The election of a progressive mayor who has said he wants to end mayoral control of New York City schools might seem like a bellwether.

The next largest school systems, Los Angeles and Miami-Dade County, have been run by elected boards for years. Chicago is transitioning to a fully elected board after decades under mayoral control.

But don鈥檛 .

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani hasn鈥檛 laid out clear plans, and his references to 鈥渃o-governance鈥� could mean a lot of things, including an ongoing role for the mayor.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, another progressive, supported a when she ran in 2021, but once she was in office.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, has in support of union priorities.

And in Indianapolis, some community groups are in an increasingly fractured school system.

Many large cities have repeatedly overhauled their school governance of the previous model. Now a new set of existential threats 鈥� declining enrollment, looming school closures and layoffs, persistent academic challenges, and threats from the Trump administration 鈥� are reviving conversations about who can claim to exercise legitimate power over schools.

Who gets to make decisions on behalf of students and families feels particularly high stakes in this moment.

Yet there is little evidence that voters consistently prioritize student outcomes at the ballot box, whether they鈥檙e voting for mayors or school board members. Nor is there strong evidence that any particular system consistently delivers better results for students, better financial management, or more responsive leadership.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like getting dirty and changing clothes and expecting to smell good without taking a bath,鈥� said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you鈥檙e doing when you change your governance structure.鈥�

School closures put focus on who makes decisions

Education reform policies such as expanding school choice, closing low-performing schools, and welcoming charter schools have been supported by both mayors and elected school boards, sometimes under threat of state takeover. Those changes have reshaped communities in complicated ways.

New schools proliferated, and students got more opportunities. At the same time, the connections between neighborhoods and schools have frayed, competition for students and funding is fiercer, and multiple entities are now responsible for school oversight. These new realities are testing old ways of running schools.

In Indianapolis, the mayor already authorizes charter schools independently from Indianapolis Public Schools, which is run by an elected board. than district-run schools. Legislation from earlier this year that would have failed, but a state-created advisory group, chaired by Mayor Joe Hogsett, is charged with figuring out how city schools should share buildings and transportation services.

The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance is also considering proposals that would in school governance, including appointing most or all of the board.

Historically, groups associated with education reform have . Yet the Mind Trust, an influential pro-charter nonprofit that supported an appointed board in the past, hasn鈥檛 taken a position yet. Several potential Indianapolis mayoral candidates for 2027 are charter skeptics and supporters of an elected board.

Cleveland, where , is grappling with similar challenges.

As in Indianapolis, a large share of the district鈥檚 school-age children attend charter or private schools after decades under the , and enrollment in district schools has plummeted. Supporters of mayoral control sometimes , but Mayor Justin Bibb鈥檚 is causing some community members to demand a greater voice.

reported an exchange at a recent community meeting between Bibb and teacher Sarah Hodge.

鈥淎re you gonna go with us on the plan to make sure that the voters are re-enfranchised to vote for their school board?鈥� Hodge said. Bibb responded that voters can seek a new system if they wish, but he has full confidence in his appointed board and in schools CEO Warren Morgan.

The ability to push ahead with a school closure plan is one of the benefits of mayoral control, said Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a center-right think tank. He contrasted Cleveland with Columbus, where the elected school board has moved more slowly in response to many of the same pressures.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e controversial, they鈥檙e hard to do, and it does take leadership,鈥� Churchill said. And there is still a democratic check on the process. People vote for the mayor, he said, and most people know who their mayor is 鈥� unlike their school board members.

Hodge has a very different view. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not bold to upset the entire city,鈥� she said in an interview.

She believes an elected school board would listen to parents and ultimately come up with a better plan for what she agrees are necessary closures.

Hodge is working with a small group of other teachers and activists to . But Ohio鈥檚 Republican trifecta state government is unlikely to go along willingly.

Hodge and other Cleveland activists have watched conservative groups like Moms for Liberty exert their influence on school boards. She wonders why people in Cleveland have fewer rights.

鈥淚f the people of Cleveland want to make an idiotic decision, that鈥檚 our right,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ince when do legislatures get to tell people, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 get to vote. You鈥檙e too terrible to make decisions for yourself?鈥欌��

Voters often don鈥檛 care much about test scores

If mayoral control of schools is undemocratic, elected school boards raise their own questions about representation.

Most school board members are elected by small numbers of voters who don鈥檛 have children themselves and who 补谤别苍鈥檛 . Once in office, they , surveys show.

Vladimir Kogan, a political science professor at Ohio State University, said that鈥檚 because voters don鈥檛 give them any incentive to do so.

Voters in school board elections might care about home values, taxes, jobs, or 鈥渟ymbolic virtue signaling that they are [on] team red and team blue,鈥� Kogan said, before they care about how well schools are serving students.

School board elections are one of the few places parents can pull on the levers of power, said Keri Rodrigues, a Boston parent and president of the National Parents Union, an advocacy group. But they can turn out to be 鈥渄emocracy in name only.鈥�

It doesn鈥檛 have to be that way, said Scott Levy, author of 鈥淲hy School Boards Matter.鈥� Many school board members would benefit from more training, including on how to understand academic data and budgets.

鈥淚f you look at education reform efforts, you can find every permutation except investing in school boards,鈥� he said.

But if school boards don鈥檛 spend enough time on schooling, it鈥檚 not clear that mayors who do reap big benefits.

Kogan points to former District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty. Public opinion polls at the time showed under his controversial appointed chancellor, Michelle Rhee. But he : that accompanied the overhaul of D.C. schools.

鈥淩eformers have a wrong theory of change about mayoral control,鈥� Kogan said. 鈥淭he idea is that mayors are more visible, and it鈥檚 easier to hold them accountable. That assumes that voters care about academics.鈥�

Progressive mayors want a role in schools

Fights over who gets to control schools often reflect racial and political divisions. Predominantly white business interests, Black- and Latino-led community groups, and teachers unions wrestle for influence. Republican legislatures try to control Democrat-led cities.

Mayoral control spread in the 1990s and 2000s as white flight and shrinking tax bases undermined school systems. Mayors, the thinking went, could elevate the importance of education, marshal resources, and insulate governance from the influence of teachers unions.

Some of these political assumptions have eroded as voters choose more left-leaning mayors.

In last year鈥檚 鈥� held amid a that 鈥� the mayor鈥檚 union-backed allies picked up only four of the 10 elected seats. But with 11 appointees on the 21-member board until 2027, Johnson still controls the school board.

During recent union contract negotiations, to hire more staff and cover a larger share of pension costs, which district leaders feared would be financially unsustainable. The , not the board, to .

Wu, Boston鈥檚 progressive mayor, became a firm believer in mayoral control once she was in office. During a , a caller reminded Wu that the idea of an elected school board 鈥済ot more votes than you.鈥�

Wu pointed to frequent superintendent turnover and the recent threat of state takeover to argue against the idea.

鈥淲e need to have a focus on stabilizing and getting our school facilities up to date and mental health supports and some of the academic changes that we鈥檙e making,鈥� Wu said.

Voters haven鈥檛 penalized Wu 鈥� she .

New York parents, community groups want more say

Mayoral control in New York City is up for renewal in 2026. If Mamdani goes to Albany and advocates for less authority, he鈥檒l be the first New York mayor to do so.

When Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman, successfully lobbied for mayoral control in 2002, people were concerned not just about student achievement but basic safety. Some of the city鈥檚 local community boards, which ran 32 regional school districts, were corrupt or dysfunctional.

Bloomberg gained the sole ability to appoint the chancellor and the majority of the city鈥檚 school board. He adopted a that included charter school expansion and greater school accountability. Test scores and other metrics improved. New York City represented a 鈥渧ictory lap for mayoral control,鈥� said Collins, the Columbia professor.

But Bloomberg also introduced Lucy Calkins鈥� now-discredited . Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected on a public safety platform, 鈥� but the rollout . Now Mamdani, who ran on affordability, may give schools and teachers more autonomy.

鈥淭hat whiplash is a real problem,鈥� said Jonathan Greenberg, a Queens parent and member of the Education Council Consortium, a coalition of parent leaders. 鈥淪o much of the really deep-seated changes we think need to happen take more than two years or more than four years.鈥�

Mayoral control , with the school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy, expanding and exerting more independence.

Finding the right balance for an exceptionally large and complex school system may not be easy. The coalition is proposing a short extension of mayoral control 鈥� but with the mayor no longer appointing the majority of school panel members.

Greenberg hopes that policy experts can help the city design a system that allows for community control and a healthy central system that can do things at scale.

Low voter turnout in both mayoral and school board elections should be treated like a crisis, Collins said. A better system would allow for more meaningful participation, and not just at the ballot box.

Unless more people are engaged, Collins said, 鈥渢here鈥檚 going to be a small fraction of people who decide who serves, and the people who are serving are going to be disconnected from the true needs of the folks who are sending their kids to school.鈥�

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

When they first walk into Match Charter Public High School, students confront a purely physical challenge: its steep marble staircase.

Erected in 1917 as part of a three-story auto accessory and, it frames the main hall of Match, one of Boston鈥檚 鈥� and the nation鈥檚 鈥� longest-surviving charter high schools. With its wide, sweeping opening and challenging rise, it offers an implicit message, students and teachers say: 鈥淵ou must demonstrate a basic level of dedication simply to get to class on time. Come on in. This will be hard, but stick with it.鈥�

鈥淚t’s just a thing that happens for everyone who comes into the school,鈥� said senior Caleb Tolento. 鈥淵ou have to get used to the stairs eventually, because you have to go through all the different levels of the school.鈥� 

But alongside the challenge is an unprecedented level of support, students say. 

Founded in 2000 as the uppercase MATCH: Media and Technology Charter High School, after 25 years it remains stubbornly small and intensely personalized, offering a stunning contrast to how many other charter organizations have developed: Each morning, just 266 students from all over Boston 鈥� many of whom ride the bus or subway for more than an hour 鈥� crowd into the trim three-story edifice.

Once inside, students enjoy a college-prep curriculum and four years of classes in a place that both pushes and nurtures them. 

鈥淵ou grow up with this community of people that stay with you,鈥� said alumnus Jeffrey Vittini, who graduated in 2023 and now attends Northeastern University. 鈥淵ou get to know everyone.鈥�

In 25 years, Match, which also operates an elementary and middle school elsewhere in the city, has resisted expanding to other neighborhoods, let alone other cities. For the past 22 years, it has occupied the same space that until 2001 housed Ellis the Rim Man. The front corner of the building, facing bustling Commonwealth Avenue, once housed a mobile phone store 鈥� it鈥檚 now the school鈥檚 college counseling office, but everyone still calls it 鈥渢he cell store.鈥�

Match has kept itself intentionally small, even as a handful of innovations piloted there have spun off.

鈥淲e’re not a company,鈥� said Jay Galbraith, the network鈥檚 managing director of academics, who offered something approaching Match鈥檚 credo: 鈥淚f we have a good idea that works, share it.鈥�

Since its founding, Match has seen its staffers found , a curriculum company, the coaching nonprofit and , a nonprofit tutoring provider. But it hasn鈥檛 expanded its schools portfolio, Galbraith said, 鈥渆specially if that would come at the cost of not serving our kids as effectively.鈥�

With just three schools, he said, 鈥淲e can make faster moves,鈥� changing curriculum, services or whatever needs tweaking. 鈥淲e’re not trying to steer a ship of 100,000 kids.鈥�

This fall, however, political realities are threatening Match鈥檚 model, which for a quarter-century has been built partly on intensive tutoring for nearly every student.

What comes after 鈥榥o-excuses鈥�?

Like many charter schools that serve predominantly low-income students of color, Match has spent the years since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests searching for a balance between its no-excuses roots and what many consider a more humane pedagogical and disciplinary approach. 

That, several educators and students said, is a work in progress.

鈥淲hat we’ve given up is high behavioral expectations that lead to exclusion,鈥� said principal in residence Jermaine Hamilton. So while detention is back on the menu after administrators nixed it during the pandemic, out-of-school suspension isn鈥檛 coming back. 鈥淲e don’t believe excluding our students sends the message that they are welcomed here, that we want them here, and that they are allowed to make mistakes and grow here.鈥�

In the bargain, the school鈥檚 disciplinary team has grown from one 鈥渄ean of school culture鈥� to two.

In interviews, students welcomed the shift, which also meant the end of school uniforms in favor of a moderate dress code. 

Nearly all stressed that close-knit relationships make the school tick.

鈥淭hey started to realize that the community they’re building up, that’s the biggest aspect of Match that makes it what it is,鈥� said Tolento, 17. 鈥淎nd they’re kind of leaning more into that, especially in the high school.鈥�

In the absence of no-excuses discipline, Match has doubled down on personal relationships and the importance of teachers simply getting to know students. 

鈥淔or a time, we replaced 鈥榥o excuses鈥� with 鈥榓ll the excuses,鈥欌�� said history teacher Andrew Jarboe. While that was challenging for teachers, he said, 鈥淣ow I feel we’re in a place where we’re sort of correcting and finding the balance.鈥� 

Among the interventions that remain: intensive therapy sessions, extensive academic tutoring and college counseling services that would make a private school headmaster blush.

Nearly half of Match students sit for one-on-one therapy sessions of up to 50 minutes weekly, said Kerry Sonia, one of the school鈥檚 four full-time counselors. That reality creates 鈥渁 culture around counseling where students are super-comfortable with us,鈥� she said. Match students 鈥渓ove talking about their feelings, which is nice.鈥�

A Match alumna herself, Sonia attended both the middle and high school, where she was often the only white student in the building. She recalled that as a student, she often felt that adults, in their attempts to get students to sit up straight, track speakers鈥� eyes and not dawdle in the restrooms, were quietly offering a kind of implicit character education. But to students it often felt more like behavioral conditioning.

