FYI from BSF, 10.01.21
Signal, and a Lot of Noise
Despite any comments or headlines you may read, the racial achievement gap in Boston has exploded by grade 10.
This was not a consequence of the pandemic. The chasm opened with the resetting of high school standards and MCAS in 2019. Statewide, you see the same pattern. One must also account for the lower participation rates in high schools in Boston, likely driven by the requirement to test in-person.
But that doesn’t explain the full story.
There is also an “intra” achievement gap: Boston Black students have lagged behind their Black peers statewide in every grade in Math and ELA since 2017.
Same case for Boston’s Latino students (in 30 of 32 of the results posted below).
Boston Black and Latino students’ proficiency levels have dropped significantly over the past four years, accelerated by shifts in high school standards and the pandemic. You aren’t reading the graph below incorrectly - less than a quarter of Boston’s Black and Latino students are proficient in any subject by 8th grade.*
Is this alarming? It depends on whom you ask.
Some teachers, advocates, and state legislators would likely say no. That a focus on unfinished learning is misplaced. That the MCAS is not technically sound, and a new common assessment must be created. That the MCAS is a tool of white supremacy.
These assertions do not lack merit. It is becoming quickly apparent that children need additional social and emotional supports to restart in-person learning. Standardized testing can narrow focus and curriculum, at the expense of other content and skills. And one could argue that the disparate results by race of the MCAS define the assessment itself is racist (although worth noting there is a standing committee charged with countering this).
There is one stubborn truth, though. The graphs above could be discredited or ignored...if they didn’t align so well with other measures.
There is a sobering slate of other indicators and outcomes that tell the same story. The MCAS is not the only assessment that shows these sorts of gaps - the NAEP (the Nation’s Report Card) and Advanced Placement tests do, too, for example.
So does attendance.
So does GPA.
High school graduation rates, too.
College matriculation rates, too.
These data points form into a clear picture: Boston Black and Latino students have significantly lower educational outcomes than their peers. Anyone serious about changing that would not muddy things over a single data source when the overall picture is so clear. They would be urgently moving towards solutions to this obvious problem.
The alternative is to know nothing about the literacy and numeracy gaps kids need filled to progress in their learning. The alternative is to say nothing about these persistent inequities. The alternative is to do nothing about the fact that thousands of Boston Black and Latino children lack a path to literacy and numeracy, and choice-filled lives.
It is true that schools can’t do everything.
But we should be able to expect them to do some things. And all the available evidence tells us that the system is not serving its Black and Latino students.
We don’t need more data or a data debate - we need action.
Reopening Boston, MA, and Beyond
Boston has taken some significant strides in educator safety in the past week. After the CDC’s guidance, Boston teachers were some of the first people in the state to have access to vaccine boosters. 75% of Boston city workers are vaccinated, with over 97% of teachers vaccinated or complying with weekly testing.
It appears that federal money is going to Boston schools’ health and safety, but unclear what else. The emphasis on installing window air conditioning units, which usually require closed windows to operate, doesn’t exactly follow pandemic science.
On Monday, Boston will submit an application for a quarter billion dollars of additional federal aid. The last public details on what may be submitted was shared in a preliminary report in July. There are reports that Boston’s Chief of Family and Community Advancement, who shepherded this process, is resigning, as is the district’s Chief of Schools.
Supply chain issues are creating lunch problems here and around the country.
The state’s mask mandate in schools was extended, perhaps to the chagrin of those taking the issue to court. State reporting saw a slight decrease in student COVID cases, and a slight increase for educators. Amherst became the first community in the Commonwealth to mandate COVID vaccines for students.
There are early signals that we may see enrollment swings again this year. In other parts of the country, enrollment in charters has increased. Los Angeles is already reporting a decline of 30,000 students and Chicago is down at least 10,000 more students.
This was not captured in much of the week’s Manchin gazing and Sinema cinema, but the gridlock in Washington has tremendous implications for preK and college access.
Education 2021
Exam schools will return to the forefront and perhaps emerge in the mayor’s race next week; the October 6th School Committee meeting will feature a simulation of the new admission policy.
Other Matters
Efforts to remove bias from curriculum.
A personal retrospective on Boston’s school desegregation in 1970’s.
A new study provides evidence that education policies in Washington, DC have significantly benefitted Black children.
Our own Kerry Donahue writes, persuasively, on long-needed reforms for Boston’s high schools.
*Since last week’s FYI we learned that a small number of Boston Black and Latino elementary schools students did exceed expectations in math; the sample was so small it rounded to 0% in state reporting.