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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools
A mother's journey, helping families navigate BPS and protecting her own from it

Boston schools lost 15,000 Black students in the past 20 years. Where did they go, and will they ever return?

In a dramatic reshaping of its makeup, Boston Public Schools has lost half its Black student population in the last two decades, as Black enrollment fell from from 29,300 in the 2002-2003 school year to 14,600 last year.

In Mattapan’s Haitian Creole program, a taste of the bilingual education BPS wants to expand

Bilingual education can be a tough sell to many immigrant parents who believe their children should focus only on English.

It’s been a year since the vote. Where is Boston’s elected School Committee?

Nearly 80 percent of voters made it clear they wanted to elect Boston School Committee members, but Mayor Michelle Wu says now is no time for transition.
For many advocates, restoring Boston’s elected School Committee is about expanding voting rights in communities of color

New special education report raises questions about bias against Boston’s Black and Latino boys

The disproportionate representation of Black and Latino males in special education is a symptom of a much larger problem facing Boston Public Schools.

How are Mass. public school graduates faring? Here are key takeaways from a new state report.

The data also consistently showed that year after year female students earn less on average than male students, English learners earn less than native English speakers, and significant wage gaps exist among students with disabilities compared to those without.

Digital hall passes: ‘Bathroom Big Brother’ or solution to antsy students?

The technology — which tracks how often and how long students are out of class — has been touted as a remedy to bad bathroom behavior by some and labeled an invasion of privacy by others.

Boston Public Schools launches investigation into allegations of discrimination against administrators of color

The retired administrators contend district leaders appear to be disproportionately placing high-ranking officials of color on leave and subjecting them to a process known as investigatory meetings in an effort to terminate them or force them to resign.

Pandemic learning losses could cost Massachusetts students $21 billion in future earnings

Achieve helps low-income Boston students reach high performing high schools, college

BPS added more positions. But they don’t have enough people to fill them. The result? 800 vacancies

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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

‘That looks like what I eat at home’: City Fresh Foods makes meals for BPS students, by Bostonians
The Roxbury-based food producers in May were awarded a $17 million contract, the largest non-construction contract ever given to a certified Black-owned business by the city.

Globe Magazine

‘The Mary Lyon way’: A Boston inclusion school’s successful approach to re-engagement
The full-inclusion school in the Boston system could have fallen apart during the pandemic. Here’s why it soared instead.

Massachusetts students hit 19-year low on national reading, math exams

Massachusetts is no longer top of the class on national report card, falling behind Wyoming in fourth grade math and New Jersey in eighth grade reading.

Key things that schools can do to fight learning loss, according to experts

Experts believe catching students up will require years-long intensive interventions to help close those gaps.

Nation’s Report Card spells out urgency for local, state leaders to address learning losses

Reading and math scores fell district, state, and nationwide in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, made public Monday. State and district leaders said the scores reinforce the need to work quickly to catch students up.

Haverhill schools to reopen Friday after teachers and district reach deal

Haverhill Education Association President Tim Briggs said teachers had “won a financial package that represents a substantial investment in our public schools, closing the damaging wage gap between Haverhill educators and educators in other districts.”

Following one-day strike, Malden teachers ratify new contract

The tentative three-year agreement includes raises for teaches and administrators, an entirely new pay scale for paraprofessionals, and new language to determine the size of caseloads for school social workers and educators who provide special education services.

With Boston special education students missing classes because of late buses, two advocacy organizations seek state intervention

The move comes five months after the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education found students with disabilities were being disproportionately impacted by the late bus crisis, adding to the learning losses that mounted during the pandemic.

Early literacy screening a ‘starting point’ for educators

With more students this year failing to meet statewide requirements for reading and writing on the state MCAS exams, and national reading scores falling the most in 30 years of the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests due to pandemic related learning disruptions, early literacy interventions and support will be critical.

More school coverage

Boston Public Schools’ enrollment drops for 8th consecutive year

This is the district’s eighth consecutive year of decline and brings the total loss of students over the last decade to more than 8,000.

Once underperforming, East Boston High School made gains through the pandemic. Can BPS replicate the success?

East Boston High School has become a model for the district, managing to continue years of academic gains even through the pandemic.

In Mattapan’s Haitian Creole program, a taste of the bilingual education BPS wants to expand

Bilingual education can be a tough sell to many immigrant parents who believe their children should focus only on English.

It’s been a year since the vote. Where is Boston’s elected School Committee?

Nearly 80 percent of voters made it clear they wanted to elect Boston School Committee members, but Mayor Michelle Wu says now is no time for transition.

New grant expanding music education will benefit hundreds of East Boston students

East Boston will receive $400,000 of the the grant funding annually over three years, starting this school year.

