MCET: Creating the Infrastructure

Abstract

Massachusetts has forged a unique path to create the Mass LearnPike. It is not among the early leaders. An elementary school principal was once heard to say, “I don't want to be first or even second. Middle, middle. That's where my parents and this community want to be.” In allowing other states to surge ahead, to experiment, to slip and fail, to emerge with strong programs and services, the middles, like Massachusetts, can pick and choose their strategies. The middles can select program material from the best available throughout the country. The middles can build an infrastructure that is reasonable and sound, based upon experience rather than intuition. The middles can experiment with combining technologies and introducing new variations. With that infrastructure firmly in place, the middles will spread their wings and scale new heights; they will change the delivery of education for local schools. Today, Massachusetts has the resources, the leadership team, the partnerships, and the momentum to move from the middles into a nontrivial role in shaping the future of schooling.

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References

1. Unpublished presentations at “Computers in Education,” conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, 1979, 1980.

2. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1982 Mass. Acts 560.

3. Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications (MCET) , Distance Learning for the Commonwealth: A Plan for an Educational Telecommunications Network (Boston: MCET, Spring 1989).

4. The Board of Directors includes presidents of five public and private colleges, municipal and general public representatives, the commissioner of K-12 education, the chancellor of higher education, the chairman of public television station WGBH, and others all appointed by the governor. The Advisory Council, also appointed by the governor, draws its members from libraries and health and cultural organizations. Few members come from the community of teachers, students, and superintendents that is MCET's target audience.

5. MCET , “Mission Statement,” approved by the Board of Directors on 18 Mar. 1990.

6. MCET , “Goals and Objectives,” approved by the Board of Directors on 18 Mar. 1990.

7. Massachusetts budget for fiscal year 1991, signed by the governor on 31 July 1990.

8. MCET , “Information Packet,” sent to all school superintendents, Apr. 1990.

9. MCET , Linking with the Mass Learn-Pike (Boston: MCET, Mar. 1990).

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10. “Four Towns Pioneering Use of TV Teaching,” Boston Globe, 20 May 1990.

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11. MCET , “Reach for the Stars: Improving Science Instruction in Middle Grade Schools” (Proposal to the Star Schools Program, MCET, 16 May 1990).

12.

12. “Distance Learning Usage Climbs in Minnesota,” Heller Report, 1(10):8 (July 1990).

13.

13. Proposal price quotations from NYNEX Systems Marketing, 27 July 1990.

14.

14. Massachusetts budget for fiscal year 1991.

15.

15. U.S., Congress, Office of Technology Assessment , Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education (Washington, DC: Office of Technology Assessment, 1989), chap. 2.

16.

16. Barbara N. Flagg , Formative Evaluation for Educational Technologies (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1990), pp. 25-29.

17.

17. Howard Gardner , Frames of Mind: Theory of Multiple Intelligence (New York: Basic Books, 1983), introduction.

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18. “Channel One” (Promotional material from Whittle Communications, 1990).