A report commissioned by Boston Public Schools finds that even in a system where most students are now black or Hispanic, the deck is still stacked against those students - in particular, boys:
Inequities in opportunities for enrollment in rigorous learning environments - for example, AWC, exam schools, and the MassCore curriculum - for Black and Latino males, and for placement in the least restrictive environments for Black and Latino males with special needs, has led to a bifurcated system with two tracks: one with the greatest learning opportunities, in which White and Asian males are substantially overenrolled, and another with diminished educational opportunities, disproportionately populated by Black and Latino males. Black and Latino males in BPS do not have the same K-12 opportunities as White and Asian males, which translates into lower lifelong prospects, including restricted college and career opportunities.
BPS says it's already taking steps to address the issue:
In 2006 the drop-out rate among African-American students in BPS was 10 percent. Since then we have cut it by more than half, to 4.5 percent. For Latino students, in 2006 the drop-out rate was 11 percent. We have since cut it to 5.2 percent. Although these are the lowest levels we have ever recorded, we can and must do so much better.
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Comments
Yeah it's actually the past
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:03am
Yeah it's actually the past 90 years since Wilson was president.
This city and state
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:14am
have been under basically one party rule, Democrat, HEAVILY influenced and reliant on 'progressives' for half a century, not including our middle of the road, socially liberal Republican governors who have always had to deal with Democratic controlled legislators. The federal government, REGARDLESS of Republican or Democratic president and/or house and senate control, takes 'civil rights' laws very seriously, as does the various branches of the judiciary, including state and US supreme courts. It is a total lie to say Boston and MA have not greatly favored 'progressive' ideas over the past half century, likewise our courts, which have consistently favored 'progressive' social engineering.
BTW, I put progressive in quotations not because I'm contemptuous of real progressives and progressive ideas, but because of how misused and co-opted it is by people I consider to be little more than opportunists and phonies.
Oh
By adamg
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:21am
For a second there, I thought you put "progressive" in quotes because the whole idea that Massachusetts is some progressive haven is kind of a lie when you look at who has controlled the purse strings in this state for most of the past 50 years - conservative Democrats like Tom Finneran, who, yes, have sometimes been more conservative than the Republican governors we like to elect as a sort of counterweight.
That is a bizarre reach even
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 8:24pm
That is a bizarre reach even for you. To blame Tom Finneran, who has been out of power for well over ten years, while Deval has had unchecked power for 8, is insane.
Pishtosh
By adamg
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 8:28pm
I wasn't blaming Finneran for anything. I was responding to somebody who seemed to think progressives have run roughshod over Massachusetts for 50 years, which, even when Democrats controlled the legislature and the governor's office, wasn't true.
If you think the Democratic
By Scratchie
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:29am
If you think the Democratic party has anything to do with "Progressivism", you're still living in 1972 (or earlier).
honest and open discussion!
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:28am
hooray!
why don't you start by telling us just what on earth you're talking about?
The solution is as obvious
By bulgingbuick
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 10:55am
as the nose on your face. Bus the kids from one side of the city to the other. It solves every social and societal ill one can imagine.
Something makes me think we
By wtf021
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:04am
Something makes me think we already tried this idea.
Better idea
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 12:18pm
Bus the kids to the nearest wealthy suburb - not just the few hand-picked METCO kids, but all of them. After all, it's quicker to bus Mattapan kids to Miltion (and Milton kids to Mattapan) instead of schlepping them over to Charlestown. Let's see how that turns out.
Milton?
By bulgingbuick
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 12:49pm
Wellesley and Dover.
Disentangle school district boundaries from city/town boundaries
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 2:13pm
I grew up in a state where there was an absolute legal mandate to economically desegregate the school systems. The way that was done was to set school district boundaries such that they would achieve economic balance, regardless of whether they matched municipal boundaries.
That meant that, even though my own parents never finished college and many of our neighbors never finished high school, I had access to very good schools. Those schools were good, in part, because I shared them with children of people who had a lot more influence over whether or not there were gifted and talented programs and the quality of special education.
Interesting idea. Just
By Bob Murphy
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 10:50pm
Interesting idea. Just curious - which state? And is it really codified in some state statute or regulation? On a local level, doesn't Cambridge try to achieve economic integration, to the extent diversity of incomes still exists there?
Well.... busing solved at least one societal ill...
By Bob Leponge
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 2:50pm
If there's a silver lining to the whole busing fiasco, it's that it encouraged the constituency that elected the likes of Dapper O'Neil to flee to whiter suburbs, thereby indirectly improving the quality of our city government.
BPS Graduate Here
By John Costello
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:21am
I had immigrant parents, one of whom, did not finish high school until I was in grammar school. Home life was not perfect by any means and both my parents had to work to support themselves and my brother, many times with one parent away for awhile. There was drugs and mayhem on the streets around me but there was also neighborhood institutions, both private and public, that tried to help kids in the area. I did grades 1 to 6 at a Catholic school, only because I was to enter first grade in the teeth of the Wellesley imposed social engineering of the mid-70's.