Years later, she sees that approach as dehumanizing. 鈥淚f someone was trying to track how long it took me to go to the bathroom every day, that would also annoy me.鈥�

The pivot, she said, should be more properly understood as going from 鈥渘o excuses鈥� to 鈥渉igh expectations and high supports,鈥� emphasizing both more student accountability and self-advocacy.

So even as the school has followed the lead of many high schools in instituting a cell phone ban, seniors may keep phones this fall. It鈥檚 a bid to give them a measure of control before they take off for college and careers.

Jarboe, for his part, is delighted. 鈥淭his is my first year in more than a decade where the cell phone is not ubiquitous,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y first week of teaching this year was actually quite remarkable. Students were laughing at my jokes again. They were paying attention again.鈥�

He added, 鈥淚t feels like I’ve got my students back.鈥�

Tutoring takes a hit

One recent morning, tutor Saul Escorza, a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate, sat at a high-top table on the school鈥檚 open-concept third floor, as a series of students approached for extra help with geometry. In his first five weeks, he has noticed that many students struggle to keep up with classes that simply move too quickly. 

鈥淚f you’re in an environment where they give you a day or two for the concept and then move on, but you need more, you’ll start to fall behind,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o for me, it’s just trying to figure out where they started falling back.鈥�

Many students are capable of learning math but struggle to recall the basics. 鈥淪o it’s just making sure that their foundation is solid, and then hopefully from there it becomes much more easy for them to grasp the higher-level things.鈥�

If Match is known for anything, it鈥檚 this. It was one of the first charter schools to pilot intensive tutoring for nearly all students. The policy far predated the COVID-19 pandemic 鈥� a recent book on the topic called Match 鈥減atient zero for tutoring at scale.鈥�

The program began as a partnership with MIT students, who earned federal work-study salaries to tutor Match students a few times a week. By 2003, offered every student two hours of tutoring daily.

But this fall, Escorza is lucky to be here. Federal funding cuts have forced the school to trim its tutoring 鈥� each fall, it typically opens its doors with an eye-watering 20-person, full-time tutoring staff. Due to the Trump administration鈥檚 nearly $400 million in cuts to the program, Match has had to scale back to just nine part-time tutors.

About 30 Match sophomores 鈥� somewhere between 40% and 50% of the class 鈥� now get geometry tutoring every day. A few tutors work on life skills for students who need them, while others help students catch up on missed classwork.

Devin Baker, who directs Match Corps, said she鈥檚 working on ways to bring it back to its former glory, perhaps by hiring local graduate students. Most years, virtually every freshman and sophomore sits with a personal tutor several times a week. That in particular has long helped Match stand out, since for many students it can mean the difference between taking basic coursework and tackling Advanced Placement courses.

Tutors attend meetings with students鈥� classroom teachers and special ed staff and are 鈥渦niquely positioned to get to know the kids and advocate for the kids on a level that classroom teachers just can’t get to in the same way,鈥� said Baker, herself a tutor as a member of City Year, the AmeriCorps program that until this fall underwrote Match鈥檚 tutoring.

Several teachers said the loss of funding carries bigger stakes than just a smaller tutoring corps. It鈥檚 鈥渢he foundation and the fabric that weave this place together,鈥� said Kyle Winslow Smith, Match鈥檚 director of curriculum and instruction for the humanities.

He and colleagues have relied on tutors not just for boosting kids鈥� math skills but for helping students with executive functioning and planning. It鈥檚 also a key pipeline for Match teachers 鈥� more than a dozen current teachers started as tutors.

The AmeriCorps funding cuts, Smith said, are devastating to a community like Match. 鈥淏ecause Title I charter schools and AmeriCorps serve communities of color, it is a systematically racist policy that they’re imposing upon these schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it seems like it’s an intentional move to deconstruct a system that is helping communities of color.鈥�

鈥業t鈥檚 so easy to get help鈥� 

Asked what they like most about the school, virtually all students say some variation of this: The place is crawling with adults offering assistance.

鈥淭he school being so small, it’s so easy to get help,鈥� said senior Brianny Pimentel, 17, who prefers to be called by her nickname: 鈥淶ero.鈥�

鈥淚f you really need help with homework, or if you really need time to finish a test or a quiz, it’s so easy to look for that help,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here’s so many teachers and tutors around that can help you.鈥�

Between classes, virtually the entire staff emerges from classrooms to shoo students to their next period. After the last bell, many students stay to socialize, get extra help and chat with teachers, said Devon Burroughs, the school鈥檚 vice principal. 鈥淭hey’re just hanging out with each other in the lobby, or they’re sitting with a teacher and just talking about life 鈥� not necessarily academics, but just to be around a person. Sometimes we have to [say], 鈥極.K., it’s 5:40.鈥欌�� Even then, he said, students linger in the park near the school, reluctant to go home.

Once they get to junior year, Match students gain access to a five-person college counseling staff that rivals those of elite private schools. Each counselor鈥檚 case load typically ranges from just 15 to 20 students, and counselors often help families, tax returns in hand, fill out the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid. 

Over four years at Match, the typical student receives about 400 hours of college counseling, the school says. Most end up visiting more than 20 colleges.

That support typically pays off: 92% of the class of 2025 attend college, with 83% enrolled in four-year institutions. About 50% of alumni who attend college complete a degree within six years. That鈥檚 high compared to other charter organizations such as KIPP, which boasts a . 

Senior Tolento, who first attended Match in sixth grade, has his eyes on 鈥渁 lot of high-end schools,鈥� including Cornell University. Match, he said, is 鈥渁dvocating for me to keep pushing myself upward.鈥�

This spring, his classmate Pimentel will be the third in her family to graduate from Match. Though admission is by random lottery, students with siblings already attending get a leg up. She鈥檚 looking at studying business or early childhood education, possibly at Framingham State University.

鈥淪ince Day One, since you’re a freshman, they immediately are like, 鈥楶ut in all your effort,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hey’re really adamant about you trying the hardest you can to accelerate every year, and this year specifically they’re really putting in the work to help us.鈥�

At the time, Castro鈥檚 salary was less than $20,000. Two decades later, after earning both her bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in sociology and urban studies and working as a special education and a language paraprofessional, she is earning $55,000 鈥� still far below what most people would need to earn to afford to live in New York. To help her make ends meet, Castro lived with her parents early on in her career. 

But the main reason she has stuck with it? The impact she has had on the kids.  

鈥淲e are there with the students every period, so we see the challenges the students go through and their success,鈥� Castro said. 鈥淭o me, it’s amazing to see, especially when I’m [working with] an autistic child who, for the first time, is learning how to read and learning how to write their name.鈥�

Castro now advocates for other classroom support staff as the president of the paraprofessional chapter of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. The city is currently struggling with a shortage of more than 1,550 paraprofessionals. Hoping to attract and retain more people to the profession, the union is stepping outside of its traditional collective bargaining practices to that would of at least $10,000 for the city鈥檚 paraprofessionals.

Paraprofessionals are usually hourly workers who assist students and teachers with classroom work, supervision and instructing small groups. Roughly 75% of paras don鈥檛 have a bachelor鈥檚 degree, according to a . Average pay for paraprofessionals in 2024 was $35,240, according to the .  

Across the U.S., unions are seeking to boost paraprofessional pay, which remains so low that workers are struggling to get by in many states, according to an from the National Education Association.

A found that more than half of paraprofessionals worked other jobs on weekdays after classes ended and 75% said they had a problem making a living wage.

The NEA said that while paraprofessional pay has improved, 鈥渢here is still a lot of work to be done.鈥�

In April, paraprofessionals in Boston landed raises ranging from 23% to 31% over three years Most will see a pay increase of nearly $8,000 by the end of the , according to the Boston Teachers Union. 

Allentown School District in Pennsylvania accepted a contract last fall that will give its paraprofessionals . Pittsburgh Public Schools awarded its paras in December.

In addition, California lawmakers are that would increase pay for both teachers and staffers, including paraprofessionals, by 50% over the next 10 years. 

鈥淚鈥檝e received strong support from teachers and [other school] employees who are struggling to live in the communities that they work in,鈥� said Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, who authored the bill.

Dannel Montesano is one of them. She left her paraprofessional job earlier this year to become an office clerk at Liberty Ranch High School in Galt, California. The new job paid just $1 more per hour. It was the only way she could get a raise.

鈥淥ur starting paraprofessional pay is $18.63 an hour. This school year, we’ve had a hard time filling all of the positions because when you can go work at McDonald’s for over $20 an hour 鈥� and not have as much responsibility working one-on-one with students 鈥�- the draw isn’t there,鈥� she said.

In New York City, paraprofessionals earn between $31,787 to $52,847 a year, according to the UFT. The city鈥檚 current system of collective bargaining ensures all job titles receive the same percentage wage increase. But those increases have a varying impact depending on an employee鈥檚 base pay. The union said in a that a 3% pay raise could mean roughly a $900 increase for a paraprofessional but a $6,000 bump for a principal. 

More than 1,600 union members rallied in front of City Hall in April to advocate for the paraprofessional pay bill, which would create a separate “” that would exist outside of collective bargaining. Each year, the city鈥檚 general fund would provide full-time paraprofessionals with a check of at least $10,000.

鈥淲e have paraprofessionals who are struggling,鈥� Castro said. 鈥淚 received an email from a paraprofessional who’s living in a shelter with a child. It broke my heart to receive this email. We have to make a difference. We have to ensure that the bill is passed in City Hall, because it would change so many lives.鈥�

Lynka Guadalupe was about a year and a half from graduating from one of Boston鈥檚 oldest high schools when she learned she was pregnant. 

She liked life as a student and at first she thought she could juggle pregnancy and schoolwork. She soon realized, however, that navigating the large campus was a lot more work than she鈥檇 expected. 

鈥淚 was just drained in general,鈥� she recalled, with 鈥渁 lot of floors for me to be going up and down.鈥�

But the final straw came when she confided in a trusted staff member, who told her that if she kept the baby she鈥檇 be ruining her life.

Guadalupe dropped out and spent months figuring out her next move. That鈥檚 when she learned about a tiny charter school not far from her home called , or BDEA. Though its model has changed slightly over the years 鈥� the school no longer operates in the evening, as its 20-year-old name implies 鈥� it has become one of the most alternative high schools in the U.S., offering a model of care and personal attention that larger, more comprehensive schools often struggle to create.

For Guadalupe, that meant a program that let her take classes from home two days each week. School administrators worked around her childcare schedule for the other three.

鈥淭hey’re like, 鈥楢s long as you get the work done, that should be the most important thing,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hey know where I’m at 鈥�. They don’t treat me like I’m ‘less than.’鈥�

Though it was a long process, Guadalupe graduated in June with her now-4-year-old in tow, one of more than 1,200 young people who have found an alternative path to graduation since BDEA opened in 2004. 

The school comprises three programs, which enroll about 250 students ages 16 to 23. 

It offers streamlined coursework that can be completed faster than in most schools, part of a competency-based curriculum that allows students to quickly show they鈥檝e mastered material. 

Among its keys to success: a nearly obsessive attention to the mental, physical and academic needs of students. BDEA not only offers small classes and free meals but showers, laundry, clothing, free city bus passes and an in-school health clinic. It helps students earn work permits and find jobs. For those experiencing homelessness, it works with a local nonprofit to find housing.

鈥淚f I didn’t have the support,鈥� said Guadalupe, now 23, 鈥淚 think I’d probably still be dropped out and just working my life away with no diploma.鈥�

The support comes mostly in the form of small but important details. BDEA starts its school day at 9 a.m., hours later than most high schools. It also offers a session at 10 a.m.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 our most attended time,鈥� said Alison Hramiec, BDEA鈥檚 head of school and a longtime teacher there. The later start time, she said, allows students to drop off siblings or offspring at daycare or other schools. Most of her students take public transportation, which typically takes more than an hour. 

Class calendars are compressed to allow students to complete more at a faster clip. And the entire system is based on mastery, allowing students to test out of courses so they can check off requirements in days rather than months. The typical student graduates in just under three years.

But the school imposes no time limits on graduation, allowing them to take as little as one course per trimester.

鈥楳y phone number hasn鈥檛 changed in 24 years鈥�

Originally serving students who鈥檇 dropped out to become 鈥渢hird shift鈥� workers, punching a time clock from midnight to 8 a.m., BDEA鈥檚 original class schedule allowed students to leave work, sleep through the afternoon and attend evening classes before their next shift. 

But over time, most young people grabbed afternoon shifts, creating a need for a more robust morning program. It also deepened its relationship to graduates, many of whom take extra time to decide on college or a career.

鈥漌e’re reaching out to those students on a regular basis and saying, 鈥業 know you’re working as a cashier right now at CVS, but what do you think in September you really might like to be doing?鈥� said Director of Postgraduate Planning Margaret Samp.

She began working as a literacy specialist at BDEA at its founding, 24 years ago. Her background was in drama and English as a Second Language, and she admitted that she loves her current title 鈥渂ecause it sounds like everybody’s going to graduate school.鈥�

Even graduates who return years later needing help with college or career dreams 补谤别苍鈥檛 turned away. As if illustrating BDEA鈥檚 consistency in students鈥� lives, she added, 鈥淢y phone number hasn’t changed in 24 years.鈥�

From credo to memoir

One month each year, most classes stop and students work on projects based on the competencies they need to meet.

Teachers are also encouraged to collaborate. In one case, humanities teacher Jose Capo Jr. and biology teacher Nilo Ashraf created a course that used superheroes to teach about DNA. The pair challenged students to imagine what would happen if two superheroes reproduced, asking what powers the offspring would share with their parents.

He called the class 鈥渁 creative writing/science class hybrid鈥� that helps them see how their interests intersect with academics. 

鈥淚t’s really about young people feeling empowered to take charge of their lives here,鈥� he said.