Featured Stories

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Nov. 30: Why are Black students leaving Boston?Nov. 23: New special education report raises questions about bias against Boston’s Black and Latino boysNov. 16: Digital hall passes: ‘Bathroom Big Brother’ or solution to antsy students?

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Upcoming and past events

The Great Divide has been hosting an ongoing series of virtual events, with an emphasis on student voices, during the pandemic. Watch some of our past events:
All in this together? How to minimize harm in reopening schoolsGlobeDocs presents: 'My voice matters': Brighton Debate en Español teamThe Digital Divide: Education, Race and Virtual LearningGreat Divide Town Hall: What will it take for you to feel safe when schools reopen?

About The Great Divide

The Great Divide is a reporting effort dedicated to investigating race, class, and inequality in Boston-area schools. It is jointly funded by the Globe and the Barr Foundation, a Boston-based foundation that has prioritized student success in high school and beyond. The Globe maintains editorial control and independence over the project.
THE GREAT DIVIDE

Inside the forgotten story of the Chinatown mothers who mobilized during the Boston busing crisis

The story of Boston’s busing crisis, the one memorialized in books, films, and podcasts, is typically characterized as a Black and white struggle. What is less known is the story of the Chinese immigrant women who organized a three-day school boycott in 1975 that would change the balance of power in Chinatown for decades to come.

Back to (home)school

The number of children homeschooled in Massachusetts soared after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Academics and Learning

MCAS scores for schools across the state

New MCAS data underscore missed learning of the pandemic. What if kids can’t catch up?

With the MCAS reinforcing prior data indicating many students are more than half a school year behind, the state and districts risk moving too slowly to make up that time.
2022 MCAS scores show slow progress in student academic performance

Nearly one-third of Massachusetts students were chronically absent last year
Chronic absenteeism has more than doubled statewide since before the pandemic. In Boston and other large urban districts, over 40 percent of students missed 10 percent or more of the last school year, according to data through March 2022.

After mastering English, bilingual students ace tests, including the MCAS
Among all Massachusetts students who took the MCAS exam as 10th-graders in 2019, former English learners had a higher passing rate on the English Language Arts portion of the test than any other group of students.

Equity and Access

More low-income students gain access to Boston’s exam schools after admission policy changes

The introduction of the bonus points has been widely embraced by civil rights advocates and many parents who contend that it helps level the playing field for applicants who don’t have the financial means for test prep and who tend not perform as well on standardized tests.
Boston Public Schools seeks to have exam school case tossed out of federal court, arguing ‘the case is moot’

Most of Boston’s schools lack fully functioning libraries. The superintendent vowed to change that — but will her successor?
In Boston, after years of decline in library access, a school library with regular hours, dedicated staff, and an up-to-date collection has become an extra bonus amenity, found at exam schools and campuses with robust parent fund-raising efforts — and hardly anywhere else.

Rafaela Polanco is the first Boston School Committee member who doesn’t speak fluent English. Here’s how she’s filling communication gaps for countless families
“I thought advocating for my child’s school would make me vulnerable,” Rafaela Polanco said. “But then I did it. And nothing happened to me ... so I kept going.”

Race and Diversity

After Malden’s Mystic Valley Regional Charter School handling of student’s hijab, questions swirl over why such incidents continue to occur

Tensions ratcheted higher this month after a Muslim student and her family complained publicly about the way the school handled the eighth-grader’s decision to wear a hijab, a traditional religious head covering.

Boston’s teacher diversity has barely budged in 10 years. District leaders hope the next decade will look different
Across Boston Public Schools, 85 percent of public school students are children of color, but only 40 percent of the district’s 4,570 teachers and guidance counselors are Black, Hispanic, or Asian American.

More students of color are attending Cape Cod schools. But the vast majority of teachers are white
Across Cape Cod, school districts have failed to recruit and retain enough teachers of color to keep pace with a changing population.

Money and Facilities

School bathroom closures statewide drive rising tensions, pushback

Driven by efforts to curtail teen vaping, and prevent outbreaks of vandalism sparked by copycat trends on social media, the widespread crackdowns on bathroom access have left students in some schools with little access.

How have Massachusetts school districts spent their $2.5 billion in federal COVID funds? Mostly, they still haven’t.

Among the 78 districts and independent charter schools that have received over $5 million, the Atlantis Charter School in Fall River stands alone as the only one to have spent more than 90 percent. Only five others have spent even half.
What to know about how Boston Public Schools is spending its federal relief funds

Wu to launch a new era of school construction, pledging $2 billion to revamp city’s school facilities
The facilities dashboard will give each school building an overall rating so that parents can figure out how their children’s school stacks up against others in the city and why some school projects are being prioritized over others.

New Boston city budget includes $788 million for school capital projects over five years — but will it be enough?