fb-pixel Skip to main content

The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools
Fredy Solís, a recent immigrant from Guatemala, spent the last year trying to learn from home. The Globe followed Fredy's 11-member Spanish class at Boston International Newcomers Academy through the pandemic, to better understand how school closures have affected the city's most vulnerable students.
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)
Students passed through a hallway at Blue Hills Regional Technical School.

Mass. education commissioner recommends vocational school admissions changes to boost fairness

Massachusetts’ education commissioner, Jeff Riley, has proposed changes to vocational-technical school admissions aimed at giving disadvantaged students a better shot at attending the coveted schools.
Civil rights groups urge state to change ‘discriminatory’ vocational school admissions policies to lottery
Students with parents arrived at the Quincy Elementary School in Chinatown. Asian American parents are reluctant to send their children back to school full time.

Asian American families overwhelmingly reject full-time return to BPS classrooms this month

As Boston prepares to reopen elementary and middle schools full time, Asian American families are choosing to keep their children learning from home at rates higher than any other racial group, amid fears about both the pandemic and a growing tide of racism targeting their community.
Young Asian Americans speak out about racism, call on educators to add Asian American studies to curricula
The practice sleds were idle last month after Duxbury High School fired football coach Dave Maimaron.

‘Our little town has a serious problem’: Duxbury reels as school scandals raise questions of transparency

As the South Shore town grapples with recent allegations about two of its most prominent high school coaches, residents wonder how to move forward. To many, the handling of the controversies has been disappointing but not surprising, the product of a school administration that too often seems to prioritize secrecy over transparency and action.
Duxbury football anti-Semitism shows need for mandatory Holocaust education, antihate groups say
Nicole Calabrese, who chairs a ballot committee that supports eliminating Native American imagery from Wakefield's school logo, near a Wakefield Memorial High School scoreboard that displays the logo.

One Massachusetts town is putting its Native American logo to a vote. Residents say the debate is tearing the town apart

In this 27,000-person suburb north of Boston, the question of whether to eliminate Wakefield Memorial High School’s Native American Warrior logo has morphed from a School Committee discussion into a full-fledged and vitriolic political campaign.
Malcolm Cawthorne at Brookline High School.

The exhaustion of being a Black teacher in a school when you’re one of too few educators of color

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

Students sit separated by plastic dividers during lunch at Wyandotte County High School in Kansas City, Kan. on the first day of in-person learning on March 31.
Paul Reville

Pandemic learning loss can be a post-pandemic opportunity for education reforms

The field of education should seize on the sense of urgency that we need to do more and better for our students in this moment of crisis.

MARCELA GARCÍA
In an interview, Boston City Councilor and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu didn’t have concrete answers to some of the most controversial questions about BPS.
Can Michelle Wu fix Boston Public Schools?
While big thinking is necessary for change, the mayor’s job is loaded with immediate problems and crises.

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 new weekly high of coronavirus cases among public school students: 1,095 cases

Federal judge upholds Boston exam school admissions policy

A federal judge upheld the Boston school system’s temporary changes to its admission policy for its exam schools, a victory that may allow acceptance letters to go out by the end of the month. The parent coalition that filed the lawsuit argued that ZIP codes were being used as a proxy for race.
Civil rights leaders say Boston exam school decision could lead to a permanent change in admissions policyFederal judge hears arguments in Boston exam school admission case
Sydney Holloman-Pressley with her students at the Willard School, where they conducted research that led to Concord's decision to honor George Washington Dugan, the town's sole Black Civil War soldier.

For this Concord class, history unfolds right in the middle of their town

After fifth graders at Willard Elementary School learned about George Washington Dugan, the town’s sole Black Civil War soldier, they were determined to right a wrong.

Massachusetts, other states need to increase spending for preschools, report says

Massachusetts preschool enrollment increased by fewer than 300 children in 2019-2020, as the pandemic shifted those programs to remote learning in the middle of the school year, according to a national report that found most states don’t provide enough funding to support all-day pre-kindergarten for all children.

A first grade classroom at McGlynn Elementary School in Medford.
Weekly coronavirus cases among public school students hit record high, surpassing 1,000 for first time
The combined number of new cases between students and staff — 1,279 — was the highest weekly total since the start of the academic year, and the number of student cases reported in a single week was also by far the highest weekly total yet.