Capo often starts his courses by asking students to write a credo. Many struggle with the assignment, telling him, 鈥溾�業 don’t think I have one. I’m just here.鈥� 鈥� And I’m like, 鈥業sn’t that still a code?鈥� And they would just be like 鈥︹�� 鈥� he makes a 鈥渕ind blown鈥� motion with his fingers.

After their credo, Capo guides them through the process of writing a short memoir while reading a sociology textbook that explores 鈥渢he multiple dimensions of the self.鈥� He also assigns chapters from the 1967 memoir Down These Mean Streets by , a Latino writer who grew up poor in New York鈥檚 Spanish Harlem. 

Students write essays exploring which dimension of the self has a stronger hold on them at the moment 鈥� and which they need help bringing into the light.

Hramiec, the head of school, said that sets BDEA apart. 鈥淲e spend a lot of time giving students space to grow emotionally, to learn how to self-regulate, to think about social intelligence.鈥� 

Jill Kantrowitz, the school鈥檚 advancement director, recalled sitting in on the superheroes unit in her first few months at the school. 鈥淚t blew my mind,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he idea is that students can take control of their education.鈥�

That extends to nearly every aspect of the school, from feedback on classes to student achievement. Rather than pushing to pass each class, Kantrowitz noted, students can choose whether they want to simply prove competency or aim for a higher level of mastery. 

That changes the complexion of classes, where 15 students might be working towards different outcomes.

Students are, of course, expected to attend every day, but many face huge challenges. About one in 10 is homeless, with many 鈥渃ouch surfing鈥� and in search of housing, said social worker Rachel Revis. 鈥淲e have students that sleep in parks. We do have students that are in shelters looking for stability. And that was a huge thing, especially after COVID, where families were sort of broken apart.鈥�

On the other hand, BDEA also serves escapees from elite schools who can鈥檛 handle the competitive pressure. 鈥淭hey would say they come here because they’re like, ‘I can actually breathe 鈥� I can be myself.鈥欌��

鈥楢n educational team backing me鈥�

Nearly half of students arrive with either individualized education plans (IEPs) or less restrictive 504 accommodation requirements. And nearly all face difficult family and personal circumstances.

Teachers watch absences closely, calling and texting whenever students don鈥檛 show up. There鈥檚 no harsh punishment for not attending, but if they miss five days in a row, the school turns off their city bus pass and turns to more direct interventions, such as one-on-one meetings, home visits and, if applicable, conversations with family members.

That approach is rare, said Mina Koenig, 22. She enrolled at BDEA after attending the prestigious for a few years. Chronic migraines drove her out of a school that she says didn鈥檛 accommodate her needs 鈥� for one thing, its ubiquitous fluorescent lights never shut off.

Though she earned A鈥檚, Koenig missed a lot of school 鈥� one year, she was absent 160 days and failed several classes.

She expects to graduate from BDEA within a year as she earns more math and science credits. 

Much like her classmate Guadalupe, Koenig said one previous roadblock was having a physical condition that severely limited her, with teachers 鈥渕aking no real effort to cross that barrier and understand,鈥� despite an IEP.

At BDEA, she said, teachers are 鈥渧ery focused on having an individual connection with each and every one of their students鈥� 鈥� very similar to her medical team of doctors and neurologists. 鈥淗ere, I feel 鈥� that I have an educational team backing me.鈥�

For her part, Koenig said her migraines have been improving. After she graduates, she鈥檚 thinking about studying to be a dietitian. She plans to attend Bunker Hill Community College and 鈥渇igure it out while I’m there.鈥�

BDEA has already given her the freedom to study diet and nutrition, offering a gardening project as well as botany and agriculture courses. 鈥淚t’s really nice that the school is supporting me with things that are other than just math worksheets,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey’ve actually set me up for life.鈥� 

While the policy has since been replaced, a group of white and Asian parents sued the district, claiming that although it appeared to be race neutral, in practice it disproportionately harmed them and violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause. The families were seeking damages, as well as spots at the schools for five students who argued they would have been accepted under the pre-COVID policy. 

The decision, handed down earlier this month, lets stand a lower court鈥檚 ruling that the policy did not violate the rights of white and Asian students. It was closely watched for signs of how eager the high court might be to apply to K-12 admissions elements of its landmark 2023 decision overturning affirmative action in higher education.

In a five-page dissent, justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said that in declining to hear the case, the court 鈥渞efused to correct a glaring constitutional error that threatens to perpetuate race-based affirmative action in defiance of鈥� that earlier case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina.

Writing in favor of the decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the fact that the policy is no longer in place at least partially convinced him it was unnecessary to hear the case. That being said, he cautioned against reading into his reasoning an approval of the lower court鈥檚 decision and encouraged future judges to consider the concerns raised in his fellow justices鈥� dissent. 

Advocacy organizations in favor of race-conscious policies considered the court鈥檚 decision a victory.

鈥淓ver since the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in the Harvard affirmative action case, right-wing groups have unsuccessfully tried to extend its reach to challenge diversity, equity, and inclusion,鈥� Iv谩n Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of said in a statement. 鈥淏ut today鈥檚 action by the Supreme Court sends a clear signal: there鈥檚 no appetite for extending the affirmative action decision beyond its narrow scope in college admissions.鈥�

Bethany Li, executive director of The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, was part of a multi-racial coalition of community organizations and families that joined Boston Public Schools in defending the policy. She felt it was particularly important for her organization to get involved to signal that the Asian community is not a monolith and that many support affirmative action.

鈥淎sian Americans wanted to very visibly show that we were standing in solidarity with the Black and Latino community on this issue,鈥� she said in an interview with 社区黑料. 鈥淚 think there’s always this story that’s told that Asian Americans, for example, aren’t as supportive of affirmative action, or aren’t supportive of policies that increase diversity 鈥� and that’s actually not the case.鈥�

Li also argued that the challenge should have been dismissed long ago, since the policy is no longer in place. Under the new policy, students receive an admissions score 鈥� their GPA accounts for 70% and a standardized test for the remaining 30%. Students may be eligible to receive additional points if they meet specific criteria, like living in public housing or attending a school with an enrollment of 40% or more economically disadvantaged students.

Boston Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Kieser, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the plaintiffs, pushed back on the defunct-policy argument. 

鈥淚t was unfortunate to see that that was cited as a reason not to take the case,鈥� he said, adding that 鈥渁ctually this is a really good vehicle to address this question, because it’s a really concrete thing. There’s no future moving parts that are going to be coming up. We already know what happened, and all we’re asking for is to send it back and for the district court to be able to give a remedy to these five kids.鈥�

Historically, the three schools 鈥� Boston Latin Academy, the John D. O鈥橞ryant School of Mathematics and Science, and Boston Latin School 鈥� solely considered a student鈥檚 grades and a single standardized test score to determine admissions. Critics had long argued this criteria meant few Black and Latino students were selected for the coveted positions, and the Boston School Committee 鈥� the governing body for Boston Public Schools 鈥� began considering amendments to the policy in 2019.

These changes came to fruition in the 2021-22 school year, when Boston Public Schools temporarily suspended the entrance exam, and instead prioritized grades and geography. Under the new, two-part policy, one-fifth of seats were given to the top academic students across the city. For the remaining 80% of the entering class, geography was included in admissions criteria: each of the city鈥檚 zip codes had the opportunity to send their students with the highest GPAs, a move meant to diversify the schools. 

Advocates say the policy was a success: between the 2020鈥�21 and 2021鈥�22 school years, Black students increased from 14% to 23% of total enrollment and Latino students grew from 21% to 23%, while white students decreased from 40% to 31% and Asian students shrank from 21% to 18%. A lower court ruled that this did not disproportionately harm Asian and white students, since they were still overrepresented in the sought-after schools compared to their numbers in Boston Public Schools’ overall enrollment. In his dissent, Alito wrote, 鈥淭his reasoning is indefensible.鈥�

This type of case is not unique: earlier this year the firm representing the Asian and white families in Boston asked the high court to hear a similar one surrounding an admissions policy at a prestigious magnet school in The court ultimately denied that request as well, but the Pacific Legal Foundation is currently litigating other cases against admissions policies in Maryland鈥檚 Montgomery County Public Schools and in New York City. 

New York City鈥檚 eight specialized high schools 鈥� including Stuyvesant High School and The Bronx High School of Science 鈥� are of particular prominence. They almost exclusively only look at a student鈥檚 score on a single standardized test to determine admissions, which critics say drives lopsided demographics. Last spring, just 4.5% of offers went to Black students and 7.6% went to Hispanic students. In 2024, only 10 Black students were admitted to Stuyvesant’s first-year class of 744 in Lower Manhattan, according to reporting by  

In attempting to bring this latest batch of cases to the Supreme Court, plaintiffs were hoping to establish a similar precedent in K-12 schools as was laid out in Students for Fair Admissions.

鈥淥verall the precedent we want to set is that you can’t make race-based decisions in K-12 admissions 鈥� whether you do it through a proxy or you do it explicitly, it’s the same,鈥� said Kieser.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep going as much as we can,鈥� he added. 鈥淟ike I said, we’ve had issues where it’s taken us 10, 12 times to ask the court to hear a case before they’ve done it. So it’s not over.鈥�

In a ruling denying immediate relief to the student, filed Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson said nothing about the case suggests teachers at Hingham High School were 鈥渉asty鈥� in concluding that the student and a classmate had cheated by relying on AI. He also said the school didn鈥檛 impose particularly heavy-handed discipline in the case, considering that the students had violated the school district鈥檚 academic integrity rules.

An attorney for the family on Friday noted the ruling is merely preliminary and that 鈥渢he case will continue鈥� with more discovery. But a former deputy attorney general who follows AI in education issues said the likelihood of the family winning on the merits in a trial 鈥渓ook all but over.鈥�

After an Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher last fall flagged a draft of a documentary script as possibly containing AI-generated material, the pair received a D on the assignment and were later denied entry into the National Honor Society. The group鈥檚 faculty advisor said their use of AI was 鈥渢he most egregious鈥� violation of academic honesty she and others had seen in 16 years.

Jennifer and Dale Harris, parents of one of the students, sued the district and several school staffers in September, alleging that their son, a junior at the time and a straight-A student, was wrongly penalized. If the judge didn鈥檛 order the district to quickly change his grade, they said, he鈥檇 risk not being admitted via early admission to elite colleges.

He has not been identified and is referred to as 鈥淩NH鈥� in court documents.

The complaint noted that when the students started the project in fall 2023, the district didn鈥檛 have a policy on using AI for such an assignment. Only later did it lay out prohibitions against AI. But in court testimony, district officials said Hingham students are trained to know plagiarism and academic dishonesty when they see it. 

While he earned a C+ in the course, the student scored a perfect 5 on the AP US history exam last spring, according to the lawsuit. He was later allowed to reapply to the Honor Society and was inducted on Oct. 15. Ultimately, the school鈥檚 own investigation found that over the past two years, it had inducted into the Honor Society seven other students who had academic integrity infractions, said Peter S. Farrell, the family鈥檚 attorney.

In his ruling, Levenson said the case centered around simple academic dishonesty, and that school officials could reasonably conclude that the students鈥� use of AI 鈥渨as in violation of the school鈥檚 academic integrity rules and that any student in RNH鈥檚 position would have understood as much.鈥�

The students, he said, 鈥渄id not simply use AI to help formulate research topics or identify sources to review. Instead, it seems they indiscriminately copied and pasted text that had been generated by Grammarly.com鈥� into their draft script. 

Levenson said the court doesn鈥檛 really have a role in 鈥渟econd-guessing the judgments of teachers and school officials,鈥� especially since the students weren鈥檛 suspended. Farrell on Friday said he expected the case to continue, but Benjamin Riley, founder of , a think tank that investigates AI in education, said the judge鈥檚 ruling suggests the family鈥檚 chance of winning in a trial are slim. Riley, a former deputy attorney general for California, said the issue at the core of the case isn鈥檛 鈥渢he whiz-bang technology of AI 鈥� it’s about a student who plagiarized and got caught. The judge’s decision explains at length and in detail how the school district had academic integrity policies in place, as well as a fair process for resolving any issues arising under them.鈥� 

Everyone in the district, he said, 鈥渇ollowed these rules and imposed an appropriate (and frankly light) punishment. As is often the case, few will see the diligent and quiet work of thoughtful educators at Hingham Public Schools, but I do 鈥� and I’m hoping they felt good when this decision came down. They should.鈥�

Had the family not sued the district, Farrell said, it wouldn鈥檛 have come to light that he had been 鈥渢reated differently than other students admitted to National Honor Society鈥� who had academic integrity infractions on their record. He also noted that the school admitted the student into the National Honor Society within a week of a hearing in the case last month. 鈥淭he timing of that action was not a coincidence.鈥�

Hingham Public Schools did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

But as commentators of that controversy this year, few have remarked on the legacy of a much more durable, and more successful, effort to bus underserved kids to better educational opportunities: METCO, an initiative that offers Boston students slots in several dozen suburban communities that participate voluntarily. With considerably less fanfare, the program has made a serious dent in segregation across one of the country鈥檚 biggest metropolitan areas.

Until recently, researchers struggled to quantify METCO鈥檚 effects. But a paper released in August has provided the fullest overview yet of how students鈥� lives change after being bused to better-performing school districts.

The , conducted by Tufts University economist Elizabeth Setren, finds that over the last few decades, METCO students enjoyed sizable improvements to their standardized test scores, school attendance, and disciplinary records compared with similar peers who didn鈥檛 participate. They were also more likely to both start and graduate from college and later earned substantially higher wages. The effects were especially large for boys and children whose parents didn鈥檛 attend college.

Those successes, achieved by a program with little national recognition, could offer lessons to attempting to engineer more racial and socioeconomic balance in their classrooms. Both and changing demographics have made desegregation a more complex process than it was during the movement鈥檚 heyday, but many education leaders about national data indicating that racial isolation has ticked upward since the 1990s.

