FYI from BSF, 04.30.21

Some things we have read through recently..

Field Of Dreams

It is hard to conjure up a more hopeful picture than a high school graduation.

Now add in a waning pandemic.

And now add in Fenway.

In a pretty creative and special partnership, the Red Sox and the city are teaming up to offer graduation ceremonies for 15 Boston high schools.

Securing and planning this must have required a ton of logistics. Scheduling around the Red Sox games, coordinating with schools, managing tickets/parking, accounting for social distancing, rain plans, etc.

You really have to dig into the details because it matters - it is the only way to pull this off for deserving kids, their families, and their educators. Detail orientation shows you care.

Following calls for transparency, this same week a commission was announced to weigh in on how BPS will spend over $400M to recover from COVID-19 and explore innovative ways to reimagine schools in Boston.

Family and student participants were listed as “TBD.” The commission has no formal charge, and there was open discussion at this week’s School Committee meeting regarding who was actually in charge of deciding what was proposed. The commission has many well-known participants and interest groups, but very few PK-12 educators and no one with a background in public health. The commission will meet only five times, with most of the work being done by BPS staff (as described during the School Committee meeting).

The district has until July 30th to complete its first application for federal funds.

This is a huge amount of money for Boston - almost two times what all of Massachusetts received from the federal government’s Race to the Top program in 2010. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. But, perhaps, we can agree on a few guiding principles for how these decisions should be made.

Transparency: The public and families have the right to know how this money will be spent. As an example, the Massachusetts Student Opportunity Act provides a reliable blueprint for ensuring all major stakeholders - city leaders, school committees, superintendents, principals and teachers, families, and community groups - contribute to plans to spend additional state funds. The billions of federal dollars flowing into Massachusetts require a true public hearing, and it is incumbent on all school districts to create a real public process to share their visions for these funds and account for spending.

Proximity: Teachers and principals know their students and school communities need, and families entrust them every day with that task. Educators, those most proximal to students, must be given the authority to spend those federal funds on their classrooms and students. We should trust educators to support children’s academic, social, and emotional recovery, and provide them with the training and resources to do it.

Equity: The last 13 months have impacted some children and some communities more than others — and disproportionately so among those most marginalized. Those most impacted by the pandemic need more to recover - extended time, tutoring, social and mental health services, and more. Schools and school systems will need time and data to act. Assessing students is not a distraction; it sets a baseline to ensure resources are equitably distributed.

Innovation: As urgent as the need is to return to more in-person learning, the pandemic has granted Boston the rare opportunity to rethink systems and structures that haven’t fully served all students. We should not go back to normal, because that system was not working for the majority of Boston students. We have the money to put the bold ideas into action, especially if we are committed to truly innovating around what students and parents tell us they need.

Does the proposed commission match this framework?

You really have to dig into the details because it matters - it is the only way to pull this for deserving kids, their families, and their educators. Detail orientation shows you care.

Exam School’s, Continued

With the decline of an additional appeal on Wednesday, invitations for Boston’s three exams schools went out, following a changed admission system for this year.

This is not a final data set or analysis.  It is based on historical data for 7th grade admissions (2018, 2019, and 2020), and estimates using cut off ranks by zip code.  But there are two clear trends to project.
 

1. The attempt to offer more exam school seats in different zip codes appears to have worked.  Every zip code saw a +/-15% change in seats offered.

2. Eight neighborhoods saw the most dramatic swings in percent and number of seats. But, worth noting, the biggest increase was for “99999” - students classified as experiencing homelessness.

But we only have half of the story. First, these represent invitations, not enrollment. Students’ and families’ rankings of the 3 exam schools will ultimately determine the make-up of the incoming class at each school. Second, invitations or enrollment by race are not yet public. The size and racial diversity of some of Boston neighborhoods make it impossible to project what the changes in racial demographics may be.

Stay tuned.

Reopening in Boston, MA, and Beyond

Boston Public School elementary school students returned to buildings on Monday, with reported smooth starts. We are curious to see final enrollment and attendance numbers - national data implies white students have disproportionately benefited from school buildings reopening.

More students will follow - this week the state mandated a return for high school students by May 17th (with waivers available again). This is newer, complicated terrain - a large percentage of high schoolers could be vaccinated by then, counteracting research that shows a greater chance of virus spread at this age. Pooled testing will likely play a role. Sports will be closely monitored.

The state reported a significant drop in reported, school-based COVID-19 cases.

A state Board of education member’s comments about the ability of some districts to reopen resulted in an apology and calls for resignation.

School reopening does not seem to be resulting in a teacher shortage - turnover ratesare nearly identical to years past. Compensation may be a factor - teacher pay is steadily increasing across the country.

Washington, DC is the second major city to project major enrollment decline next year.

Other Matters

On Wednesday, Boston School Committee welcomed a new student member, Xyra Mercer.

In addition to discussion of reopening and the commission, the meeting featured a vote to add 125 family liaison positions and a review of goals.  Over the next five years, the district is aiming to have about a half of its students prepared for life after graduation.

Big, big numbers are flying around to fundamentally change education in Massachusetts and across the country, by among other priorities, moving towards universal preK.