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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

Baker ramps up pressure on low-risk districts to get students back into schools

Baker's comments come just days after state Education Commissioner Jeff Riley asked more than a dozen communities to create a timeline for bringing students back for in-person learning.

Educational inequality likely to widen this fall as white students return to school and students of color learn from home

Roughly two-thirds of Black and Hispanic students live in districts where schools are starting the year remotely. By contrast, most white students—about 70 percent—live in school districts with “hybrid” back-to-school plans that include some learning time inside school classrooms.

How Rhode Island brought most students back for in-person learning — and Massachusetts did not

In Massachusetts, only about a dozen districts, most of them made up entirely of elementary schools, plan to return all students to classrooms full time this fall. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, the vast majority of the state’s 66 districts and charter schools plan to offer full-time in-person learning by October.

Teachers at high risk for coronavirus still don’t know whether they’ll be allowed to work remotely

Scores of educators across the state are still in limbo, waiting to hear whether their own, or loved ones', preexisting health conditions qualify them to work remotely, adding mightily to the confusion of the most tumultuous and stressful back-to-school season in modern history.

Thousands of Boston’s neediest students remain in the dark about schools’ plans for fall

With less than three weeks left before the start of school, huge questions remain about what the fall will look like for thousands of students with disabilities in Boston, including when they will be able to return for in-person instruction and how extensive it will be.

Visit our archive of all stories from The Great Divide team

Opinion

Boston-area infectious disease specialists and pediatricians
The messy science behind the coronavirus and opening schools
A sensationalist approach to scientific reporting, with dramatic headlines that omit important limitations or lack context, benefits no one.

Air quality and ventilation issues trip up school reopenings across Massachusetts

Across Massachusetts, the coronavirus pandemic has shined a spotlight on air quality as dozens of Boston schools with inadequate ventilation and broken windows have been well-known for years. A range of data suggests that getting buildings ready to welcome students will be a big job.

Boston's first day
‘If this was real school, I’d be paying attention, but here I’m so distracted’: Scenes from around the city as an uncertain year begins
Students of all ages and backgrounds logged in yesterday for a remote first day back across Boston Public Schools. No school year in history, arguably, has brought such uncertainty and stress for so many — or come with higher stakes.

Latest school reopening news

Marlborough High School shifts to remote learning as cases crop up among students in Marlborough, Hull, and Pepperell

School officials in Hull and Pepperell reported this week that a student in each town has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Chefs are parents, too. Here are their tips if your kitchen is now a makeshift school cafeteria

From banana sushi rolls to skewer snacks, these pros have lunch ideas in the bag.

Education commissioner leans on 16 remote-only school districts to spell out their plans to reopen classrooms

The districts that are offering remote-only instruction have COVID-19 transmission rates that fall into the lowest risk categories in the state’s assessment system.

PHOTOS: The first day of remote school for Boston

Monday was the first day of virtual learning for Boston students. The Globe's education team followed a range of students, educators, and support staff through their first day back.

Read all of our stories about school reopening and education amid a pandemic

TRACKER
What are Mass. school districts deciding for the fall? Track their decisions here
Districts across Massachusetts are finalizing their school reopening plans.

Featured Stories

A tale of two schools and the way they teach — or fail to teach — about racism

Boston Latin and the biggest test of their young lives

For low-income students, the suburbs are no sure path to college

‘I didn’t come to Boston because I thought it would be easy’: Boston superintendent ends tumultuous year

Education, Interrupted
This series explored how school closures in the spring of 2020 affected individual students.

Online, but off-kilter: A day in the life of a Boston sixth-grader

Malaki Solo is one of more than 50,000 students in Boston studying at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Without enough to do, the 12-year-old spends much of his time bored inside his small Dorchester apartment.

Read our full Education, Interrupted series

With daycares closed, it’s sometimes older siblings watching young children
It’s a common scenario affecting countless teenagers across the city and state, as more parents juggle a full schedule with limited childcare support.

For high school seniors with disabilities, school closures can feel like walking off a cliff
For high school seniors, school closures have brought angst and logistical hurdles, including concerns about graduation and college delays.

Academics and Learning

Thousands of Boston’s neediest students remain in the dark about schools’ plans for fall

With less than three weeks left before the start of school, huge questions remain about what the fall will look like for thousands of students with disabilities in Boston, including when they will be able to return for in-person instruction and how extensive it will be.

