fb-pixel Skip to main content

The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

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.

What to know about how Boston Public Schools is spending its federal relief funds

To distribute $50 million per year to schools, the district opted for a simple formula. For each English learner, low-income student and student with disabilities enrolled each year, a school will get $813.

Mayor Wu and Boston Teachers Union announce new contract agreement

The agreement ends months of negotiations as the local teachers union had been without a contract since last summer.

Possibility meets pragmatism as new Boston superintendent gears up for race to meet state deadlines

Experts say newly named BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper will need to tread carefully in her early days, striking a balance between possibility and pragmatism as she charges ahead with quick initial steps, while also insisting on a realistic view of what it takes to change.
‘This has to be a vision we build together’: Newly named Boston superintendent calls on greater community support to improve BPS

School Committee names Mary Skipper Boston’s next superintendent

Mary Skipper, who worked in Boston for decades before Somerville, will return to the 49,000-student district at a critical time in its history.
Homegrown finalist Mary Skipper feels a call to lead in BPS: ‘I need to not be a bystander’

Mass. education officials, Mayor Wu hammer out last-minute deal that averts BPS state takeover and ‘underperforming’ label

The agreement between the city and state comes after weeks of negotiations and political brinksmanship that, at times, played out before the public.

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.

Legislation aims to improve diversity among Mass. educators

Massachusetts education commissioner will recommend declaring Boston schools underperforming

Boston parents ask federal appeals court to overturn exam school admission decision and let their children attend

Visit our archive of all stories from The Great Divide team

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Randolph teacher receives ‘Oscars of teaching’ award for her dedication to young English language learners
Taylor Thai, who teaches kindergarten and first-grade English language learners at Margaret L. Donovan Elementary School, received a $25,000 Milken Educator Award in a surprise ceremony on Wednesday.

Globe Magazine

New ethnic studies requirements mean more lessons on race in Boston classrooms
Will these classes help students? We looked to established programs in Holyoke and San Francisco to find out.

With BPS in crisis, pressure mounts for Wu to become the ‘education mayor’

A perennial disappointment for parents and albatross for city leaders, Boston Public Schools is snowballing into a political emergency for Mayor Michelle Wu, presenting a pivotal moment in her young tenure.

Boston Public Schools administrator says she was pushed out for raising concerns over how English learners are taught

The administrator in charge of English learning said she resigned when threatened with firing after she repeatedly complained the district was improperly steering students into regular classes instead of special smaller programs designed just for them.

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.

With control of Boston Public Schools on the line, Wu’s counterproposal advocates for a stronger state partnership

“The City of Boston, the Boston Public Schools, and [state education department] agree to work together in a targeted, strengthened partnership to immediately address systemic barriers to educational opportunity,” said Mayor Michelle Wu’s counterproposal, obtained by the Globe.

State education commissioner says he’ll give city time on a plan for Boston Public Schools

The discussion came one day after the release of the state’s latest report on Boston schools, which tracked the district’s progress since 2020 in addressing a series of critical shortcomings.

State releases blistering review of Boston Public Schools: ‘BPS needs immediate improvement’

Four major operational areas emerge in the report as key areas of concern: transportation, facilities, data reporting, and school safety protocols.

Boston secures measures to crack down on school bus driver absences in new union contract deal

As part of an effort to ensure all of Boston’s school buses are on the road daily, drivers will no longer be able to take off time — without advanced warning or permission — under a new contract between their union and the school system’s transportation vendor.

COVID School Reports

Mass. reports 1,804 new coronavirus cases among public school students and 350 among staff

More school coverage

First-of-its-kind law improves college access for students with autism, intellectual disabilities

More than a decade in the making, the breakthrough legislation will require all of the state’s public college campuses to offer accommodations to young people whose severe disabilities prevent them from earning a standard high school diploma.

CDC may soon update COVID-19 guidance, including in schools, report says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to update its COVID-19 guidance, including in schools, in the coming days, CNN reported on Wednesday. In Massachusetts, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says it is finalizing its COVID recommendations to schools for the fall.

Incoming Boston schools chief Mary Skipper faces new challenge for fall: Orange Line closure as classes start

Skipper is winding down her tenure running Somerville’s schools.

Planting local roots: Farming program provides Boston area teens summer work and sense of community

The 14 to 18-year-olds who get hired are often from neighborhoods nearby the organization’s farms. Of the youth working in both Boston and North Shore neighborhoods this summer, more than half are Black or Latino.

Public school enrollment falls in Mass. amid pandemic, high housing costs, and aging suburbs

Some of the greatest declines have occurred in Greater Boston, where school systems in Marblehead, Rockport, Wellesley, Wilmington, Brookline, and Amesbury saw enrollments drop more than 10 percent.

Featured Stories

A year of grit and despair

For one class of immigrant students, the pandemic threatens to upend their educational dreams

To understand the remarkable forces and obstacles newcomers to America have to contend with, a Globe team closely tracked one class at Boston International Newcomers Academy — BINcA for short — for most of a year.
Leer en español: Un año de lucha y desesperación: la pandemia amenaza con poner fin a los sueños de una clase de estudiantes inmigrantesYvonne Abraham: Students’ dreams made impossible by the pandemic
New to English and technology: One student's remarkable journey
Fredy left Guatemala for Boston in 2019. He was just beginning to learn English at Boston International Newcomers Academy when the pandemic shuttered schools. (Shelby Lum/Globe Staff)
As schools went remote, many students stopped attending
When classrooms went virtual, nationwide as many as 1 and 4 English learners have left their classes. (Shelby Lum/Globe Staff)

Sign up for The Great Divide newsletter

Stay abreast of the most pressing issues plaguing our public education system and their possible solutions. Sign up for our free newsletter with updates on our investigative findings, links to stories, and other relevant information.
July 27: Nearly one-third of Massachusetts students were chronically absent last yearJuly 20: Mayor Wu and Boston Teachers Union announce new contract agreementJuly 13: How have Massachusetts school districts spent their $2.5 billion in federal COVID funds? Mostly, they still haven’t

Make sure your voice is heard

Students, we want to hear from you. Please subscribe to a student-only text line to share your story ideas and tips with our team, and receive occasional news alerts from our team. To join, text the word HELLO to 1-833-335-2777.

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 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
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

Academics and Learning

BPS may have overstated graduation rate for five of last seven years

The findings reflect a growing problem across the country as many school districts are increasingly under pressure to raise their graduation rates.
After Globe probe, BPS member asks for new audit of city graduation rates

MCAS scores plummet during the pandemic
Massachusetts reactivated the MCAS this year after canceling them in spring 2020 amid the pandemic and the abrupt shutting of schools.

Families of at-risk children struggle to balance safety and education this fall, with remote learning options strictly limited, little known and slow to access
Weeks into the new school year, an unknown number of families across the city and state continue to struggle with a keenly painful dilemma: how to balance their children’s health and their education.

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.

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

For many advocates, restoring Boston’s elected School Committee is about expanding voting rights in communities of color

Voters across Boston will be able to weigh in on a nonbinding referendum on Tuesday about whether the city should return to an elected School Committee.
City Council pushes ahead with plan for change to elected School Committee

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

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?

The new capital plan envisions launching a half-dozen more projects, potentially pushing BPS into a full-on building boom if it can sustain momentum as it changes superintendents and grapples with a dramatic decline in enrollment.

East Boston school wins $100,000 prize for steady improvement
Otis beat out two other finalists for the prize, which is named after a former Boston superintendent and is given out by EdVestors, a Boston education nonprofit.

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.