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The Great Divide

Race, class, and opportunity in our schools

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

A Globe analysis of test scores, graduation rates, college enrollment, and a dozen other metrics in Lawrence, Holyoke, and Southbridge shows the state has failed to meet almost all its own stated goals for the districts.
What is a receivership? And why is concern growing over a potential state takeover of Boston Public Schools?

Brookline classes resume Tuesday after one-day strike

The union agreed to pay $50,000 in damages in exchange for the district not pursuing fines related to the contempt order,
Brookline schools shutter amid teachers strike Monday after weekend negotiations failed to reach deal

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.
Schools, businesses want early college program greatly expanded for underrepresented students — but will Mass. do it?

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.
9 takeaways from Boston’s investigation into Mission Hill School; DA reviewing

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

New Boston city budget includes $788 million for school capital projects over five years — but will it be enough?

Federal audit slams local districts and Mass. education department’s oversight of emergency aid

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.

Continued student struggles are weighing on teachers in the third year of the pandemic

With full-time in-person learning back and the coronavirus seemingly on the wane, 2021-2022 was supposed to be the return to normal at public schools. But teachers and counselors in Boston and across the state say it has been the hardest year yet of the pandemic.

Once a crown jewel of BPS, Roxbury’s Timilty Middle School will close in June. Will its history of transformation be remembered?

Timilty's enrollment plummeted from 700 in 2012 to just 200 this year. The district will shut the school's doors in June.

BPS’s fifth director of English learners on leave, with little explanation

The leadership turnover has had real consequences for students, say parents and advocates, equating to fewer services for English learners.

Amid leadership transition, labor tensions grow in Boston Public Schools

The contract disputes are heating up as the state is conducting an unexpected review of the school system, sparking concern the state might try to seize control of BPS to get programs on track.

11 key things Boston families want in the next schools superintendent

In four recent Zoom sessions held by the search committee, students and parents shared a wide range of characteristics they believe are crucial.
Big challenges confront Boston schools amid leadership shakeup: ‘We don’t want things to move backwards’

Timeline sharpens in search for new BPS leader

Boston’s plan to hire a new public schools superintendent by the end of June is aggressive but not unrealistic, a newly hired consultant told the search committee Tuesday as he proposed a brisk two-month timeline for reviewing applicants and choosing a new leader.

State to conduct second review of Boston Public Schools amid concerns it could pursue receivership

The review will be the second in less than three years, amid Boston’s search for a new superintendent and growing concerns about whether the state will pursue receivership.
Boston community members voice concern over possible state takeover of schools

COVID School Reports

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

More school coverage

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

The 18,968 total cases were 1,545 more, or about 9 percent more, than those reported last week, according to data published by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Boston Latin School apologizes for ‘disparaging’ student assignments 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.

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.

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

More than $250,000 has gone to the Hinckley Allen investigation of the soon-to-be-shuttered school, with more costs to come.

Boston City Council passes resolution opposing state takeover

Supporters of the resolution Wednesday agreed that the district had serious problems, but said the possibility of receivership is a hindrance, not a help, to addressing them, especially at a moment when the city has a new mayor and will soon have a new superintendent.

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