I studied, got great grades in some classes, math, not so much. I have had a job since I was 15. I worked nearly 40 hours a week during college and 65 to 70 hours a week while in college to help pay my way. I have a nice house and a great family. I got all this through hard work, being generally respectful to others, and not crying foul because of the color of someone's skin.
I am sick to death of hearing about racism and segregation in the Boston Public Schools. There is no confidence in the schools because of the staff and leadership of the system and lack of parental involvement. You want to see the lack of confidence in the schools? Check out the Hingham commuter boat lot or a youth sports game in Cohasset. There us quite a collection of four to five year old Back Bay and South End parking stickers there.
A lot of bad teachers which I know from my wife's student teaching stories, and not being allowed to send your kid to the school a block from you because of what John Kerrigan and Co. did in the 60's and 70's is still messing up schools today. Good luck. I voted with my feet.
I am sick to death of hearing
By Scratchie
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:30am
Just what we need. Another white guy telling people of color to stop complaining and suck it up.
Thanks Scratchie
By John Costello
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:45am
I'm telling a lot of white people to shut up as well. It is about the individual not the group. If I went with group think I would have a great Notre Dame tattoo on my arm and would have had a wonderful time last weekend drinking at the Post telling stores about hanging out in Hemmy Park when I was 15.
Please tell me more
By Scratchie
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:55am
About your extensive knowledge of racism, based on your personal experiences.
Piss Off
By John Costello
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 12:12pm
Sorry Scratchie, I have to work today to pay for my "privilege." Besides, I might get carpal tunnel from writing about my racism experiences which have been sent my way over the years.
Don't feed
By bulgingbuick
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 12:52pm
the hypocrites. Just let them wallow in their failure for another 40 years.
Great.
By Kathode
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:49am
We'll all head down to Cohasset and Hingham. That'll solve everything. You just invited all Boston residents with kids, didn't you?
Why doesn't BPS put
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 11:50am
Why doesn't BPS put additional learning specialists in regular classrooms like Brookline does? This would seem to me to be one of the most obvious solutions to the segregation problem - plus teachers do better if they can focus on teaching, not discipline or spending most of their time on the handful of kids who need far more support than they can realistically give them. You have a spec-ed person following a group of kids around from class to class, they're going to do much better and won't slow down the rest of the class. the culture in BPS for so long has been about going after "bad" teachers - if we could only get rid of the bad teachers we'll be ok - but it really should be about supporting learning and finding better ways to help struggling kids.
Additional Learning Specialists
By HenryAlan
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 10:25pm
They have those at the BPS elementary schools my children have attended. Not sure if that's universal -- when I've served on site councils and approved the budgets, the specialists fell under some discretionary line items, so it's possible some schools would pursue other resources. I can see arguments pro and con, depending on the population served by the school.
This conversation always puts
By Sunny
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 12:00pm
This conversation always puts my stomach in knots. Many of these problems have to do with underlining racial issues. Many of the problems have to do with socio-economic issues. Most people do not want to or can't have the conversation necessary to solve our problems. It is too uncomfortable for all sides.
My kids go to charters schools. It was the absolutely best choice for our family for academic and safety reasons. Also, BPS was a behemoth that we just didn't want to deal with. That said, AWC will always be 'whiter' that the rest of BPS because based on my observations of kids in AWC, their parents (mostly white, higher incomes and higher education levels, strong academic involvement) enroll their children in BPS with the goal of entry into AWC by 4th grade or Latin by 7th grade. Everything they do is towards that goal. To the extent that doesn't work, the parents remove their kids from BPS. It is a strategy that works well for them. It always helps to start on 2nd or 3rd base.
More racial disparity in the suburbs
By Markk02474
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 1:06pm
In Arlington, black students get out of school suspensions 11 times as much as white students. Winchester is 10 times, while Boston is only 3 times as likely/often (corrected for racial enrollment percentages). See others/data here: www.trupersons.com
Boy, those black kids have it
By Scratchie
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 1:23pm
Boy, those black kids have it easy, huh?
The link you posted won't work so please supply a photo of your ass to indicate where these numbers originated.
No, no, please do not do that.
By issacg
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 2:53pm
I do not want to see a picture of that ass.
What about Medford?
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 2:53pm
Medford would have far more statistical power to assess any disparities than Arlington or Winchester when it comes to black, multiracial, and African immigrant kids.
Is it any different in any other school district?
By O-FISH-L
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 1:18pm
Is there any public school district in the country where blacks and Latinos outperform whites and Asians? Why make this into a Boston problem when it's national and cultural?
Because it's worth doing
By KellyJMF
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 5:15pm
We all benefit when everyone's children are educated to the best of their abilities so they can go on to be productive citizens.
Yes
By anon
Thu, 11/13/2014 - 9:41pm
But when you operate off of racial quotas and you dilute the entry into the few goods schools we have it benefits no one, not even the ones you're trying to help.
It's progressive politics at its worse.
Remarkable
By Dave
Fri, 11/14/2014 - 11:08am
~100 comments in a UH thread that doesn't even mention bike lanes.
Fewer yellow buses
By bulgingbuick
Fri, 11/14/2014 - 4:54pm
means more room for bikes.
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