​Jim Hawkins is your candidate for re-election to State Representative in the Second Bristol District of Attleboro. He is a graduate of Colby College with an MBA from Providence College. He has been a homeowner in Attleboro for over 35 years. Jim has been an eager and supportive advocate for local businesses and has earned a glowing reputation as a steadfast and effectual champion for public education.
MCAS turns our schools upside down. As a tenth grade math teacher just the math portion of MCAS was an 8 hour test And these are 15 year old and that is only the math portion! Because of the high stakes we have to “teach to the test” more than follow needed curriculum. And if a student isn’t good at a stressful test like this they can be kept from graduating. Attleboro is part of the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment. Together teachers and administrators are developing a performance based alternative to high stakes testing. This would be less stressful on students. It would be a fairer evaluation of student success. And it would avoid the $30 million we spend on outside test prep for MCAS. It should be a welcome breath of fresh air in education yet the Republicans on the legislature opposed funding it…even though it would ultimately save money!