It was in an effort to achieve racial balance across Boston鈥檚 heavily segregated neighborhood schools that a federal judge ordered local officials to shuttle students to schools in different parts of the city. Researchers what academic improvements resulted from racially directed school assignment, but the political response was so resoundingly hostile that the project was wound down by the end of the 1990s. By contrast, METCO has grown significantly since its inception and is now one of the longest-running voluntary desegregation programs in the country.

Setren said that her research, which relied on huge troves of student assignment, college enrollment, and later-life employment data, was especially compelling given the 鈥渦nusual鈥� granularity of information she was able to use to identify METCO鈥檚 impact. 

鈥淲hat the METCO setting tells us is that going to schools in neighborhoods with much higher college aspirations, much higher college-going rates, and more advanced curricula can lead to a transformative change for these students鈥� academic and career trajectories,鈥� she said.

To pinpoint the direct consequences of taking part in METCO, Setren only studied children whose parents filled out applications, whether successfully or unsuccessfully. Because the program receives many more applications than its roughly 3,300 annual slots, the study could simply compare the outcomes of those who were accepted 鈥� at the time, on a first-come, first-served basis, though more recently 鈥� versus otherwise-similar students who were not.

In all, Setren found, METCO students scored considerably higher on state tests, drawing 49 percent closer to the Massachusetts average in English than their peers by the third grade. They were only two-thirds as likely as their BPS peers to be suspended, and they accrued between three and nine fewer absences each year, in spite of the transportation hassle and time crunch of getting to school miles away from their own neighborhoods.

Things only got better from there: Making the trip to a suburban school raised children鈥檚 rate of graduating from high school on time from 79 to 92 percent, while lowering their chance of dropout from 4 to just 1 percent. Participants鈥� chances of scoring at least 1000 on the SAT were nearly nine points higher, while their chances of scoring 1200 or above were two points higher. They were 21 percentage points more likely to enroll in college and 12 points more likely to graduate.

Perhaps most striking of all is the impact farthest removed from the K鈥�12 years. For those who work in Massachusetts, METCO students earn, on average, $7,708 more annually by the age of 25 than those who never received an offer. Ten years later, that gap grows to an average of $16,250.

Positive peer effects

If the benefits of busing between districts are clear, how they are achieved is somewhat less so. 

The act of switching school districts amounts to 鈥渁 bundle of changes about your academic career鈥� all occurring simultaneously, Setren observed, making it difficult to isolate which factors led to academic and behavioral improvements. But some evidence supports the idea that exposure to higher-performing peers and loftier expectations could be exerting the most influence.

In 1966, when METCO was launched, the differences in resources between Boston and its inner-ring suburbs were greater than they are today. But in 2021, Boston Public Schools , one of the highest rates in the nation. That figure is also of the 38 districts that accept METCO transfers, making it unlikely that higher funding is powering participants to more learning.

Setren also found that the various inclusion measures taken by districts to welcome students coming from Boston 鈥� including tutoring, after-school transportation, and access to social workers 鈥� made little difference to whether they flourished in their new schools; regardless of whether their new districts took such steps, METCO participants massively out-performed their peers in Boston Public Schools.

Some important differences separate the schools in receiving districts, however. They pay their teachers, on average, $3,000 more per year, which could be explained by the fact that they can boast roughly one year more classroom experience than those working in Boston. METCO participants are less likely to be taught by someone with less than two years鈥� prior experience 鈥� but also less likely to be paired with an African American or Latino teacher, which research has consistently shown can boost their achievement and belief in themselves.

By comparison, however, the classmates they encounter are appreciably different from those they leave behind. METCO participants study alongside pupils who are less than one-third as likely to come from low-income families, who score much higher on state exams, and who are less frequently disciplined by teachers. In their freshman year of high school, METCO students are less than half as likely to have a classmate who was suspended the previous year. 

Even more notably, enrolling in the program transforms the expectations they meet every day. While only about half of students in non-METCO classrooms pursue a four-year degree, more than three-quarters of those in METCO classrooms do.

Kenneth Ardon, an economist at Salem State University who on METCO, noted broad commonalities in resources, teacher experience, and curricular materials between Boston and nearby communities. While cautioning that he was not familiar with Setren鈥檚 work, he said it made sense that the influence of peers would play a prominent role in lifting students鈥� life outcomes.

鈥淎s you go through and compare urban districts to suburban ones, the biggest difference comes from peers,鈥� Ardon said. 鈥淪o it’s not surprising if that’s explaining a large part of the improvement in performance.”

Setren agreed, noting that METCO鈥檚 largest impact was manifest in children who were previously least exposed to higher education. For both college aspiration and enrollment in four-year degree programs, participants with parents who didn鈥檛 graduate from college saw gains more than one-third larger than those with at least one college-educated parent.

“I think that speaks to the importance of this shift in expectations,鈥� Setren argued. 鈥淣ow these kids are learning more and expected to go to college more than they would have been otherwise.”

For her senior project at Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School, Katie Collins decided to learn how to play guitar.

She鈥檇 originally planned to learn and record four or five songs in eight months, but by early May she told a small crowd, 鈥淚 chose, in a very Parker fashion, to do two songs, in depth.鈥�

If a school鈥檚 ethos can be summed up in a single sentence, that might be it: Less is more. It guides much of what happens in this unusual, if influential, school 30 miles northwest of Boston.

鈥淚 went into this having slightly unrealistic expectations of myself,鈥� Collins told judges at her presentation, having predicted this time last year that she鈥檇 be 鈥渁 rock star by May.鈥� 

Asked whether she considers herself a guitar player yet, she was unequivocal: 鈥淢y idea of being a guitar player is 鈥榮hredding.鈥� I鈥檓 not there yet.鈥� One day, she said, she鈥檒l be a rock star. 鈥淚鈥檓 gonna keep at it.鈥�

鈥榃e鈥檙e not afraid鈥�

Founded in 1994, Parker is a throwback to , when educators rebelled against the impersonal tyranny of bell schedules and the very idea of letter grades. It has found a way to operate without these, laying the groundwork for some of the most influential school experiments happening today.

Parker students 补谤别苍鈥檛 assigned grades. Instead, they constantly revise their work, which teachers judge on a continuum from 鈥渂eginning鈥� to 鈥渕eeting鈥� expectations. Work that fails to pass muster doesn鈥檛 receive a traditional D or F. Students simply stay in the 鈥渂eginning鈥� phase of the process, invited to try again without the traditional consequences lower grades carry in most schools.

While operating without traditional letter grades presents a challenge for many new students, this problem soon solves itself, said Brian Harrigan, Parker鈥檚 head of school. By the end of the school year, he no longer hears new students talking about grades. 鈥淭hey are definitely motivated by ‘meets.’鈥�

It seems to be working: Parker boasts an enviable college-going rate of 82.4%. And though it doesn鈥檛 offer a single Advanced Placement class, Parker鈥檚 pass rate on AP exams is among the highest in Massachusetts.

In its latest state report card, Parker鈥檚 out-of-school was 0.7%. The number of students disciplined for any reason hovered in single digits.

Most schools keep kids in check by threatening lost points or detention if they鈥檙e late, forget an assignment or misbehave, said Deb Merriam, Parker鈥檚 academic dean and one of three original staff members. 鈥淎t this school, there’s no sense that there’s something to lose.鈥�

She added bluntly, 鈥淲e don’t 鈥榙o fear.鈥欌��

There鈥檚 also no sense that adults fear kids acting out if they鈥檙e unhappy or bored, because so much of the school鈥檚 energy is spent ensuring that everyone succeeds in pursuit of their interests.

That principle is central to student life at Parker: Each student owns his or her education. 

鈥淓veryone has chosen to be here,鈥� said Harrigan. 鈥淚 think that’s important.鈥�

Roots in Sizer鈥檚 work

Ironically, fear played a role in the school鈥檚 creation three decades ago.

Parker opened its doors in 1995, a year after Massachusetts approved its charter 鈥� one of the first in the state. It was led by a group of parents and teachers inspired by educator Theodore R. Sizer 鈥� known to colleagues as Ted 鈥� who a decade earlier had written the seminal book Horace鈥檚 Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School.

The book followed a fictional beleaguered English teacher named Horace Smith, who confronts a system that somehow expects little of students but simultaneously fears their capacity for trouble. The 鈥渃ompromise鈥� of the title describes Horace鈥檚 bid to make peace with students by not challenging them too much.

Sizer naturally envisioned a more positive and democratic way to run a high school, with teachers becoming trusted coaches rather than simply getting by. He and his wife, Nancy, founded the Coalition of Essential Schools, which worked to spread the word about his ideas, outlined in 10 鈥溾�� such as 鈥淪tudent as worker, teacher as coach.鈥�

The Sizers were among the school鈥檚 founders and served as co-principals from 1998 to 1999. Ted Sizer died in 2009, and the coalition folded in 2016, but many of today鈥檚 most innovative high school models 鈥� from California鈥檚 heralded to the national network of schools 鈥� were founded by his disciples.

鈥業s this far enough?鈥�

Individualization is perhaps the key component of what makes Parker work, giving students leeway to build skills and explore interests at their own pace. It also allows teachers to avoid leveling or tracking students, as most schools do.

In an Arts and Humanities class one recent morning, students strummed ukuleles in preparation for the day鈥檚 lesson: studying and composing protest songs.

Within a week of picking up the instruments, they鈥檇 be expected to perform a protest song, either a cover of a classic, a new version with different lyrics or an original. 

In one of his upper level math classes, teacher Jon Churchill hands students an imaginary $1,000 monthly salary and a handful of bills to pay. Then he tasks them with creating a budgeting spreadsheet. 

The push to individualize sometimes makes Churchill think of himself as a sort of mountain guide, forever asking students, 鈥淚s this far enough? Is this far enough? What do you want to do? Do you want to go forward?鈥�

A few kids scramble up the mountain, their energy spent making their spreadsheets as efficient and elegant as possible. Others struggle to create the functions needed just to pay one bill. Individualizing the assignment, he said, means 鈥渢hey can all have that same common language, even though the kids are doing slightly different things.鈥� 

The key to succeeding in such differentiation, Harrigan said, is class sizes of no more than 20 to 25 students and a commitment to team teaching, especially in the early years. 

Teachers assigned to Parker鈥檚 youngest students co-teach two long, two-hour sessions daily, assessing the work of no more than about 25 students daily, much smaller than the load of most high school teachers, who must often grade upwards of 100 papers per assignment 鈥� one Chicago English teacher recently recalled having to grade as many as per assignment. 

Parker also offers teachers a daily two-hour prep period. That means they can offer 鈥渁 ton of revision, a ton of reflection鈥� for students to improve their work, Harrigan said. 

The school has inevitably inspired broad interest from two groups: homeschoolers and students with special needs. Students with individualized education plans and less restrictive 504 plans now comprise about 40% of Parker鈥檚 student body. 

鈥淲e have a lot of parents whose kids have struggled in traditional districts come here for the support that the school offers,鈥� said Sue Massucco, the arts and humanities domain leader. Parker鈥檚 ethos allows students to 鈥渃ome and be yourself,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f they want to wear a cape to school, they wear a cape to school.鈥�

Senior presentations

Just as they鈥檙e spared letter grades, they also attend classes in groups that 补谤别苍鈥檛 strictly age-segregated. Instead, they study sequentially in one of three 鈥渄ivisions,鈥� working at their own pace as they master 13 competencies. 

Each division is roughly equivalent to two years, ranging from 7th to 12th grade. Because they 鈥済ateway鈥� out of each division, presenting their work to small groups of teachers, parents and classmates, students soon get used to talking to adults, said Marena Cole, a Division 2 arts and humanities teacher. That helps make them more reflective. 鈥淭hey know themselves well,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey’re asked to reflect on their work constantly, starting from when they’re 12.鈥�

This process culminates in their senior project and a formal, if-friendly, hour-long talk, with 17- and 18-year-olds holding forth on everything they know on topics from hypnosis to van conversion.

Senior Ava Soderman detailed what it鈥檚 like to be a ranger at Yellowstone National Park, which she visited last winter. She hopes to work at a national park after she graduates from college 鈥� and it shows.

Dressed in a makeshift ranger outfit, Soderman recalled meeting and training with park personnel, persuading one ranger to be her mentor and confronting her doubts about the job. She admitted that she didn鈥檛 quite get around to earning her required emergency medical services and paramedic training. 鈥淚f you guys know me, I don’t do well with needles and blood, and I pass out frequently,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o this is something that I do plan to get my certification in. It’s just going to require a lot of good mindset and good practice.鈥�

The presentations are smart, often funny and deeply personal.

鈥淏y the time they’re seniors, they can hold a room,鈥� said wellness teacher Kafi Beckles. 鈥淭hey can present, they can share their opinions, they’re able to have their own thoughts, not just regurgitate facts.鈥�

Less is more

As a lottery-based charter school, Parker serves students from 40 towns in the Boston area. The 鈥渆ssential鈥� in the school鈥檚 name means that, as with others guided by Sizer鈥檚 ideals, it strives to do just a few things well. Among the coalition鈥檚 10 principles, one of the most often-quoted is: Less is more: depth over coverage. 

So there鈥檚 no band or football team, no high-tech classroom gear, and no pretense that it can do it all.

The less is more sensibility makes a kind of sense at Parker, which for much of its life has been housed in a repurposed, slightly run-down 1960s-era elementary school on a decommissioned Army base. While Harrigan and others often dream about what life might be like in a newer, nicer building, the idea tends to melt away in favor of discussions about curriculum, teacher feedback and student growth.

But it has occasionally hurt Parker in recruiting, as prospective families inevitably compare it to offerings in their communities.

Board chair and parent Pam Gordon, who has had two children attend Parker, recalled sitting in on town meetings in Harvard, Mass., a few years ago as the town council debated building a new $53 million elementary school. Mold had been discovered in the existing school, which offered a 鈥減retty good reason鈥� to start anew.

