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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

High school seniors of color are behind on completing financial aid forms, a worrying sign for college enrollment

Across Massachusetts, high schools that serve predominantly Black and Latino students have seen some of the steepest declines in the number of seniors submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

40 percent of Boston high school juniors and seniors are chronically absent, raising concerns about their futures

The most striking increases in chronic absenteeism — defined as missing at least 10 percent of classes — occurred among Black, Latino, disabled, and English-learner students.
A closer look: How chronic absentee rates among Boston students break down by grade, race, and more

Eight years after Walsh’s promises, Boston prekindergarten is still not universal

The pre-K program in Boston Public Schools is well-regarded, but without universal capacity, the spots tend to go to savvier families who know about the early application deadline.
Mayoral candidate Michelle Wu calls for universal preschool, city office coordinating early education

Cosmetology is one of the most popular vocational tracks in Mass. But is it too late for a makeover of Madison Park’s beauty program?

Statewide more than 1,500 students have been enrolled in a high school cosmetology program each of the past three school years.

Reopening schools will help, but won’t end Mass. child mental health crisis, experts say

Experts say the state’s mental health care system for youth has long been overtaxed. The challenges are deep-seated — and will likely persist long after students return to classrooms.

Visit our archive of all stories from The Great Divide team

This special series features student essays, poems and artwork on living and learning during a pandemic.

It was hard enough being a low-income university student. Then COVID hit

Last fall, Jasmine, a sophomore at a public four-year university in Massachusetts, received an e-mail from one of her professors telling her she was failing her class. This essay is an edited version of Jasmine’s belated response to her professor.

Listen to high school junior Maceo Wright’s spoken word poem, ‘Damn Pandemic’

I swear sometimes it’s like they want to build the world without us. We fought for our equality but still there ain’t no balance. How we supposed to fight back when they holding all the power?

• My name is Mariella Murillo, and I am struggling

• A teenager’s lament

• The lockers, once full of ideas with all the books stuffed inside them, are now just full of memories

Opinion

Flavia C. Peréa

Dear Mayor Joe Curtatone, what happened to my son embodies the school-to-prison pipeline

I am calling on you to act.

Marcela García
At Boston’s public exam schools, it’s equity vs. privilege
A recently filed lawsuit isn’t about equity. It’s about preserving the disadvantageous status quo.

How many coronavirus cases have been reported in Mass. schools? Check our map

The number of coronavirus cases reported in schools has been steadily rising since the late fall and early winter.
Mass. reports 343 new coronavirus cases among public school students, 133 among school staff membersWhen will educators get vaccinated?

Boston student School Committee member resigns, saying district tried to silence his voice

A high school senior resigned as the Boston School Committee’s student representative Thursday, saying administrators had silenced students’ voices and that he had deep concerns about a nonprofit group that oversees the district-wide student council.

Students who remain on Boston Student Advisory Council demand changes

A group of high school students who have chosen to stay on the Boston Student Advisory Council as some of their peers resigned last week and accused an adult supervisor of psychological abuse called Sunday for significant changes to the council, including the supervisor’s resignation.
Adult supervisor for BPS student group accused at news conference of psychological abuse

Mass. education commissioner wins authority to force school districts to bring students back to classrooms full time
The return of students to five days a week of in-person learning will begin April 5, with students in pre-kindergarten through grade 5.

Vaccinating educators is a start, but more challenges ahead on reopening schools

Massachusetts school officials to postpone spring MCAS testing, drawing criticism from unions

Massachusetts education officials announced on Friday they will postpone this spring’s MCAS testing in an effort to ensure a smooth reopening of schools, a move that was criticized by some teachers unions but lauded by other education advocates.

Unions push Baker to back plan for firefighters to vaccinate educators, school workers

Unions representing teachers and firefighters expect to meet Wednesday with the state’s Health and Human Services secretary on the labor leaders’ proposal to have firefighters administer vaccine doses to thousands of school workers.
Move to vaccinate Mass. teachers intensifies competition for limited shotsWhat to know if you're an educator newly eligible for the vaccine in Massachusetts

Report: R.I. lags in higher education spending but overspends on K-12

The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council analysis compares state’s spending and revenue to rest of nation and New England.

Civil rights coalition will be allowed to argue in exam school admissions lawsuit

The lawsuit alleges that the school system’s temporary admissions standards for the selective high schools violates students’ constitutional rights and will “artificially favor Latino and African American students to the detriment of Asian and White students.”
Adrian Walker: Once again, Boston’s battles over equity center on schools

Michael Loconto went down in a moment of online infamy. Can he come back?

School amid the pandemic

A new Somerville High School opens to a limited number of students

After nearly a decade of planning and three years of construction, a new $257 million Somerville High School opened to its first wave of students Thursday as part of the school district’s COVID-19 reopening plan.

Mass. reports 343 new coronavirus cases among public school students, 133 among school staff members

Officials estimate that about 450,000 students across the state are attending some form of in-person learning, and about 75,000 staff members are working in buildings.

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

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

From individual sessions to taking a real-world approach, here’s how teachers are adapting to the pandemic

Many Massachusetts teachers have begun to feel comfortable with teaching virtually, and now some are starting to experiment.

Mass. school districts' plans vary widely on key practices for pandemic-era education, review finds

The findings of a new survey from the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education underscore the wildly different approaches districts have taken to pandemic-era education in a state that has largely taken a hands-off approach to local education affairs.

Independent study for 6-year-olds? Some Massachusetts districts are skirting instructional requirements for kids

This school year, Massachusetts has reinstated its requirement that public schools provide at least five hours of “structured learning time” every school day. But interviews with a dozen parents, advocates, and experts reveal that districts vary widely on what constitutes remote education.

As schools reopen, students struggle with COVID trauma

At the outset of an unprecedentedly difficult year, schools are trying to help struggling students cope — a challenge exponentially complicated by the fact that many of them are learning remotely.

Equity and Access

Equity concerns spark discussion about school year

As policymakers think about ways to address learning disruptions students are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, one potential tool that got attention during a Boston College webinar Thursday was the concept of restructuring the academic calendar.

Thousands of Boston public school students cut off from dental care

Oral health programs were halted in March when school buildings closed amid the pandemic. But that has left students without an opportunity to see a dentist or hygienist for the past seven months.

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.

Race and Diversity

Coalition of students urge school leaders around Boston to address anti-Asian racism

In an open letter to school leaders in Boston, Quincy and Malden, a coalition of Asian-American students and their supporters is urging educators to take action now to ensure their safety as a new school year begins.

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.

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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March 8: Boston students demand change amid a slate of resignationsMarch 1: 40 percent of Boston high school juniors and seniors are chronically absent, raising concerns about their futuresFeb. 22: Eight years after Walsh’s promises, Boston prekindergarten is still not universal
STUDENT CORNER

Make sure your voice is heard

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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. Watch some of our past events:
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