‘I’m horrified that we didn’t get this right’: Worcester schools see rocky rollout of online learning

School districts across the state have struggled with the abrupt shift to online learning. But Worcester has had an unusually rocky experience. Interviews with more than 20 parents, students, teachers and school committee members, and review of a half dozen district documents paint a portrait of a district focused on process and procedure at a time when nimbleness was imperative.

With some remote learning likely for the fall, schools agonize over how much Zoom time to impose

With very little time — or training — educators across Massachusetts tried to move their teaching online. Many took one of two opposite approaches, each with drawbacks: Offering very limited real-time interaction with teachers; or striving to replicate the normal school schedule online.

When it comes to online learning, Mass., Rhode Island take wildly divergent paths

The two states epitomize the starkly different approaches states are taking to learning in the era of COVID-19.

Equity and Access

Educational inequality likely to widen this fall as white students return to school and students of color learn from home

Roughly two-thirds of Black and Hispanic students live in districts where schools are starting the year remotely. By contrast, most white students—about 70 percent—live in school districts with “hybrid” back-to-school plans that include some learning time inside school classrooms.

Hundreds of Boston students who need laptops have not received them, advocates say

Data published by advocacy group Lawyers for Civil Rights show in many cases students with disabilities and those at predominantly Black and Latino schools were less likely to receive laptops compared to their peers without disabilities or at whiter schools.

Dozens of students were not admitted to Boston exam schools because of an error

Boston Public Schools mistakenly denied 62 students — many of them children of color who came from private, charter, or parochial schools — entry to the district’s coveted exam schools since last year.

Boston schools deny some students with disabilities enrollment into dual-language programs

Experts say districts are violating state and federal laws if they exclude students from any educational programs just because they have a disability.

Race and Diversity

How teachers are bringing lessons from the racial justice uprisings into the classroom

Galvanized by a summer of civil unrest, teachers across the Commonwealth are planning to integrate the tenets of antiracism into their curriculum during a school year already defined by change amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Black girls in Mass. nearly 4 times more likely to face school discipline than white girls, report finds

The state’s disparity is slightly higher than that of Alabama, the report by the nonprofit Appleseed Network found.

In embrace of W.E.B. Du Bois, Great Barrington names middle school after the civil rights icon

At the end of a two-and-a-half-hour Zoom meeting — in which dozens testified, mostly in favor of the proposed change — the Berkshire Hills Regional School District committee voted unanimously Thursday evening to rename the local middle school in honor of Great Barrington’s best-known native son.

In Arlington, Black voices challenge a white suburban school district to do better

A national uprising against racism has reinvigorated criticism of persistent racial inequalities in education, in mostly-white suburbs as well as more diverse cities.

Money and Facilities

How Rhode Island brought most students back for in-person learning — and Massachusetts did not

In Massachusetts, only about a dozen districts, most of them made up entirely of elementary schools, plan to return all students to classrooms full time this fall. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, the vast majority of the state’s 66 districts and charter schools plan to offer full-time in-person learning by October.

State school funding formula too generous to wealthy districts, report says

The state’s formula for funding public schools has changed over time in ways that pump extra money into wealthier districts while shortchanging low-income areas, according to a report released Monday by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

BPS students see bathroom improvements after Globe story

Students and staff at three schools mentioned in a previous Globe story said they have seen improvements, including more regular cleaning, reduced odors, and new janitors.

Baker budget doesn’t keep state’s commitment to poor students, critics say

Although more students would be classified as low-income under Governor Charlie Baker's budget, districts would get less extra money for each one of those students than they expected to receive.
Finalist for a Pulitzer Prize

The Valedictorians Project

The city’s top students from 2005 to 2007 set out to change the world. But then life happened. Explore their stories here.

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Sept. 21: Educational inequality likely to widen this fallSept. 14: Thousands of Boston’s neediest students remain in the darkAug. 31: These parents take online instruction to a new level
STUDENT CORNER

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Event Hub

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. Sign up for our upcoming event and watch some of our past events:
Upcoming Event: The State of Race: EducationAll 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 two-year 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

‘My voice matters’: Brighton Debate en Español team gives students a platform to grow

Throughout the winter, scores of Boston students devoted much of their weekends to fervently argue about a single topic: whether the United States should limit its arms sales. Teens in the Boston Debate League verbally jabbed back and forth, poking holes in their opponents’ arguments.
IDEAS | Linda K. Wertheimer

Teaching about racism is urgent — but tricky

Many K-12 educators now want to go deeper on the subject of race. Are they equipped to do it well?
Tips for teaching about racism