But when people stood up and said a new building would improve the education there, she said, 鈥淚 actually laughed.鈥�

She tells people, 鈥淐ome over to Parker, 10 minutes away, and see what they’re doing, because the education is far superior. And the care that’s given to the students, and the way students treat each other 鈥� you don’t need a splashy building.鈥�

In 2020, the Fairfax district in northern Virginia changed its admissions criteria to better reflect the racial makeup of students in the county. Last May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit .

The Supreme Court offered no explanation for its refusal to hear the case. But from Justice Samuel Alito, backed by Justice Clarence Thomas, called the lower court鈥檚 ruling in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, 鈥渁 virus that may spread if not promptly eliminated.鈥� 

鈥淲hat the Fourth Circuit majority held, in essence, is that intentional racial discrimination is constitutional so long as it is not too severe,鈥� Alito wrote. 鈥淭his reasoning is indefensible, and it cries out for correction.鈥�

The Supreme Court鈥檚 earlier ruling against Harvard and the University of North Carolina over affirmative action-based admissions left some districts in limbo over whether K-12 integration efforts based on family income, rather than race, could pass legal muster. Echoing arguments similar to those that Students for Fair Admissions made against affirmative action in higher education, the Fairfax parents said admissions changes at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology make it more difficult for Asian-American students to be accepted. 

Before Fairfax changed its admissions rules, about three-fourths of the school鈥檚 students were Asian Americans. District leaders eliminated a rigorous test for applicants and a $100 fee. And they reserved seats at the school for the top 1.5% of 8th graders in each middle school. Coalition for TJ said the new rules were racially biased because the proportion of Asian American students accepted dropped to 54%.

鈥淭he Supreme Court missed an important opportunity to end race-based discrimination in K-12 admissions,鈥� Joshua Thompson, a senior attorney with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a statement Tuesday. The firm represents the Fairfax parents who sued. 鈥淪chools should evaluate students as individuals, not as groups based on racial identity.鈥� 

But some integration experts say the court鈥檚 decision not to hear the case confirms that using socioeconomic status in admissions is constitutional. Richard Kahlenberg, a fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, called the court鈥檚 denial 鈥渁 victory for poor and working class students of all races.鈥� On behalf of the plaintiffs in the cases against Harvard and UNC, he testified in favor of socioeconomic integration, but said Tuesday that both that earlier opinion and the court鈥檚 denial of the TJ case fit with an ongoing public consensus in 鈥渟upport of racial diversity, but in opposition to using racial preferences to get there.鈥�

鈥淭he decision of seven justices not to hear the case makes good sense because for three decades, even the most conservative justices have been urging educational institutions to use precisely the kind of race-neutral strategies that Thomas Jefferson High School employed,鈥� he said. 

Supporters of the admissions changes note the current , 3.9, is higher than it was under the previous policy.

鈥淲e have long believed that the new admissions process is both constitutional and in the best interest of all of our students,鈥� Karl Frisch, chair of the district鈥檚 board, said in a statement. 鈥淚t guarantees that all qualified students from all neighborhoods in Fairfax County have a fair shot at attending this exceptional high school.鈥�

The 鈥榖est public schools鈥�

The Supreme Court鈥檚 denial of the TJ appeal is the second blow in three months to Pacific Legal鈥檚 efforts to curb what it sees as discrimination against white and Asian American students in K-12. In December, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against the firm鈥檚 clients in a similar case over selective schools in .听

Following the opinion鈥檚 release, Erin Wilcox, another Pacific Legal attorney, said it was disappointing that just six months after the court鈥檚 affirmative action ruling, 鈥渢he First Circuit held 鈥� that it’s perfectly legal for Boston to use racial proxies to determine who is admitted to some of its best public schools.鈥�

Pacific Legal plans to go back to the High Court in the next few weeks to ask the justices to examine many of the same issues it objected to in the TJ case. 

But Stefan Lallinger, executive director at Next100, a progressive think tank affiliated with The Century Foundation, called the First Circuit鈥檚 decision 鈥渁 shot in the arm to districts that understand the value of diversity,鈥� but were left 鈥渃onfused or worse, afraid, to take bold and affirmative steps鈥� after the Supreme Court鈥檚 opinion on Harvard and UNC.

The Boston Public Schools made changes similar to those in Fairfax. The district replaced a merit-based admissions policy for its exclusive 鈥渆xam鈥� schools with one that drew students with high GPAs from all ZIP codes. (The system was later changed to reflect 鈥� small geographic areas within a county.) 

The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence Corp., a nonprofit, sued last year over the policy change, which has led to more Black and Hispanic students attending the schools.

Pacific Legal is also representing plaintiffs suing over criteria for entrance to highly competitive schools in , and . And in January, the firm filed on behalf of a group of New York parents over a statewide that prepares students to study STEM fields in college. The plaintiffs argue that the criteria favors Black, Hispanic, Alaskan Native and American Indian students regardless of their family鈥檚 income.

In Philadelphia, the American First Legal Foundation, another conservative law firm, after the district dropped merit-based application requirements, such as recommendation letters, attendance and test scores, for competitive schools. District leaders moved to in which students from certain ZIP codes receive preference. The system targets neighborhoods with the lowest representation of students who previously accepted offers to attend those schools.听

The case is currently pending in federal district court.

That would be Linda Brown, who tried very hard to remain private, and succeeded. To date, there has been just a single that does not truly capture her far-reaching impact.

Why argue that Brown was such a major figure in the American education sphere? 

Because Brown and the fellow educators in her tight circle demonstrated that demography does not have to determine destiny. That鈥檚 not what we hear from most school superintendents and teachers union leaders, who maintain that while they do their best to counter the headwinds of poverty, success is impossible.

When viewing education data on a macro level, the traditional educators are right: Poverty does drive outcomes. But on a more modest scale, where Brown operated, the many high-performing charter schools she helped launch around the country through her Boston-based Building Excellent Schools, known as BES, showed the opposite.

Just a quick example: At Uncommon Schools, which operates 53 schools in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, 58% of their graduates earn bachelor鈥檚 degrees within six years. That is just than the college graduation rate for students from families in the top income quartile. (Before the pandemic, Uncommon鈥檚 college graduation rate reached 72%.)

Yes, it is possible. That kind of success requires relentless innovation and persistence. But it鈥檚 possible.

If Brown hadn鈥檛 been an advocate for charter schools, which are despised by teachers unions and disliked by many progressives, her passing would have been front page news.

Among charter insiders, she was called the godfather of the top charters, a nickname she both hated and loved. The first time I profiled Brown I called her the grandmother of the elite charters. She hated that and let me know! Clearly, godfather was the better fit.

(You can see and hear Brown in a previous interview with 社区黑料)

The BES fellowships designed by Brown started with a year touring top charters and designing your own school, followed by a second year preparing to open that school. Often BES would invest directly in the new school.

鈥淭here are so many people who say Linda changed the direction of their lives,鈥� said Brett Peiser, now Uncommon鈥檚 co-chief executive officer. 鈥淚 was one of those people.鈥�

Peiser鈥檚 first charter school, which eventually led him to Uncommon, never would have happened without Brown鈥檚 tough-minded assistance, he says.

Uncommon is just one charter network of many that Brown had a hand in. And then there are all the high-performing 鈥渟ister鈥� charter schools that fellows visit to learn their secrets. In that way, they become part of the BES network.

Finally, there are the education leaders who rose to national prominence out of that Linda Brown world. Just two examples: former Education Secretary John King (Roxbury Prep) and Teach Like a Champion author Doug Lemov, a pioneer of several charter schools.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so easy to let school formation be about the ornaments on the tree and not the tree itself,鈥� Lemov wrote when asked about Brown. 鈥淟inda was always about the things that mattered 鈥� real achievement and learning 鈥� and she never accepted cheap substitutes.鈥� 

Added Lemov: 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to underestimate how hard it is to introduce school choice to a place and to make sure there is the proof point of a school with real quality 鈥� radically, not just marginally, better 鈥� to reset people鈥檚 expectations for what is possible. And she did that over and over again.鈥�

At a little more than 5 feet tall, she had furious energy and famous impatience. Each day, after arising around 3 a.m., she would check her phone to see if any new applications for fellowships had arrived. 

Immediately, or just after opening a Diet Coke, Brown would devour the application, still in her PJs. 

鈥淚f she wanted someone, she would look at her watch and see it was only 4:30 in the morning,鈥� said her BES partner Susan Walsh. 鈥淏ut by 6 a.m. she would call them, even though they might have submitted the application at 11 p.m. the night before. She would tell me, 鈥業f they are people who do things, they should be up.鈥� And then, when she talked to them, if she liked what she was hearing, she was simultaneously checking flights to Boston, and would say, 鈥業 see a 1:30 flight; let鈥檚 meet today at 3 p.m.鈥� She moved!鈥�

Just for context, this was for a fellowship that at the time was hyper-exclusive: the acceptance ratio for the dozen awarded each year was 2 in 100.

One of those applicants surprised by an early morning call was Shantelle Wright. She had never heard of a BES fellowship until reading about it in a brochure and was astonished. You mean they pay you to do what I desperately want to do, she thought. She finished her application at 5 p.m. and, with a prayer, pushed the send button.

Brown read it first thing the next morning. It was a 13-page, single-spaced essay on what Wright wanted to achieve with a Washington, D.C.-based school. 鈥淭his essay was on fire,鈥� Brown told me in an earlier interview. 鈥淪he talked about how the vast Black/white school achievement gap is not only a Black person鈥檚 problem; this is also a white person鈥檚 problem. Why can鈥檛 we have decent schools east of the Anacostia (the poorest neighborhoods in the District)?鈥�

At 7 a.m. the next morning, Brown phoned Wright at home. Says she woke her up: When can you be here?

Wright: When do you want me?

Brown: Can you be on the next shuttle to Boston?

Wright made the 9 a.m. shuttle and sat down with Brown for a long talk. At the end, she was offered a fellowship. To complete a long story in a few words, Wright founded the successful Achievement Prep charter in Washington, ended up on the BES board of directors and went on to other education achievements.

鈥淭his woman single-handedly changed the trajectory of my life,鈥� Wright posted after Brown鈥檚 death. 鈥淚 do what I do and fight like I fight because of her. Her belief in what was possible made it reality for me!鈥�

Wright鈥檚 story is one of scores like it: fellows who spread out across states to launch their own schools after visiting and studying the best charters in the country.

There are many charter schools around the U.S. that are mediocre, hardly better than nearby traditional schools. And there are some that are worse than the traditional schools and warrant closing. And then there are the charters launched by Brown and BES that usually show what鈥檚 possible when true innovation is allowed to blossom.

Said Brown in an interview with 社区黑料:

鈥淪ome folks from the West Coast would use terms such as 鈥楲et a thousand flowers bloom.鈥� We looked around after a year and a half and saw that a thousand flowers had bloomed there and, in fact, they weren鈥檛 all good. And we thought there it was. If you let a thousand flowers bloom, you鈥檙e going to have some bad ones, some good ones, some moderate ones and a few great ones.鈥� 

It was in Massachusetts that we were able to say we weren鈥檛 going to have a thousand flowers blooming. That being able to start a charter school by meeting Sunday after church, putting together a kind of helter skelter application, getting authorized, and then saying, 鈥榃hat do we do now?鈥� wasn鈥檛 enough. Because we were in the business of changing people鈥檚 lives, young people鈥檚 lives, and in some instances, very young people鈥檚 lives. We took that as our mission.

鈥淭he other thing we took as our mission was that we could be the people who chose the people to start charter schools. And that was really the birth of Building Excellent Schools.鈥�

Since 2001, BES has selected and who went on to found more than 200 schools in 50 cities and 20 states.

Some examples by region (a long, if still incomplete, list):

• In Massachusetts, BES fellow-founded schools include Salem Academy Charter School, Excel Academy Charter Schools, Phoenix Charter Academy and Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School.

• Sister schools in Massachusetts (schools that fellows visit to study) include Brooke Charter Schools (鈥淟inda always said we should be a BES school,鈥� said founder Jon Clark), KIPP Lynn Academy and Roxbury Prep.

• In Rhode Island, RISE Prep Mayoral Academy.

• In New York City, there鈥檚 South Bronx Classical Charter School, Democracy Prep, Leadership Prep, Forte Preparatory Charter School, Legacy College Prep, Creo College Prep, Valence College Prep Charter School, Brooklyn RISE Charter School and BOLD Charter School. 

• In Buffalo, there鈥檚 Buffalo Creek Academy Charter School, Persistence Preparatory Charter School and Primary Hall Preparatory Charter School.

• In Washington, D.C., there鈥檚 Achievement Preparatory Academy.

• In Ohio, the United Schools Network.

• In Nashville, Tennessee, there鈥檚 Purpose Preparatory Academy, Nashville Classical Charter School, Intrepid College Prep Schools, Liberty Collegiate Academy and Nashville Prep, which merged to form RePublic Schools. In Memphis, there鈥檚 Freedom Preparatory Academy, Memphis Rise Academy, Beacon College Preparatory, Memphis Merit Academy Charter School and Aurora Collegiate Academy.

• In Texas, there鈥檚 Compass Rose Academy, Houston Classical Charter School and Etoile Academy Charter School.

• In Chicago, there鈥檚 Great Lakes Academy Charter School.

• In Louisiana, Laureate Academy Charter School and Elan Academy Charter School.

• In Indiana, Circle City Prep and Allegiant Preparatory Academy.

• In Nevada, Nevada Rise Academy and Nevada Prep Charter School.

• In California, Equitas Academy Charter School, Mission Preparatory School, Valor Academy (joined Bright Star Schools) and Cornerstone Academy (joined Alpha Public Schools).

• In Colorado, University Prep.