Students were tested for COVID-19 in the lobby of the McGlynn Elementary School in Medford.

Coronavirus cases are rising among children and teens in Mass. Here’s a closer look at the numbers

This week, for the first time, state public health officials released a more detailed breakdown of COVID cases among the 0-19 age group. Overall, 6,982 cases of COVID were reported among those 19 and under from March 21 through April 3, with the highest numbers among older teens.
Rising coronavirus cases among students and staff members don’t mean schools are unsafe, officials and health experts say

Burlington, Vt., high school contamination more extensive than feared

Head of elite New York City Catholic school fired over charges of sexual misconduct

School amid the pandemic

Rock star Van Zandt helping Connecticut students re-engage

Connecticut is turning to music in an effort to get kids more interested in school and help combat the learning loss suffered during the pandemic.

Newton mandates COVID-19 testing for high schoolers in extracurricular activities

Newton’s superintendent has mandated that high school students involved in extracurricular activities must undergo COVID-19 testing, according to a message sent to families earlier this month.

Some schools requiring testing after spring vacation week

As the April school break kicks off in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, families are being asked to revisit guidelines for testing and quarantining before students get ready to return to school.

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

Featured Stories

Medford, MA - 10/7/20 - Maureen Ronayne sits with her son, Daniel, as he reads aloud in the family's backyard. Daniel has struggled with reading since preschool, when he couldn't pick up on the letters of the alphabet, or learn to pronounce his name. Over six long years, his parents battled slowly to get Daniel the support he needed, including a spot at the Medford public school with the most reading specialists, a separate class at the school dedicated to reading remediation, and a private tutor funded partially by the district. But when schools shut down in March, all of the 10 year-old's extra supports came to an abrupt halt. So, too, did his progress learning to read. "I got him to read a couple of times over the spring," says his mother, Maureen Ronayne. "He was literally tripping over every word. I was like, What just happened here? We had worked so hard to get him where he was at and we're seeing a complete regression." (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)

For schoolchildren struggling to read, COVID-19 has been a wrecking ball

Flavia Peréa and her now 7-year-old son dug for worms in their local community garden in Somerville.

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

Skyla Withers, 5, left, and Giovanni Gamble, 5, play with other children at the Cooper Community Center in Roxbury in January. They are among hundreds of children who have benefited from Boston's expansion of city-funded prekindergarten in recent years.

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

When Em Quiles' second-grade son didn't participate in zoom classes during remote learning due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the school reported her to the Department of Children and Families.

Your child’s a no-show at virtual school? You may get a call from the state’s foster care agency

Education, Interrupted
This series explored how school closures in the spring of 2020 affected individual students.
Malaki Solo, a sixth-grader, works on his homework in his family's living room on Tuesday morning. Malaki, who is a generally confident student, has been feeling unmoored during this online learning experiment.

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

Jaliyah Bacchus and her littler sister, Jayda, greet their mother, Trisha Anderson.
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.

Lisa Kincade was with her son Willie, 21, after going for a walk in their Roslindale neighborhood.
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

At her home seated by the kitchen table, Adrianna Barnes speaks with a student on her computer.

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

Boston NAACP President Tanisha Sullivan, Mo Cowan of General Electric, and Senate President Karen Spilka discussed issues of racial and economic justice in a Rappaport Center panel with Boston College law professor Patricia McCoy and visiting professor Richard Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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

Mandy Sun, left, and Sarah Xu, both 17 and seniors at Boston Latin School, recently released an open letter to school leadership in Boston, Quincy, and Malden, urging educators to take action to address anti-Asian racism fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.

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

Brendan Weissel Brandon played basketball in his driveway after the end of his school day. He is in 11th grade in Newton and will be studying remotely for the foreseeable future.

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.

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.
April 19: Asian American families overwhelmingly reject full-time return to BPS classrooms this monthApril 12: The exhaustion of being a Black teacher in a school when you’re one of too few educators of colorApril 5: Duxbury football anti-Semitism shows need for mandatory Holocaust education, antihate groups say
STUDENT CORNER

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.
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.
Brighton High debate team members.
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