says the case is far more complicated than the press has let on.

A recent immigrant from Ireland, Phoebe Prince was pretty, smart and popular in high school. But she was vulnerable. Destructive. Instead of fighting back when kids picked on her, she hurt herself. She encroached on other relationships. She fell out with friends.

My investigation into the events that gave rise to Phoebe’s death, based on extensive interviews and review of law enforcement records, reveals the uncomfortable fact that Phoebe helped set in motion the conflicts with other students that ended in them turning on her. Her death was tragic, and she shouldn’t have been bullied. But she was deeply troubled long before she ever met the six defendants. And her own behavior made other students understandably upset.

The author says she grappled with whether to write the story at all. “But when the D.A. charged kids with causing Phoebe’s death and threatened them with prison, she invited an inquiry into other potential causes.” The case reveals just how poorly equipped we all are to understand and deal with teen bullying.

It’s a fascinating read.

Update: Here & Now talked to Bazelon on the show Wednesday.