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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

To help low-income students, build more affordable housing in high-performing school districts, report says

Massachusetts and other New England states should create more affordable housing in well-to-do suburbs in an effort to provide low-income students greater access to a high-quality education, according to a report released Monday.

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.

A Somerville mother is stunned: How can school officials accuse her 6-year-old son of sexual misconduct and report him to the police? Charges of racism ensue

More than a year later, Flavia Peréa is still seeking basic information about what happened that day in the first-grade cubby area.

Will hard-hit Mass. cities’ schools reopen after teachers are vaccinated? Not necessarily

Tens of thousands of low-income students and children of color are among the last to see their school districts reopen for in-person instruction this year in Massachusetts.

‘Learning pods’ taking root in Black, Latino neighborhoods

Pods, also known as learning hubs or study halls, have been slow to arrive in low-income communities. But in the last six months, more have popped up to provide safe spaces for students to do their remote learning.

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

EDITORIAL
Massachusetts needs to test students to diagnose COVID-19 learning slide
School districts won’t be able to chart a path forward without an accurate measurement of what’s been lost.

Joan Vennochi
Vaccinate teachers now, especially in cities like Everett
Students need to get back to school.

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 462 new coronavirus cases among public school students, 212 among school staff membersWhen will educators get vaccinated?

Baker administration calls for Mass. elementary students to be in school five days a week in April, with older students to follow

The proposal unveiled by Governor Charlie Baker and top education officials ignited passions across the state and raised questions about local control. State officials said they were persuaded to step in out of concern over the deteriorating mental health of many students and increasing loss of learning.
Skepticism, questions mark reaction to education commissioner’s calls for reopening

Boston leaders mark milestone in construction of $125 million Boston Arts Academy facility
The final steel beam was placed Tuesday at the new building on Ipswich Street, which is expected to be completed and opened in fall 2022.

CDC provides roadmap for reopening schools, but stops short of mandating in-person instruction

Divides in parent opinion complicate school reopening push
Keri Rodrigues, a Latina mother of five in Somerville, said there is much work to be done to convince parents, especially Black and brown families who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, that their children will be safe in school.

New Zealand to roll out free period products to all students
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that all schools would make free menstrual products available to students for the next three years, adding New Zealand to the global effort to reduce "period poverty."

House Speaker Ron Mariano, a former teacher, says educators should be moved to the front of the vaccine line

Massachusetts House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a former teacher and Quincy School Committee member, said teachers should be moved up in the state's coronavirus vaccination eligibility list.

Biden to spend $1.4 billion aimed at schools

The Biden administration says it will spend more than $1.4 billion to boost testing supplies and coordination as US officials aim to return more students to the classroom.

After COVID-19, incoming governor McKee is inheriting another challenge: the state takeover of Providence schools

But there is vexing issue bedeviling the turnaround effort that will ensnare McKee on day one: The state’s failure to negotiate a contract with the school system’s powerful teachers’ union.
School amid the pandemic

Biden aides continue to drive for school reopenings by April

Top Biden administration officials insisted on Sunday that K-8 schools can safely reopen by April, even without requiring all teachers to be vaccinated first, as some states make educators a priority for COVID-19 shots.

N.H. governor says all schools must have at least 2 days of in-person learning

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said Thursday that he’s going to issue an executive order stipulating all school districts in the state have at least two days of in-person learning, starting in March.

Groups urge cancellation of spring MCAS

A collection of education and civil rights groups wrote to state lawmakers on Wednesday, saying they are “absolutely convinced” the state should not administer its MCAS exams this year.

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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Feb. 22: Eight years after Walsh’s promises, Boston prekindergarten is still not universalFeb. 16: Even after teachers are vaccinated, some hard-hit Mass. cities hesitant to reopen schoolsFeb. 8: Mass. high school students report big disparities in learning online vs. in person
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