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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

State education board, mayor, weigh fate of Boston Public Schools

The state is discussing the possibility of placing Boston Public Schools into state receivership, an extreme step that would be an effective takeover.

Key takeaways from the state’s scathing review of Boston Public Schools

The new 200-page report, based on hundreds of interviews with stakeholders and three days of site visits in March, calls for action to “deliver the quality education [BPS] students deserve,” but stops short of prescribing a specific plan for a full or partial takeover of schools.

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.
Read the full state review of Boston Public Schools

Stranded Boston school sports teams mark latest example of BPS busing woes

Five sports teams across Boston Public Schools were left without a bus to take them to games this week, highlighting yet another instance of the district’s chronic transportation issues.
In another indignity for BPS athletes, there aren’t enough buses to get to games. Some are resorting to dramatic tactics.

In new podcast series, former and current Boston school superintendents reflect on the role — and what the district needs in its next leader

The series, titled “Last Night at School Committee: The Search for a New Boston Superintendent,” launched this week by the Shah Family Foundation and consists of in-depth conversations with Boston school community members, as well as six former and current BPS superintendents.
11 key things Boston families want in the next schools superintendent

Mayor Wu joins unions to push back on state takeover of Boston schools

Mayor Michelle Wu and local and state teachers union leaders said Wu’s initiatives, including her $2 billion building plan, set the Boston district on the path to academic success — and a state takeover would jeopardize that.
What is a receivership? And why is concern growing over a potential state takeover of Boston Public Schools?

Boston Latin School apologizes for ‘disparaging’ student assignments about neighborhoods posted in library

For the assignment, students had been asked to write about stereotypes about their neighborhoods with the goal of countering biases, school leaders wrote in an apology letter to the school community.

Mission Hill School investigations total more than $270,000, with more expected in coming months

School takeovers by the state haven’t worked, Globe analysis shows

Brookline classes resume Tuesday after one-day strike

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.

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.

A Mattapan mother says her son was in medical distress but BPS delayed calling 911

Boston Public Schools said it is examining the school’s response.

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.

Mayor Wu announces expansion of early college programs for Boston students

Early college programs allow high school students to earn college credits while attaining their high school diploma.

Boston School Committee votes to shutter Mission Hill School

The vote to close the school at the end of June came after the release of a scathing report last week that found institutional failures there endangered children for years.

Scathing investigation prompts Boston superintendent to recommend closing ‘failed’ Mission Hill School

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said the report will prompt district reforms, including greater oversight over autonomous pilot schools like Mission Hill to ensure the schools, which have greater freedom over curriculum and hiring, are following necessary rules.

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.

COVID School Reports

Mass. reports 14,878 new coronavirus cases among public school students and 4,090 among staff

More school coverage

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.

Stranded Boston school sports teams mark latest example of BPS busing woes

Five sports teams across Boston Public Schools were left without a bus to take them to games this week, highlighting yet another instance of the district’s chronic transportation issues.

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)
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

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.”

Closing BPS middle schools leaves some children school-less
The school committee will vote Wednesday on a proposal to shutter the Irving and Timilty middle school campuses in June 2022.

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.

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

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.

‘I was expecting a plan’: Boston students see few signs of federal recovery money
Much of the more than $430 million in federal coronavirus relief funds is being used on air conditioning, air purifiers, and air quality monitors, rather than on bolstering academics.

Low-income school districts are receiving ‘game changer’ Student Opportunity Act funding. Will achievement gaps finally shrink?
Some education advocates worry that unwise spending could undermine the act’s ambitious goal — to close achievement gaps affecting students with disabilities, students of color, English learners, and low-income students.

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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May 18: School takeovers by the state haven’t worked, Globe analysis showsMay 11: Boston School Committee votes to shutter Mission Hill SchoolMay 4: Scathing investigation prompts Boston superintendent to recommend closing ‘failed’ Mission Hill School

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 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