FYI from BSF, 5.17.24
Good news: kids have learned more this year in schools in Boston and Massachusetts.
How do we know this without any sort of assessment or outcome data? Because we already know they have been in school more this year.
Since March 2021, Massachusetts has produced interim attendance reports. The failure to return to pre-pandemic attendance has been a clear drag on student’s academic progress, and updated figures released yesterday indicate things may be moving in the right direction.
After an initial drop after the return to in-person learning, attendance is improving.
Chronic absenteeism is declining rapidly.
Neither has returned to pre-pandemic levels; Boston’s historical attendance is closer to 92%, chronic absenteeism hovered around 25%. The progress is notable, even if it appears to be concentrated.
If there is one enduring theme in Boston schools - and American schools - it is variance. Averages and measures are often belied by a wide range of outcomes and results. So much of our education policy and political discourse revolves around variance, and how much we are collectively willing to tolerate.
This is particularly true in the case of attendance in Boston schools.
The majority of Boston schools (70) meet or exceed the district attendance average; many (23) even exceed the state average. A smaller number of schools (41) are posting lower rates of attendance, and many are much, much lower.
To put a finer point on it, compare the attendance rates of the top/bottom ten percent of Boston schools.
This gap actually grew from last year. Boston’s schools with the lowest attendance are all high schools (several of which are alternative schools) and now are amongst the lowest in the entire state. The Boston schools with the highest attendance are actually gaining year over year. And, yes, Boston's exam schools are in or near that group.
Even in the midst of progress, we find the some of the same problems.
notes in the margin
84% of polled Massachusetts families support moving to “the science of reading” in response to lower literacy assessments. But 80% of those same families think their children are reading on grade level. How do you reconcile this? Lots of data from MassINC/Ed Trust here.
You read it here first. High school graduation rates across Massachusetts remain high, albeit dipping slightly from last year. Percentages only tell you part of the story. Even with higher graduation rates, there are actually fewer high school graduates than there were five years ago (down ~3% in the last two years).
As campus protests close with the spring semester, another popped up at City Hall.
The “migrant crisis” in Massachusetts has increased school enrollment by one-fifth of one percent.
It has been long held that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote. Data from Boston charter schools (whose waitlist data continues to be a treasure trove for social science research) supports this, particularly among women and English learners.
This week in technology: writing may be better than typing for learning and Worcester is the most recent large school district to consider limiting cell phone use. Also, should cameras be used to stop motorists from illegally passing buses (data from Peabody)?
70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, one racial gap has closed (funding), but little else.
New York City’s response to meeting class size mandates? Less kids in classes.
Los Angeles, a case study in what happens when America doesn’t have the right number of schools in its communities.
