FYI from BSF, 10.22.21
Education 2021
It is unwise to hang an assumption on one data point.
It is noteworthy that the second poll of the Boston mayoral final election aligns with a previous poll and our analysis released last week.
With a different methodology, different voters, and in a different snapshot of time, the same conclusion is reached, albeit with more nuance: education is the top issue of the Boston mayoral election, receiving the most responses of any issue (seven options provided).
In some ways, this poll presents a tighter screen - it is easier to label multiple things as “important” than it is to choose just one issue as most important. Same patterns from last week, with some noise.
Education is the number one or number two issue based on voter preference, with little range.
Education is the number one or number two issue by race, with more range.
Education is the number one or number two issue by area of the city, with some range.
Education is the number one or number two issue by party affiliation, with basically no range (!).
While the poll verified support for an elected school committee (69%), it also provided a new piece of data. Voters report low name recognition and low favorability for Superintendent Cassellius.
In the past two weeks there have been two polls, two debates, and zero questions or responses that immediately address urgent concerns in Boston schools. There could be as many as four new School Committee members in January (one profiled here). Data from around the country portends a further decrease in enrollment when it is reported next month. Professionals are declaring child mental health a national emergency.
The election is in 11 days, and thereafter 137 days remain in the 2021-2022 school-year.
Reopening Boston, MA and Beyond
It is hard to look anywhere without hearing about supply or labor shortages. That is true in education, too. A simple search here reveals scores of open positions in Boston, although the lack of staffing at Mission Hill Pilot is due to different and more alarming reasons. It is not just PK-12; teacher shortages are one of the factors continuing to drive the high cost of child care in Massachusetts.
Very busy week at the state level. The weekly COVID-19 report did not show an increase in school-based cases while eligible communities are largely waiting to lift mask mandates.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on Tuesday with a full agenda, including a vision for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year. In the background, concerns were raised about the state’s continued intervention in Lawrence, where there has been escalation of instability and violence in its high school.
Up next - vaccinating the 500,000+ 5-11 year-olds in Massachusetts. The federal government has gears in motion to begin in early November, so be on the lookout for Massachusetts-specific plans.
Other Matters
With a new law signed, “lunch shaming” is now over in Massachusetts schools. Small sample, but Massachusetts students led the country in ACT performance.
Questions of race and schools aren’t just happening in other places. Compelling testimony was provided in support of a new Massachusetts law concerning teacher diversity. A Malden charter school was denied a waiver from requirements for cultural competency, while local parents and a national group are suing Wellesley Public Schools around racial affinity groups. A controversy is coming to light around the Middlesex School's un-invitation for Nikole Hannah-Jones to speak. For the second time in a month, a Boston high school football team (of a BSF partner school) was subjected to racial slurs and attacks.
The Student Dispatch, a new student journalism/local reporting venture, featured two education stories this week.
Now, more than ever, school matters. ICYMI, an update on our re-centering work with schools.
