FYI from BSF, 12.22.23
Our annual, timely enrollment analysis generated a lot of questions. You can use this link to search, filter, and answer some on your own.
With BPS system trends documented here, we can go down a few levels.
Even when accounting for the increase in Commonwealth charter school enrollment (+38% since 2015), the decline in Boston’s public school students over the past decade is significant and diffuse.
There are some neighborhoods that are significantly contributing to the trend; the top three below are responsible for half of the overall decline.
In total, nearly ⅔ of Boston’s public schools lost enrollment over the past 10 years.
There has been a significant expansion in preK over the past decade (up 9.5%). But most schools will continue to see decline because other entry grades - kindergarten (required), 5th grade (many charter schools), 7th grade (exam schools and reconfigured high schools), and 9th grade (high schools) - are in decline.
Particularly challenging for the long term: Boston kindergarten enrollment is down by nearly 20%. This is a national trend, too.
Underneath the headlines of system decline and adjacent to many schools experiencing it, there are exceptions. A school system may not be able to answer for larger economic, political, and social pressures, but individual schools point to what could be a systemic response.
Most of the schools that did not decline were schools that were slated for growth due to a new program or building (e.g., Dearborn STEM) or a charter expansion authorized by the state (e.g., Neighborhood House).
The neighborhoods bucking the trend have less to do with geography and more to the expansion of a new high-demand option in that geography: the Eliot (Central), Excel and BPS reconfiguration (East Boston), Mattapan (Brooke Mattapan and Brooke High School).
Entire cities - such as Washington, DC - have successfully driven enrollment with this simple concept: high-demand schools and programs paired with new grades and facilities.
There is an opportunity to do the same thing in Boston.
notes in the margin
A significant portion of Mayor Wu's WBUR interview focused on education, including her "anxiety in the short term" with the end of federal stimulus funding.
The initial changes to Boston exam school admissions were upheld by the First Circuit; with a similar case in Virginia, it could be on the Supreme Court docket in 2024.
Gateway City leaders are calling on the Governor to end selective admissions for vocational schools.
Point, counterpoint on whether Massachusetts community college should be free.
A few charts that share how American teachers are feeling.
Many American teachers are experiencing higher class sizes due to staffing shortages.
Richmond, VA has dramatically decreased its chronic absenteeism rates. This is how they did it.
The long tail of the pandemic: 50,000 children have still not returned to schooling.
Other Matters
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