Did Brown鈥檚 remarkable achievements reform American public education? Sadly, no.

Despite the consistent gains demonstrated by charter networks such as Uncommon 鈥� pushing up students鈥� college graduation rates to match their high-income peers 鈥� traditional education leaders focus more on driving charters out of business than adopting their hard-learned lessons for success.

Even in Massachusetts, which boasts , the powerful teachers unions there have easily beaten back charter expansion.

But those setbacks would never phase the indomitable Brown, whose feisty disposition, sharp wit and bright red fingernails 鈥� freshened regularly by a manicurist who visited her home in her last days 鈥� made her someone you never forget meeting. She was too busy hurrying along trying to achieve her lifelong mission: proving that when it comes to educating children, zip codes shouldn鈥檛 matter.

鈥淲inning is about academic achievement,鈥� Brown told 社区黑料. And by that standard, Brown, whose family is planning a celebration of her life in August on her birthday, emerged the winner.

Help, , should come from schools, because while their primary role is academic, schools, 鈥� play a critical role in shaping mental, physical, and social growth.鈥�

The challenge is how.

Educators are warning about chronic and , and are that addressing student wellness is a necessary companion to academic learning. Schools have added school counselors and mental health staff, brought in partners and programs to provide students with services, secured food and clothing, and provide supportive peer and adult relationships. 

But as federal stimulus funds recede, schools are on recovery programs and are 100,000 mental health counselors short of the need. 

There is no realistic way for schools to hire or spend their way out of this crisis if they keep doing more of the same.  It鈥檚 time to look for new ways to address students鈥� mental health and well-being.

One approach that is working well is known as integrated student support 鈥� organized efforts to understand and meet students鈥� strengths and needs. When implemented well, they ensure that students are socially, emotionally and academically. Research that their teachers, schools and communities benefit too.

What are these schools doing differently? How are they heeding the alarms and using integrated student support to drive positive outcomes? Last year, a working group of researchers and practitioners set out to provide initial answers. 

Convened by the Boston College Center for Thriving Children, where I work, this group drew on their combined expertise, sought outside perspectives and listened to how some of the nation鈥檚 leading programs operate in schools. These four models are the Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) Center, City Connects (which is incubated at Boston College), Communities in Schools and the New York City Community Schools. 

This work led to the creation of the first , a roadmap for any school looking to create a more powerful system of support and opportunity for all students. 

The guidelines explain that the most effective approaches have common features.

First, they build on the operational infrastructure 鈥� including counselors, programs and services 鈥� that schools already have in their buildings and surrounding communities. Strong models use these existing resources as the foundation for creating better organized, more systematic ways of getting the right support to the right student at the right time.

In City Connects elementary schools, for example, a school social worker or counselor serves as a coordinator who meets each fall with every teacher for about an hour and half. These conversations discuss each child鈥檚 strengths and needs in four domains: academics, social-emotional-behavioral development, physical health and well-being, and family. The coordinator develops an individualized plan for providing each student with specific services 鈥� like access to food, literacy support or dental care 鈥� and opportunities like sports, arts and mentorship. Once the coordinator gets feedback from families and staff, the plan is finalized and the coordinator ensures the delivery of the school- and community-based resources outlined in each plan.

A second feature of effective approaches is that they support every student, not just those who are visible because they act out or are experiencing a crisis. Rather, effective models make support universal by recognizing that every student has strengths and needs and can benefit from tailored opportunities and resources. This proactive strategy strengthens relationships among students, families and schools, helps from becoming crises and makes investing in student resiliency a daily practice. 

For example, in BARR high schools, teacher teams discuss the strengths and needs of every student. Educators build strong individual relationships with all students, getting to know them as learners and as people. When students need additional academic support, social services or enriching opportunities, teachers implement in-school interventions and coordinate with support staff to address out-of-school needs and interests. 

A third feature is that effective approaches use data to align individual plans with school- and community-level decision making. Understanding each student can provide broad insights that allow educators to spot trends and gaps in a class or a school as a whole. They can see and address problems such as bullying in a particular grade, or decide whether they should develop a theater program, build students鈥� social-emotional skills or create a newcomers鈥� group. Schools can also seek data-driven partnerships with community members like a local movie theater for students who want to learn about film, an afterschool program provider or grief counselors for students who have recently lost a caregiver.

The benefit of these comprehensive approaches is that they go beyond random, patchwork attempts at support to see all students, pay attention to all their needs, build on strengths, respond to interests, promote positive peer relationships, engage families and connect to community resources. 

These systems organize and amplify the academic and student support schools already provide, extend it and make it more powerful, creating more enriching and responsive environments where children grow and learn. Students who receive quality integrated student support during elementary school demonstrate better and . As they go on to middle and high school, they , closing up to of the gap in and about half the gap in English as compared to peers who never received quality integrated support. During middle and high school, they are also less likely to be or ; and they are more likely to enroll in and complete programs.

By taking a new approach 鈥� building systems of integrated support 鈥� schools can be empowered to meet students鈥� needs and cultivate their interests so that well-being and learning flourish in the new year.

When Cristian Dubon Solis聽was getting ready to graduate from a Boston high school in 2020, he started planning to apply to college. It was only then he realized that as an immigrant lacking permanent legal status, he wouldn鈥檛 qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts state universities, nor for state-sponsored financial aid.

With no way to afford a four-year school to pursue his dream major, environmental science, he put those plans on hold.

鈥淚 took a few gap years afterward,鈥� said the now 21-year-old from East Boston, a community where about half the residents are Hispanic or Latino. Solis now advocates for young immigrants as a student coordinator for a nonprofit group called SIM, which formerly stood for Student Immigration Movement.

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One of four siblings, Solis came to the United States from El Salvador at age 3. His three younger sisters were born in the U.S., he said. Family and friends didn鈥檛 discuss their immigration status, so he never heard about the tuition restrictions.

鈥淚n families of the immigrant community it鈥檚 very hush-hush, you don鈥檛 talk about it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to figure out what options I had or didn鈥檛 have, because nobody talked about it.鈥�

But now Solis is about to apply to colleges in Massachusetts, including UMass-Boston.

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed the state budget this month with a provision that will allow certain immigrants without permanent legal status 鈥� those who have attended high school in Massachusetts for at least three years or who have earned a GED certificate 鈥� to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities. The law takes effect immediately.

The idea has bipartisan appeal, with some conservative supporters this year saying it helps reduce workforce shortages and boost tax revenue.

In June, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo enacted allowing immigrants who have been granted status under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, or DACA program, to qualify for in-state tuition after living in Nevada for 12 months. That action expanded on a law that allowed high school graduates lacking permanent legal status to do so.

And in Florida this year, state lawmakers rejected a proposal from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to scrap in-state tuition for students without permanent legal status. He had wanted to include it in a bill to on immigrants living in the country illegally.

But critics of the in-state tuition changes argue states are facing an influx of immigrants and already are stretched thin to pay for needed housing and services. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, in June signed a 2024 budget that included a boost for higher education funding but prohibited students without permanent legal status from getting in-state tuition or state scholarships.

Massachusetts became the 24th state to grant immigrants without legal status access to in-state tuition, according to the , a website run by a coalition of 18 higher education and immigration organizations to provide information and resources to immigrant students.

In-state tuition is generally thousands of dollars less per year than for out-of-state students. For example, the undergraduate tuition and fees at Massachusetts state schools averaged $10,036 for state residents and $28,813 for out-of-state residents in the 2022-23 school year, according to College Tuition Compare, a nationwide college evaluation website.

Seventeen of the states granting in-state tuition also allow the students to be eligible for financial aid, as does the District of Columbia, according to the .

Four states 鈥� Delaware, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania 鈥� restrict the number of public universities at which immigrants without permanent legal status are eligible for in-state tuition, according to the portal.

Five states 鈥� Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi and Ohio 鈥� provide that tuition discount only to young immigrants who have DACA status. The Obama-era DACA program allows immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and who meet other qualifications to avoid deportation and obtain work permits. New applications for the program are on hold while long-running court battles play out.

By contrast, nine states specifically block access to in-state tuition or state financial aid for residents lacking permanent legal status, the immigration portal found. They are: Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The last three have laws that prevent students without permanent legal status from even enrolling in all or some public colleges, though there may be some exceptions for students with DACA status, according to the portal.

Opponents of extending in-state tuition argue that scarce state resources should not be spent on immigrants living in the country illegally, particularly when states are dealing with a wave of new immigrant families that strains the states鈥� safety net.

While the Massachusetts law garnered wide support in the Democratic-controlled state, some Republican opponents pointed out that the Healey administration recently called for the federal government to speed funding to provide shelter and services for immigrants in the state and encouraged state residents to take families into their homes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the wrong priority at this date and time,鈥� said Republican state Sen. Ryan Fattman in an interview with Stateline. 鈥淭he governor declared a state of emergency for migrant influx into the state. We have a lot of shelters that are overrun. [At the same time,] we are providing a lot of benefits to people who are not lawfully in Massachusetts, in-state tuition being one of them.

鈥淭he question is can we continue to afford this?鈥� Fattman said.

But advocates for granting in-state tuition say the state must educate young immigrants if it wants to make up for the number of residents who are leaving the state and taking tax revenue with them. Massachusetts lost 110,900 people to out-migration from April 2020 to July 2022, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. In-migration in 2022 was about 43,000, the organization found.

鈥淲hat Massachusetts did is good for the people of Massachusetts, it鈥檚 good for the 鈥楧reamers鈥� who get a chance to go to school and pay in-state tuition,鈥� said Don Graham, a founder of TheDream.Us, an organization that gives scholarships to students who came to the U.S. illegally before age 16 and before Nov. 1, 2017. (鈥淒reamers鈥� refers to young people brought to the United States illegally as children by family; the term stems from never-passed congressional legislation called the DREAM Act.)

鈥淭hey become a health care worker, they become a teacher, they become a computer programmer. Seems to me that鈥檚 good for the 鈥楧reamers鈥� and good for the state,鈥� said Graham, who also is chair of the board of the Graham Holdings Company and former publisher of The Washington Post.

Miriam Feldblum, co-founder and executive director of the Presidents鈥� Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a group comprised of university leaders, said consideration of in-state tuition for students without legal status has become increasingly important in light of the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 recent decision to end affirmative action programs on campuses.

鈥淎s colleges and universities look at how to attract diverse populations, it is incumbent upon all institutions to look at immigrant students,鈥� she said in an interview with Stateline. 鈥淚t is one important strategy to attract a diverse and talented crop of students.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on and .

鈥淲hat cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly,鈥� Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the in the case against Harvard University.

Several conservatives are glomming on to that quote as a warning to school districts that rely on admission criteria they claim is race-neutral even as they pursue a goal of increasing the number of Black and Hispanic students they accept.

鈥淓liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,鈥� said Erin Wilcox, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation. The right-leaning nonprofit law firm represents families in four East Coast districts suing over policies that determine who gets into competitive schools.

This summer, the firm will ask the Supreme Court to hear against the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia over changes to the admissions policy at the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

鈥淭reating students based on their experiences as individuals, not on the basis of race, is what we鈥檝e been fighting for,鈥� Wilcox said. 

Pacific Legal, part of the conservative , is making the same argument on behalf of plaintiffs in Montgomery County, Maryland, New York City and Boston. In revising their selection processes to pursue greater equity, the complaints say district leaders openly expressed a desire to limit the numbers of white and Asian-American students attending those schools.

Advocates for racially balanced schools, however, call the firm鈥檚 argument far-fetched and maintain there鈥檚 still legal backing for policies that take socioeconomic status into account when admitting students. K-12 leaders, they argue, those efforts out of concern for what the courts may do.

鈥淩ather than try to guess how this [ruling] affects them, I think schools and districts should continue to promote diverse, equitable learning environments for students because research tells us that’s what’s best for kids,鈥� said Stefan Lallinger, executive director at Next100, a progressive think tank affiliated with The Century Foundation. 

Racial segregation is 鈥減ernicious,鈥� he said, and with the end of affirmative action in college admissions, K-12 schools to address educational inequities. 

鈥淔or hundreds of years in some cases, selective institutions have discriminated against people of color,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f the Pacific Legal Foundation’s argument is that there are no legal remedies available 鈥� we’re really in trouble.鈥�

鈥楶roxy discrimination鈥�

Amid the racial reckoning following George Floyd鈥檚 murder in 2020, in which districts nationally tried to expand educational opportunities for minority students, Fairfax leaders eliminated a rigorous test for applicants and a $100 fee. They reserved seats at the school, known as TJ, for the top 1.5% of 8th graders in each middle school. 

鈥淲e firmly believe this admission plan is fair and gives qualified applicants at every middle school a fair chance of a seat at T.J.,鈥� John Foster, an attorney for the Fairfax County Public Schools, said in May when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled against Coalition for TJ, the plaintiff in the case. 

But that鈥檚 no consolation for families who thought their children had a good shot of being admitted to TJ under the old system. Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, a member of the coalition, said her oldest son, who is half Asian, did well in accelerated math classes and took three semesters of engineering. 

鈥淗e should have been a competitive candidate,鈥� she said.

But after making the waitlist, his application for this fall was rejected. Lundquist-Arora has two younger sons 鈥� one of which is taking honors algebra in seventh grade 鈥� but she鈥檚 concerned they could also be shut out of what is considered high school.

Although Asian-Americans still make up the majority of students at the school, their enrollment numbers dropped from 73% to 54% in the year after the metrics changed 鈥� evidence, Wilcox argued, that the new policy is biased.

The complaint offers text messages from Fairfax County school board members alluding to their policy鈥檚 鈥渁nti asian [sic] feel鈥� to show that race-neutral admissions can be 鈥減roxy discrimination.鈥�

Similar disparaging remarks from board members about white students are part of the complaint in the , currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence Corp., a nonprofit, sued last year when the district replaced an admissions policy for its prestigious 鈥渆xam鈥� schools based solely on merit with one that drew students with high GPAs from all ZIP codes. (The system is now based on , small geographic areas within a county.)

