Education
Education in Boston Public Schools (BPS) has deeply segregated roots that have only been exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. To fully understand the BPS system, it is important to acknowledge some of its background. The BPS system educates around 54,000 students in 125 schools from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds: half of their students are bilingual, their student population represents 139 countries, one fifth of students have a disability, and one half of students are economically disadvantaged. According to the “Nation’s Report Card”, BPS students’ performance is below the national average for all public schools. However, the graduation rate, particularly for Black students, is rising and there are opportunities to re-engage students who have decided to drop out.
While the overall student performance is similar to the national average, looking beneath the surface reveals that Boston Schools’ achievement gap is indeed separated along racial lines. While White and Asian students have high educational achievements, as 80-90% of these students score ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced’ on standardized testing, the percentage of Black and Latino students who achieve these same goals is in the 50-60% range. Despite efforts to close the gap between students of color, particularly Black students, and their White peers, BPS must tackle students’ systemic barriers. One public school teacher said that their socioeconomically disadvantaged students must work outside of school, leaving little time for homework and leading to decreased engagement in the classroom.
As the pandemic has forced students to study from home and teachers to teach remotely, BPS has only faced more challenges in their effects to provide equitable access to education. Due to the pandemic, public school enrollment overall has dropped over 4%, pushing down enrollment in Brookline, Newton, and Somerville specifically. Even BPS charter schools have enrolled 2,500 fewer students for the 2020-2021 academic school year compared to last year. The Advanced Work Classes, a selective program for students in fourth through sixth grade, has been suspended due to the pandemic and ongoing concerns about equity in the program. The goal is to develop anti-racist policies for this program, as 70% of the enrolled students in this selective program are White and Asian while nearly 80% of all BPS students are Black and Latino. Nonetheless, even the few Black and Latino students who were part of this program are no longer receiving access to those resources, showing how this pandemic has exacerbated problems of equity.
Looking forward, a report signed by state education commissioner Jeff Riley and BPS superintendent Brenda Cassellius in 2020 identified substantial, long term problems with BPS and recommended changes to increase accountability and equity throughout the school system.
On March 24, 2021, Kim Janey was sworn in as the first woman and first Black mayor in Boston’s history, which has huge implications for the future of BPS and Boston as a whole. Janey grew up during Boston’s desegregation of schools, or ‘busing’ era, and worked as a senior project director at MA Advocates for Children, pushing policy reforms in BPS. Dedicating her life to education, Janey plans to put a mandate on racial equity in the post-pandemic era. However, this year Janey will be running for this position against four other candidates in the Boston mayoral election. The non-partisan preliminary election will be held on September 21, and the general Mayoral election will be in November. Read more about the candidates and their positions on education and racial equity here.