Kudos to Boston Globe Magazine for an excellent series on the lives of Valedictorians from Boston's Public Schools decades after graduation. This series troubles me greatly because the "Right to Rise" is fundamental to our American identity, because I have spent my entire professional life attempting to close the education achievement gap and because I share some similarities with these Boston Valedictorians. https://apps.bostonglobe.com/magazine/graphics/2019/01/17/valedictorians/?p1=ValHomepage Clearly, I did not have the added challenge of race. And, of great importance, while my parents did not have enormous wealth or privilege and connections, they provided the intact, stable support at home that is so important to overcoming social and educational deficiencies which can hamper achievement and success both in college and careers. As a working mom and practicing Catholic I also spend a lot of time trying to work through the guilt about all the privileges my daug

 A major motivation for this venue is to preview themes I have toyed with writing about for years. But I am a chicken despite my bravado in many social (and social media!) situations. I have previewed a speech on my complicated relationship with confidence in select crowds which was well received which led me to this vehicle. A blog appeals because I can chunk off pieces of my thoughts as a successful working mother who came of age in the Title Nine generation where there was the promise of equality but not always the reality. And one of the persistent implications for that for me and that I have observed for other women both my age and younger has been a lack of confidence. Not always in themselves but in how they should approach certain situations or of how assertive to be. While I've worked most of my career in and around education, I am not a trained educator or teacher. But it has occurred to me (as a mom and mentor) that we learn a lot of behaviors through mimickry or model

My motivation to enter public service centered around education excellence. My tenure in public service was focused on education policy and my post-political life has been spent in the education sector. My involvement in my daughters' education -- making sure they were attending the right schools, communicating with teachers, securing the right supports, helping with homework, volunteering, editing papers, helping to select courses, helping with their college search, paying for their college choice, supporting their emerging career aspirations with solid education advice -- has been informed by and has informed my work. So, no surprise that this article on the University of Massachusetts at Amherst efforts to become a more selective and prestigious State University would get my attention and that I would have opinions. Those opinions are too long for a Facebook rant and exactly why I have this Blog! So here is a policy post for the New Year friends!! I will limit this post to three