In a text exchange cited in court documents, former board member Lorna Rivera wrote, 鈥淚 hate W[est] R[oxbury],鈥� referring to a predominantly white neighborhood. Alexandra Oliver-Davila, another former member, responded: 鈥淪ick of westie whites.鈥� resigned after being caught on Zoom mocking ethnic-sounding names. 

But advocates who support the new policy say the comments reflect years of frustration with the district prioritizing the exam schools and offering fewer resources to schools serving Black and Hispanic students.

Ruby Reyes, director of the Boston Education Justice Alliance, said affluent white and Asian parents might think their children have lost the chance to get into those elite schools because of the policy change.

鈥淚t isn鈥檛 a loss,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful thing. The admission policy has had a great impact in terms of diversity.鈥�

In addition to attending the schools, the rates of students with disabilities and English learners receiving invitations to attend has also increased as a result of the new policy.

Families at one of the schools, however, oppose to move O’Bryant School of Math and Science 鈥� the most racially diverse of the three exam schools 鈥� from its current Roxbury location, a historically Black neighborhood, to West Roxbury, which is predominantly white. 

The new location would provide the school with much-needed space, but with fewer public transportation options in West Roxbury, the change could affect which students choose to attend, Reyes said.

In Maryland鈥檚 Montgomery County Public Schools, leaders amended the admissions process for four sought-after magnet middle schools. Under a new provision, the selection process favors high-achieving students who don鈥檛 attend school with a lot of other gifted peers.

As a result, high-performing Asian-American students, who tend to be concentrated in a small group of elementary schools, are less likely to be admitted while more Black and Hispanic students who attend schools spread across the district get in, said.

Finally, Pacific Legal represents who say the district has limited their children鈥檚 opportunities to attend any of nine top-ranked high schools, such as Stuyvesant High, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School. Students are admitted based on entrance exam scores, but in 2020, former Mayor Bill de Blasio increased the number of students considered for admission from low-income schools that predominantly serve Black and Hispanic students. 

The plaintiffs appealed a lower court ruling in favor of the city to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, where it awaits a decision. 

鈥楳ere reflections upon race鈥�

Joshua Dunn, executive director of the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee, is among those who think that if district leaders aimed to reduce the number of white and Asian-American students admitted, their race-neutral policy under this Supreme Court.

The ruling in favor of Students for Fair Admissions, the advocacy group that sued Harvard and the University of North Carolina, 鈥渞einforces that racial balance can鈥檛 be the goal and the [Fairfax] board made it clear that鈥檚 what it was after,鈥� Dunn said. 鈥淏ottom line, I don鈥檛 see how the appellate decision survives in light of the court鈥檚 ruling and the factual record.鈥�

But others agree with the 4th Circuit, which said that texts or other statements expressing a desire to increase diversity 补谤别苍鈥檛 enough to 鈥渋nflict adverse effects鈥� on a particular racial group. David Hinojosa, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers鈥� Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 鈥� which represented UNC before the court 鈥� called Pacific Legal鈥檚 argument an 鈥渆xtreme colorblind interpretation.鈥�

鈥淣owhere in the Harvard/UNC opinion does the court suggest that mere reflections upon race are unlawful,鈥� he said. 

Richard Kahlenberg, a non-resident scholar at Georgetown University鈥檚 McCourt School of Public Policy and an expert on integration, added that districts are on firm legal ground if their admission policies promote the selection of promising students who have shown determination despite poverty or other obstacles.

He points to from Justice Clarence Thomas defending such programs. Thomas reiterated that position in his concurring in the Harvard/UNC ruling.

鈥淚ndividuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淲hat matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them.鈥�

Kahlenberg, who served as an expert witness on race-neutral policies for Students for Fair Admissions, suggests the court might take the TJ case to further clarify what schools can still do to increase diversity. But he added, 鈥淭he high court does not have an appetite for going further and eliminating preferences based on socioeconomic status or geography.鈥�

Amid growing concerns over violence in Boston schools,  finds that more than two-thirds of parents of Boston Public Schools students are worried about their children鈥檚 safety in school and three-quarters would support a return of police to the city鈥檚 schools.

The survey, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group for the Shah Family Foundation, found that 68 percent of Boston Public Schools parents were somewhat or extremely worried about school safety. The figures were even higher for parents of color, with 71 percent of Black and Latino parents voicing such concerns and 79 percent of Asian parents doing so. 

Concern was also greater among parents of high school students, 81 percent of whom said they were somewhere or very worried about school safety.

When it comes to strategies to address safety concerns, 75 percent of BPS parents said they favor returning police officers to schools. Police have not been stationed in Boston schools since the summer of 2021. Their removal came in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, and following passage of a 2020 police reform bill that required officers to obtain an additional 350 hours of training by July 2021. The district has instead deployed school safety specialists, who don鈥檛 carry weapons or handcuffs and don鈥檛 have arrest powers. 

The decision to remove police has been controversial, with some school advocates and a number of youth and education-focused organizations supporting the move, while others, including several city councilors, have called on the city to bring police back into schools.

鈥淭he safety of our children must be a top priority. We need to reconsider our public safety plan as it relates to our BPS community, and there is a role for police in our schools,鈥� said City Council President Ed Flynn, one of four councilors who co-authored a letter to Superintendent Mary Skipper in February calling for school police to be brought back.

Flynn said he was not surprised by the poll finding of strong support from parents for bringing police back to the schools. 鈥淚 hear those comments throughout my district and throughout the city,鈥� he said. 鈥淧arents are concerned about the safety of our children in the public school system.鈥�

Ruby Reyes, director of the Boston Education Justice Alliance, said parents鈥� reaction to safety issues and student views 鈥渃an be completely different things.鈥� 

鈥淲e know students don鈥檛 want police in schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat students have been asking for is social and emotional supports. I think there is a disconnect.鈥�

Opponents of police in schools say their presence will lead to more Black and Latino students getting pulled into the criminal justice system and that non-punitive approaches to safety issues and school disputes, such as restorative justice strategies, should be used instead.  

Several high-profile, violent incidents have shaken the district in recent years, including a November 2021 assault on a school principal, who was knocked unconscious, and a stabbing last September at a high school. Support for returning police to schools was higher among parents of color. Support for police in schools was 60 percent among white parents, 72 percent among Black parents, 80 percent among Asian parents, and 87 percent among Latino parents. 

Meanwhile, 76 percent of parents said they support metal detectors in schools. Of the parents polled, 25 percent said their child鈥檚 school has metal detectors, while 64 percent said their child鈥檚 school does not. Eleven percent said they didn鈥檛 know or didn鈥檛 answer the question.

In February, the Boston Globe  that the Boston Public Schools and Boston Police Department were negotiating an agreement that would spell out the procedures for when police should be called to deal with situations in the city鈥檚 schools. 

The district did not respond directly to the poll finding on parent safety concerns or support for police in schools.

鈥淲e continue to work in close collaboration with the Boston Police Department on violence prevention efforts, including community engagement with Boston Police officers in our schools,鈥� a BPS spokesperson said in a statement after the poll results were shared with the district. 鈥淲e will continue to work tirelessly with our partners in government to address the violence we see across our neighborhoods and schools. Our staff will continue to work daily to ensure that all students have access to social-emotional support and a learning environment that makes them feel safe, respected, and academically challenged.鈥� 

In other findings from the poll, 22 percent of parents say their children have fallen behind academically since COVID鈥檚 arrival, while 56 percent say their children have remained on track. Among those who say their children have fallen behind, only 25 percent say their school is doing enough to help them, while 67 percent say the school should be doing more. 

The poll is the sixth in a series of surveys of BPS parents, the first of which was carried out in August 2021. Overall satisfaction with the school system is trending down. In the first poll, 87 percent of parents were somewhat or very satisfied with the district. In the latest poll, which was conducted among 828 parents between March 22 and April 10, that figure was 73 percent, the lowest of any of the six surveys.

Over the past several weeks, they鈥檝e been putting 鈥檚 through its paces on any number of professional-grade exams in law, medicine, and business, among others. The moves seem a natural development just weeks after the groundbreaking, free (for now) chatbot appeared. Now that nearly anyone can play with it, they鈥檙e testing how it performs in the real world 鈥� and figuring out what that might mean for both teaching skills like writing and critical thinking in K-12, and training young white-collar professionals at the college level. 

Most recently, at the University of Minnesota Law School tested it on 95 multiple choice and 12 essay questions from four courses. It passed, though not exactly at the top of its class. The chatbot scraped by with a 鈥渓ow but passing grade鈥� in all four courses, a C+ student.

But don鈥檛 get complacent, warned Daniel Schwarcz, a UM professor and one of the study鈥檚 authors. The AI earned that C+ 鈥渞elative to incredibly motivated, incredibly talented students 鈥� and it was holding its own.鈥�

Think of it this way, Schwarcz said: Plenty of C+ students at the university go on to graduate and pass the bar exam.

ChatGPT debuted less than three months ago, and its respectable performance on several of these tests is forcing educators to quickly rethink how they evaluate students 鈥� assigning generic written essays, for instance, now seems like an invitation for fraud. 

But it鈥檚 also, at a more basic level, forcing educators to reconsider how to help students see the value of learning to think through the material for themselves. 

Before he encountered ChatGPT, Schwarcz typically gave open-book exams. What the new technology is making him think more deeply about is whether he was often testing memorization, not thinking. 鈥淚f that’s the case, I’ve written a bad exam,鈥� he said.

And like Schwarcz, many educators now warn: With improving technology, today鈥檚 middling chatbot is tomorrow鈥檚 valedictorian.

鈥淚f this kind of tool is producing a C+ answer in early 2023,鈥� said Andrew M. Perlman, dean of Suffolk Law School in Boston, 鈥渨hat’s it going to be able to do in 2026?鈥�

Fake studies and 鈥榟uman error鈥�

Lawyers 补谤别苍鈥檛 the only professionals in the chatbot鈥檚 crosshairs: In January, Christian Terwiesch, a business professor at the University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Wharton School, let it loose on the final exam of Operations Management, a 鈥渢ypical MBA core course鈥� at the nation鈥檚 pre-eminent business school. 

While the AI made several 鈥渟urprising鈥� math mistakes, Terwiesch wrote in the, it impressed him with its ability to analyze case studies, among other tasks. 鈥淣ot only are the answers correct, but the explanations are excellent,鈥� he wrote.

Its final grade: B to B-.

A Wharton colleague, Ethan Mollick, in December that he got the chatbot to write a syllabus for a new course, as well as part of a lecture. And it generated a final assignment with a grading rubric. But its tendency to occasionally deliver erroneous answers from its wide-ranging web searches, Mollick said, makes it more like an 鈥渙mniscient, eager-to-please intern who sometimes lies to you.鈥�

Indeed, AI tools often create problems of their own. In January, Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital in Boston, asked ChatGPT to a 35-year-old woman with chest pains. The patient, he specified, takes birth control pills but has no past medical history.

After a few rounds of back-and-forth, the bot, which Faust cheekily referred to as 鈥淒r. OpenAI,鈥� said she was probably suffering from a pulmonary embolism. When Faust suggested it could also be costochondritis, a painful inflammation of the cartilage that connects rib to breastbone, ChatGPT countered that its diagnosis was supported by research, specifically a 2007 study in the .

Then it offered a citation for a paper that does not exist. 

The AI platform has great potential for use in medicine, but has huge pitfalls, says Jeremy Faust, MD

While the journal is real 鈥� and a few of the researchers cited have published in it 鈥� the bot created the citation out of thin air, Faust wrote. 鈥淚鈥檓 a little miffed that rather than admit its mistake, Dr. OpenAI stood its ground, and up and confabulated a research paper.鈥�

Confronted with its lie, the AI 鈥渟aid that I must be mistaken,鈥� Faust wrote. 鈥淚 began to feel like I was and that the computer was HAL-9000, blaming our disagreement on 鈥榟uman error.鈥欌��

Faust closed his computer.

鈥楶roof of original work鈥�

Such bugs haven鈥檛 stopped educators from test-driving these tools for students and, in a few cases, for professionals.

Last December, just days after Open AI released ChatGPT, Perlman, the Suffolk dean, presented it with a series of legal prompts. 鈥淚 was interested in just pushing it to its limits,鈥� he said.

Perlman transcribed its mostly respectable replies and co-authored a with the chatbot.

Peter Gault, founder of the AI literacy nonprofit Quill.org, which offers a free AI tool designed to help , said that even if teachers think things are moving fast this winter, the reality is that they are moving even faster than they seem. Case in point: An online 鈥減rompt engineering鈥� channel on the social platform Discord, devoted to helping students improve their ChatGPT requests for better, more accurate results, now has about , he said. 鈥淭here are tens of thousands of students just swapping tips for how to cheat in it,鈥� he said.

Gault鈥檚 nonprofit, along with , has already debuted that helps educators sniff out the more formulaic writing that AI typically generates. 

While other educators have suggested that future ChatGPT versions could feature a kind of digital watermarking that identifies cut-and-pasted AI text, Gault said that would be easy to circumvent with software that basically launders the text and removes the watermark. He suggested that educators begin thinking now about how they can use tools like Google Docs鈥� version history to reveal what he calls 鈥減roof of original work.鈥�

The idea is that educators can see all the writing and revising that go into student essays as they take shape. The typical student, he said, spends nine to 15 hours on a major essay. Google Docs and other tools like it can show that progression. Alternatively, if a student copies and pastes an essay or section from a tool like ChatGPT, he said, the software reveals that the student spent just moments on it.

