FYI from BSF, 10.20.23
Boston School Committee on Wednesday featured an accurate, frank, some would say overdue assessment.
“We can no longer be a district where certain students have to travel to a certain school, in a certain neighborhood outside their own, to get a certain program." (Superintendent Skipper)
In this case, the “certain students” are students with special needs and English learners.
Boston Public Schools serves a large population of students with special needs (~9,890) and English Learners (~14,674), who would themselves compromise the 11th and 6th largest school districts in the Commonwealth, respectively. And, as BPS enrollment has declined, you see a greater concentration of these students.
BPS allocates significant resources to support its students with special needs and English Learners, with very large increases in staffing and budget in the past few years. That total cost (~$479M) is now greater than the entirety of Worcester school district.
Despite this, BPS itself reports that pernicious gaps remain across most student outcomes, not just relative to Boston’s general education students, but compared to special needs students and English Learners statewide.
The state’s most recent audit and the ensuing report from the Council of Great City Schools were crystal clear in addressing the lack of progress and the disproportionate number of children excluded from general education classrooms and peers. The district revealed its plan on Wednesday.
The headline is ambitious: moving the maximum number of students to inclusive environments by 2025-2026. Expanding inclusion not only offers academic and social benefits to students; it also brings more resources through savings on specialized programs, less transportation, etc. Very detailed student outcomes goals in this presentation, too.
There is a lot of work ahead. Scaling inclusion touches everything in schools from professional development to student assignment and budgeting. There are Boston schools that have bucked the achievement trends with students with special needs and English learners - most by implementing inclusion. You can find a bunch here by playing with some filters.
This work is necessary and possible, and the clock to 2025-2026 starts ticking now.
Notes in the Margin
Boston School Committee also touched on transformation schools. Full materials here. There was a lot of other coverage of Boston schools this week…
Once again, the partnership with Boston After School Beyond drove summer learning participation to new heights - doubling the number of offerings in just the last seven years.
More books are coming in for equitable literacy.
Boston Green Academy is one of ten schools receiving new outdoor classrooms.
Massachusetts schools still need support to discuss the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Why is Massachusetts pursuing regulations on youth sports? This newsletter/editorial provides some perspective.
Rhode Island assessments mirror a pattern in Massachusetts data: English Learners who gain proficiency are among the state’s highest performers.
With less open space, higher construction costs, and higher wages, what can Massachusetts learn from Iowa’s approach to early education?
Some updated national data on school staffing shortages.
Lots of interesting data and research cited in this editorial regarding grading policies in schools.
In a post-ish SAT world and the proliferation of early decision, wealth has even greater advantages in college admission. What’s at stake? You get to live longer.
other matters
This weekly newsletter is a small part of the work we do. This podcast interview walks you through BSF, and why and how we work here.