FYI from BSF, 09.09.22
Back to School
All Boston kids are officially back in school. We wrote about that, in case you missed it.
With the return of school, comes the usual rites of fall. Attempts to reengage chronically absent students. Buses, overcoming mishaps in the bus yard and the temporary Orange Line with shuttle buses and a lot of friendly adults. Buses did well, compared to past performance and given the conditions.
Even with the new Orange Line trains and more room for yellow school buses, we do not frequently stop to assess the benefits and costs of such a system. A new NBER working paper asserts that bus transportation in Boston and New York City is more likely to produce diverse schools (good), but not improve student academic outcomes (not good).
No new school-year would be complete in Boston without a legal discussion of exam schools. The city is looking to a federal court to toss the most recent challenge.
Yet, some things are new.
If the Green New Deal for Boston Public School is a success, we will see a lot more ribbon cuttings each fall. The newly opened Boston Arts Academy building in the Fenway featured a star-studded pep rally, including the most powerful person in the city.
David Ortiz.
In less bold and less green facilities work, hot autumn days will be more tolerable in some classrooms due to some new air conditioning units.
Schools are still struggling to fill open staffing positions. What are teachers thinking about? The NY Times published pretty affecting vignettes.
Other Matters
We fielded a lot of questions and follow-up concerning NAEP results. State results (and Boston results) should be available in October. Deep dive into national trends while you wait.
Strikes in Washington state (Seattle, most prominently) are interrupting the start of school. Teachers want higher pay, more supports, and programmatic changes. The city is feeling the budget crunch. With graphs like this in many cities around the country and the federal funding cliff coming, expect more of this to come.
