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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

Lost in a world of words

Students at Donovan Elementary improve their reading skills by using phonemic awareness exercises
Kids at Donovan Elementary learn to read using phonemic awareness exercises. (Randy Vazquez/ Globe Staff) (Randy Vazquez)

More than half of Mass. third graders can’t read proficiently. The state is failing its neediest learners.

Learning to read is the greatest gift a school can give a child. And yet here, in the birthplace of public education, outmoded teaching methods leave thousands of students struggling to gain this critical skill.
THE GREAT DIVIDE

In states where lawmakers step up, reading scores rise

It’s a national reckoning, one the Massachusetts Legislature has been conspicuously absent from.

More from the project

More Stories From the team

Will BPS’s inclusion plan improve academic outcomes for students with disabilities? The research is murky.

With inclusion, district officials said students with disabilities will have more options to go to schools closer to their homes, so they won’t have to travel as far for services.

BPS releases plan to overhaul special education

A report by the Council of Great City Schools last fall found that 29 percent of BPS students with disabilities — thousands of students — are taught in “substantially separate” classrooms. It's a rate more than twice that of state and national averages.

Fighting learning loss: Summer programs served more Boston students than ever before

The increase in students attending summer programs is an encouraging sign for educators who are focused on addressing academic and social emotional learning losses driven by the pandemic.

Federal officials question Mass. oversight of special education

The review comes after parents, teachers, and advocacy groups accused the state of not fulfilling its supervisory role.

Baltimore’s school building program could offer model to close gaps in Massachusetts

With state assistance, Baltimore has built or renovated 29 schools in a decade, while Boston and other urban districts in Massachusetts have struggled to get their share of state aid.

Education Secretary Tutwiler wants to develop strategy around mental health support in schools

As part of his effort to prioritize mental health resources and infrastructure in public schools, MA Education Secretary Tutwiler attended a round table discussion with Woburn high school students on Thursday to talk about their experiences and what sort of support they need.

‘I want them to succeed’: Mass. school district lacks resources to support migrant students

Long before school desegregation in Boston, these Black leaders were pushing for racial equity in education

Should Mass. consider a ‘nuclear option’ for catching kids up in school? Here are 7 big ideas.

Enrollment

A mother's journey, helping families navigate BPS and protecting her own from it

Boston schools lost 15,000 Black students in the past 20 years. Where did they go, and will they ever return?

In a dramatic reshaping of its makeup, Boston Public Schools has lost half its Black student population in the last two decades, as Black enrollment fell from from 29,300 in the 2002-2003 school year to 14,600 last year.

In Woburn, a diversifying school district works to become more welcoming
For Kafui Kemeh, a Black high school senior in Woburn, life in the suburbs has brought the quality education her family sought, but the isolation and racism she has experienced as one of the very few Black students in her classes weigh on her.

Boston Public Schools routinely overestimates future enrollment. Here’s why it matters.
The district has put off hard decisions to close schools, even though it knew it already had excess space.

High Schools

Different trajectories and inequity in Boston Schools
Reporter Deanna Pan breaks down the disparities in Boston Public Schools and shares how some students are slipping through the cracks.

‘What exactly is fair about this?’: Great high schools aren’t available to all Boston kids.

Boston’s traditional public high schools are the casualties of a system that offers a smorgasbord of academic and extracurricular delicacies to students who attend exam schools and a few competitive admissions schools, but leaves others with crumbs.

Massachusetts education leaders hope to jump start a new era of charter school growth

The state’s effort aims to add charter schools in districts with high concentrations of low-income students and those at high risk of quitting school.

Cambridge MCAS scores show full recovery from pandemic

In Cambridge, students’ MCAS scores are back to where they were before the pandemic, in just about every grade and subject.

MCAS scores are still well below pre-pandemic levels

The state's high-schoolers recorded no gains on the state exam versus the prior year, despite over a billion dollars in federal pandemic relief money spent.

Local activists announce education campaign ahead of 50th anniversary of BPS desegregation and busing

Next summer will mark 50 years since the federal court ruling in 1974 that forced the district to desegregate through busing.

First day of school in Boston marked with enthusiasm, improved bus performance

Students in grades 1-12 begin classes Thursday, while preschoolers and kindergartners start next Monday.

Brockton School Committee calls for investigation following surprise $14 million deficit

The board also appointed Deputy Superintendent of Operations James Cobbs as the district’s acting superintendent as the district’s current leader remains on extended medical leave..

Lacking air conditioning, school districts across state grapple with extreme heat

Boston Public Schools facilities staff have installed thousands of air conditioning units over the last two years.
How hot is it in classrooms without air conditioning? BPS data can tell us.

Recent K-12 Stories

Boston City Council passes resolution opposing moving O’Bryant School to West Roxbury

The Boston City Council passed a non-binding resolution Wednesday opposing relocating the O’Bryant School of Math and Science to West Roxbury, one day after an hours-long hearing on the proposal where many voiced their opposition to the move.

Amid controversy over teaching English learners, Boston Public Schools hires new chief of multilingual and multicultural education

Starting in January, Joelle Gamere, director of the Toussaint L’Ouverture Academy at Mattahunt Elementary School, will lead the department, known formerly as the Office of English Learners.

City Council lambasts Wu’s proposal for the O’Bryant School

City councilors lambasted the plan and questioned Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's community engagement process at a hearing Tuesday evening on the viability of the proposal.

