FYI from BSF, 08.11.23
Summer Reading
Often overlooked in the debate whether to move the O’Bryant to the West Roxbury Educational Complex (WREC) is the history of the site itself. Written four years ago, this WGBH piece chronicles the school’s opening in 1976, as a state-of-the art facility in response to the turmoil of desegregation, through its closure in 2019.
Contrary to the widely-shared narrative, it was not the creation of “small schools” - breaking the West Roxbury High School into specialized high schools with smaller student bodies - that destabilized the site’s enrollment and budget. The number of kids at WREC - both as West Roxbury High School and as different collections of smaller schools - was very consistent for fifteen years, to and through the period of the creation of the smaller schools in 2004.
The enrollment decline came later, and quickly.
The site was officially closed in 2019, with a few remaining seniors credited with graduation in the spring of 2020.
The likely, and more humbling, explanation is that dramatic shifts like this in schools have less to do with programmatic choices and more to do with broader economic and political forces.
Some of it - like the decline of the school-aged population in the city - was outside of the control of policymakers. Some of it - like changes in the assignment system, the expansion of charters of middle and high school grades, new state intervention powers - was very much in the control of policymakers.
As Boston moves toward the December 2023 deadline for a new master facilities plan, WREC is a reminder of how dynamic and fragile schools are, even with the best of intentions.
Here are the semifinalists for EdVestors’ School on Move Prize.
More than 20,000 Boston kids had access to summer programming through the 5th Quarter. Video here.
The linear relationship between parent agency and government responsiveness led to the quick resolution of the algebra controversy in Cambridge.
Massachusetts names its history teacher of the year as the designation becomes yet another front in education culture wars.
With Governor Healey’s signature, the FY24 Massachusetts budget is official. In case you missed it, education initiatives loomed large. This also includes early college programming; with a strong research basis, the initiative received an additional ~$28M. One layer deeper on Chapter 70 funding.
Data from Michigan implies the enrollment shocks caused by the pandemic may not be temporary.
The state takeover of Houston, TX schools has reinvigorated debate concerning state interventions.