A majority of the state’s youngest students struggle to read, new report finds

As many as 20 percent of children studied showed signs of having dyslexia, a language processing disorder that must be addressed with specialized reading instruction.

BPS delays rollout of inclusion plan for English learners

The plan was originally intended to take effect next year in grades K-8 and the following year in grades 9-12, with all English learners moving to inclusive settings by the 2025-26 school year.

Metco wants to expand student enrollment but faces a fight on Beacon Hill over funding

State leaders level-funded Metco for the first time since 2018, causing participating suburban districts to scramble to find money to offset the inflationary costs of maintaining the program while also putting expansion efforts on hold.

Balance of power poised to flip on Everett School Committee after election

More than half of the candidates the mayor endorsed lost their races, a rebuke from voters after the mayor pushed the School Committee to oust the superintendent earlier in the year over objections from the community.

Featured Stories

A program at Chelsea High School gives teen parents extra support. Supporters want to expand it.

As conservative activism targets sex ed, new Mass. guidelines are on the horizon

‘African American students deserve to be celebrated’: Mass. students compete in NAACP’s annual ACT-SO competition

‘I loved it and I worked hard’: Fred Fantini, longest-serving Cambridge School Committee member, announces retirement

Students with disabilities are often left out of Boston’s popular dual language programs

Madison Park valedictorian is first in family to go to college — and to graduate high school

In Amherst, teen journalists’ investigation of transphobia at the middle school forced a district shake-up

After a single word — ‘ladies’ — brought Easthampton into the limelight, residents crave normalcy

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.
Oct. 25: Will BPS’s inclusion plan improve academic outcomes for students with disabilities?Oct. 18: What’s the condition of your child’s school? BPS has now scored themOct. 11: More than half of Mass. third graders can’t read proficiently

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.

Past virtual events

The Great Divide hosted a series of virtual events, with an emphasis on student voices, during the pandemic. Watch some of our past events:
All 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.

Academics and Learning

Mass. fails to prepare educators on how to teach reading in an evidence-based manner, new report shows

The report ranked Mass. 35th for teaching new educators how to instruct students on phonics, vocabulary, and other core components of reading.

While student chronic absenteeism numbers remain high, Boston and Mass. show signs of recovery

Through March of this year, those who were chronically absent in BPS fell five percentage points to 37.2 percent, meaning about 2,300 more students regularly showed up for school.

GPA issue just latest in series of exam school admissions errors parents have noticed this year
The district hired auditors to avoid the incorrect admissions decisions it had in 2019 and 2020: Ernst & Young last year, and the local consultant firm Borderland Partners this year. But it was parents, not the auditor, that caught the mistakes.

Dozens of BPS students were wrongly informed about their exam school eligibility. What went wrong?

Equity and Access

With the return of the testing requirement, the diversity of applicants getting into Boston exam schools shifts only slightly

The results show how adding socioeconomic factors into the admission process over the last three years is proving to be a powerful force.

In Mattapan’s Haitian Creole program, a taste of the bilingual education BPS wants to expand
Bilingual education can be a tough sell to many immigrant parents who believe their children should focus only on English.

Inside the forgotten story of the Chinatown mothers who mobilized during the Boston busing crisis
The story of Boston’s busing crisis, the one memorialized in books, films, and podcasts, is typically characterized as a Black and white struggle. What is less known is the story of the Chinese immigrant women who organized a three-day school boycott in 1975 that would change the balance of power in Chinatown for decades to come.

Race and Diversity

‘Asians are an afterthought’: Asian American students at BPS report feeling less safe, more undervalued

“The dominant narrative out there in Boston Public Schools, as well as many other places, is that Asian students are doing fine,” said former BPS teacher Go Sasaki. “Based on our experiences and anecdotes, we know that is not the case.”

‘This has been devastating’: Wayland is divided over racism allegations after Black superintendent is placed on leave

A series of controversies has erupted since Omar Easy, a former NFL player and Everett school administrator, became the first Black school superintendent in Wayland a year and a half ago.
Wayland School Committee appoints new acting district leader, finalizing replacement of Superintendent Omar Easy

Black male teachers can make a big difference in the lives of their students — why are they so rare?
Statewide, just 1 percent of public school teachers are Black men. Even in Boston, which has the highest number of Black male educators, the proportion is just 7 percent.

Debate emerging on Beacon Hill over bill that would limit job security for veteran teachers to preserve educator diversity

Money and Facilities

How Mayor Wu’s high school plan could lead to closures

Among the questions left unanswered: Which schools will close to accommodate the staggering growth of both of those schools?
Questions remain in city's plan to revamp BPS high schools

City’s proposal for the O’Bryant School met with hedged enthusiasm, skepticism

At the School Committee meeting Wednesday evening, members questioned Skipper about the city’s proposal for the O’Bryant, focusing in particular on the community engagement process in developing the plan and its overall lack of details.
Wu, Skipper propose big changes to BPS high schools

Boston School Committee votes to approve controversial elementary school mergers
The committee voted 6-0, with one member absent, Wednesday night to approve separate plans to merge Dorchester’s Shaw and Mattapan's Taylor schools in September 2024, and Roslindale’s Sumner and Philbrick schools in September 2025.

BPS shares detail on mergers as they plan for future closures