鈥淲e have these tools that can do the thinking for us,鈥� Gault said. 鈥淏ut as the tools get more sophisticated, we just really risk that students are no longer really investing in building intellectual skills. It’s a difficult problem to solve. But I do think it’s worth solving.鈥�

鈥楻esistance is futile鈥�

Minnesota鈥檚 Schwarcz flatly said law schools must train students on tools like ChatGPT and its successors. These tools 鈥渁re not going away 鈥� they’re just going to get better,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so in my mind, ultimately as educators, the fundamental thing is to figure out how to train students to use these tools both ethically and effectively.鈥�

Perlman also foresees law schools using tools like ChatGPT and whatever comes next to train lawyers, helping them generate first drafts of legal documents, among other products, as they learn their trade.

In the end, AI could streamline lawyering, allowing attorneys to spend more time practicing 鈥渁t the top of their license,鈥� Perlman said, engaging in more sophisticated legal work for clients. This, he said, is the part of the job lawyers find most enjoyable 鈥� and clients find most valuable.

It could also make such services more affordable and thus more available, Perlman said. So even as educators focus on the technology鈥檚 threat, 鈥淚 think we are quickly going to have to pivot and think about how we teach students to use these tools to enable them to deliver their services better, faster and cheaper in the future.鈥漃erlman joked that the best way to think about the future of AI in the legal profession is to remember that old 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� maxim: 鈥� ‘.’ This technology is coming, and I think we ignore it at our peril 鈥� and we try to resist at our peril.鈥�

Climate change represents a threat to children and their schools 鈥� not someday, but now, and especially in the neighborhoods and communities already facing the largest educational challenges. For the very first time in Massachusetts, the governor has signed a bill that recognizes the important role schools play in climate mitigation and adaptation. 

The law’s provision requires state agencies to assess the condition of Massachusetts school buildings and recommend standards to make them fossil fuel-free and healthy. But this is just the beginning. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state School Building Authority must embrace these standards and commit to ensuring that all school buildings conform to them no later than 2050. With an influx of one-time federal funds that schools across the country are using to , state leaders have an opportunity to follow through with a comprehensive plan for healthy, carbon-free schools. 

Nationwide, schools are the second-largest form of public infrastructure, and one of the largest public-sector energy consumers. Every year, Massachusetts鈥檚 1,840 schools emit roughly . But they not only contribute to climate change; they, and their students, are victims of it. Last year was the for Boston, and announced closures and early dismissals due to extreme heat. Even today, of Boston public schools are equipped with air conditioning.

Many innovations can prepare schools for a climate-impacted future. For example, green schoolyards provide healthy learning environments by , while cultivating climate resilience. Trees and shrubs improve air quality and reduce the urban 鈥渉eat island鈥� effect that raises temperatures in places with little greenery. Landscaped  areas also absorb rainwater to protect against flooding.

Electrification is another tangible first step to making schools healthier and carbon-free. For example, heat pumps 鈥� HVAC systems that are powered by electricity 鈥� warm and cool like traditional systems, but because they can be powered by rooftop solar panels, they can further reduce dependence on fossil fuels. These solutions also save districts money: Over a 30-year period, schools that transition to net-zero energy 鈥� using as much as they produce 鈥� can than schools that don鈥檛. 

This isn鈥檛 just about climate and health; it鈥檚 also about educational justice. Schools in low-income neighborhoods are less likely to be equipped to deal with extreme heat than buildings in affluent areas, and an estimated in standardized test scores between Black and Hispanic students and their White counterparts can be attributed to hot school days. Neighborhoods that have been historically redlined often experience the most severe consequences of heat 鈥� on average, they are than non-redlined neighborhoods. 

When students are packed into muggy, oppressively hot school buildings and told to monitor themselves for heat stroke symptoms while sitting in class, the adults they rely on are failing them. Refusal to take action to mitigate the impacts of climate change will continue to fall hardest on the students and communities already facing the largest challenges. 

But closing schools for extreme weather is not a viable long-term solution. Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S., and socially vulnerable communities experience the worst health impacts. As heat waves strike with increasing frequency and intensity, communities must be able to turn to schools as healthy places where they can take shelter. 

The provision in this year鈥檚 state climate bill is a critical step toward addressing these issues. Assessing the condition of schools and recommending standards to make them green are the critical ingredients needed to put together a plan so that when renovating old schools or building new schools, taxpayer money is spent wisely to create the healthy learning environments all children deserve.

Massachusetts still leads the nation in education. It will stay that way only if it can keep its schools open and its children healthy.

Along with collaborators from Dartmouth, the CALDER Center at the American Institutes for Research, and the nonprofit testing group NWEA, Kane released incorporating pre- and post-pandemic testing data from over 2 million students in 49 states. Its conclusion: Remote instruction was a 鈥減rimary driver of widening achievement gaps鈥� over the last several years, with schools serving poor and non-white students suffering some of the greatest setbacks.听

Overall, Kane and his co-authors found, high-poverty schools were more likely than others in the same district to stay remote throughout the 2020-21 school year; among all schools that stayed remote for longer, students at high-poverty schools showed much worse declines in math scores. And they calculated that some school districts would have to spend every dollar of their federal COVID relief money on academic recovery efforts to have any hope of making up the lost ground.

As Kane observed for the Atlantic, local education authorities are required to use only 20 percent of those funds on pandemic-specific remediation. And there is sufficient reason to doubt that even the most promising educational interventions, such as personalized tutoring, can be delivered at the necessary scale to reverse the damage inflicted by COVID. Even the Biden administration鈥檚 recently announced campaign to recruit 250,000 new tutors and mentors is at least several months away from being fully realized.

Kane, the faculty director of Harvard鈥檚 Center for Education Policy Research, has spent decades carefully evaluating the effectiveness of school improvement efforts. A Council of Economic Advisors staffer during the Clinton presidency, he has studied school accountability systems, teacher recruitment policies, and the effects of affirmative action throughout long stints in both academia and think tanks like the Brookings Institution. His research on teacher evaluation inspired a half-billion-dollar initiative launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lift classroom performance in large school districts around the country.

Now he鈥檚 hoping to work with state and district leaders to combat an educational disaster whose effects, he says, are still not well understood. While policymakers may now have a loose idea of the challenges facing educators and families, the policies they鈥檙e currently reaching for will likely prove inadequate as a solution.

鈥淥nce that sinks in, I think people will realize that more aggressive action is necessary,鈥� Kane said. 鈥淚n the absence of that, it’s hard to blame local folks for not taking more aggressive action because they have no way to know that what they’re planning is nowhere near enough.鈥�

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

社区黑料: How do your findings and research design differ from earlier studies that have looked at pandemic-related learning loss? I鈥檓 thinking specifically of last year鈥檚 study conducted by, among others, Brown University鈥檚 Emily Oster, which also pointed to really steep losses associated with the switch to virtual learning.

Thomas Kane: There are at least two ways that this paper is different. The first is that we’re able to estimate magnitudes of losses in a way that’s comparable to the effect sizes of [educational] interventions. In that [Oster] study, they can focus on changes in proficiency rates on state tests. Each state has its own cut score, so the magnitude of the changes in proficiency rates depends on whether that cut score is near the middle or near the tail of the test score distribution. If my cut score is near the middle, even a small decline in achievement can mean a big swing in proficiency. But if my cut score is at the tail, even a large decline in test scores can show up as a small change in the percentage of people who are proficient.听

So while that study could qualitatively describe what was happening 鈥� in areas that were remote for longer periods, proficiency rates declined 鈥� they really couldn’t characterize the magnitude of the decline in any way that was comparable to the effects sizes, which I think is critical. As we’ve argued, it’s not at all surprising that there were larger losses in places that were remote for longer periods. It’s the magnitude of the losses that’s startling.

This design also lets you make comparisons within districts, as well as between districts, right?

That’s another big difference between our paper and what’s out there now. The [Oster] paper was focused on district proficiency rates, and what they found was that districts with larger shares of minority students and high-poverty schools had larger losses. But it could have been, for instance, that the implementation of remote learning was just weaker in those districts 鈥� districts with a higher share of students in poverty may have seen bigger declines in achievement, but the losses could have been similar in the high- and low-poverty schools in those districts.

By being able to look within districts, we were able to test whether the number of weeks of remote instruction had disproportionate impacts on high-poverty schools and minority students in those districts. Our answer was pretty clearly yes, there were bigger losses. And it wasn’t just because the urban districts had a harder time implementing remote instruction; even within those districts, the higher-poverty schools lost more.

You used the word “startling” to describe the learning loss. Were you expecting to see effects of this size?

We went in without any clear expectations on the magnitude of the impacts we would see. The reason why I called it startling was because I know that there are very few educational interventions that have ever been shown to generate a .45 standard deviation impact [a common measure showing the difference in any population from the statistical mean; they can be loosely converted into other units, such as learning time or dollars spent] on achievement. Yet that’s the size of the loss that high-poverty schools that were remote for more than half the year sustained. So it was startling because when we compare the impact estimates of remote learning to the potential impact of the available interventions, it’s clear that there is no one thing that we could say, “If all districts did this and implemented it with fidelity, it would eliminate the gap in one year.”聽

For instance: In a review of the pre-pandemic research, tutoring has been found to generate a gain of about .38 standard deviations. Well, you could provide a tutor to every single student in a high-poverty school that was remote for half the year and still not close the gap. You could get close, but you wouldn’t close that gap. And we know that districts are never going to be able to hire enough tutors to provide one to every student in a high-poverty school, let alone deliver that tutoring at the level of quality as these programs evaluated in the research. That’s why it was startling 鈥� not just because it conflicted with our prior expectations, but because when we saw it, we realized that we couldn’t come up with a long list of interventions that yield effects of this size.

So what can schools and districts realistically be expected to do in this situation? 

We can’t be thinking of this as a one-year catch-up. If we really are committed to making students whole and eliminating these losses, it’s going to be multiple years. There are other interventions that have been shown to have effects, it’s just that no single intervention gets you all the way. 

One example is double-dose math. There’s , and , that found that an extra period of math instruction over a whole year generates about .2 standard deviations. 

So more districts should probably be thinking about something like that, especially in high-poverty schools. But like tutoring, increased math instruction requires staff; you can’t double the number of math classes students take without increasing the number of math teachers. Again, districts should be considering doing some of that, but it will also have constraints on the scale they can implement. 

Another possibility, which a lot of districts are already planning for, is summer school. There are studies suggesting positive impacts of summer school. But [the effects are] small. The big challenge with summer school is getting kids to attend regularly, because it’s viewed as optional learning time. That’s not a reason not to scale up summer school, it’s just that we shouldn’t think that doubling or even tripling the percentage of kids going to summer school is going to close these gaps. It’s not. You get a learning gain of about .1 standard deviations 鈥� around five weeks of learning 鈥� based on the pre-pandemic research.

One option that really hasn’t gotten much serious consideration, largely because of political pushback from parents and teachers, is extending the school year. If we extended the school year by five weeks over the next two years, that would obviously cover 10 weeks of instruction. I recognize that teachers would have to be paid more for that time. In fact, they ought to be paid something like time-and-a-half. But that’s the kind of option that I hope will gain attention once people realize the inadequacy of the steps that they’re currently considering, like small increases in summer school or tutoring a small percentage of students. It’ll become apparent that that’s just not enough, though my fear is that it may not become apparent in time. Based on what I’m seeing, most districts are going to find that students are still lagging far behind when they take their state tests in May 2023. The danger is that if they only discover that then, and only start planning more ambitious recovery plans then, much of the federal money will have been spent already. That’s why we’re trying to get the message out about the scale of the declines, and the likely scope of the efforts required to close them, while there’s still time to act.听

Districts only need to spend 20 percent of their COVID relief funds mitigating learning loss. But you and your co-authors created a formula to determine the financial cost of reversing this academic harm, and in many cases, that figure would basically demand every dollar allocated by Washington.

We try to put the scale of the [learning] losses and the amount of aid that districts have received in the same scale. We report both as a share of an annual school district budget, which I think is a useful starting point for thinking about what it’s going to cost a district to recover. If a district has lost the equivalent of, say, 22 weeks of instruction as a result of being remote, and you’re asking what it’s going to cost to make up for that, the lower bound of the estimated cost would have to start with [the question], “What does it cost to provide 22 weeks of instruction in a typical school year?”

The answer would be whatever share of a district鈥檚 typical annual budget is spent over 22 weeks. In the paper, we use a 40-week year, under the assumption that salaries are paid over 40 calendar weeks instead of just 36 instructional weeks. And then we put the amount of federal aid that districts got on that same scale 鈥� say, what share of a typical year’s budget districts receive. We think that’s a useful starting point for people, and what they’d see is that in the high-poverty districts that were remote for more than half of 2021, the amount of aid they received is basically equivalent to 鈥� maybe a little more, but not much more than 鈥� the magnitude of their losses in terms of instructional weeks. That just means that, rather than spending the 20 percent minimum that was required in the American Rescue Plan, some districts should be thinking that they’ll need all of that aid for academic catch-up.

I have to say, this conversation is leaving me pretty pessimistic that some of this lost ground can ever be fully recovered. Without asking you to look into a crystal ball, is that concerning you as well?

Yes, but here’s a more hopeful spin: A friend of mine sent me a political ad for one of the gubernatorial candidates in Rhode Island, Helena Foulkes. She says, “I’m running for governor, and my top priority is restoring students’ achievement, and if I fail to restore achievement, I’m not going to run for reelection. Hold me accountable for whether we catch kids up.”聽

I would hope more politicians take that pledge, and that the way to judge mayors and school board members and governors over the next couple of years is on whether they succeed in restoring students to their pre-pandemic levels of achievement. It would be that kind of accountability that would wake people up to the need for more aggressive action now. It’s one thing to read these reports about achievement losses nationally, but it’s another thing to see that your own schools, locally, followed exactly the pattern of this report. 

Most districts have seen the statistics from [the Oster paper] and know that their proficiency rates have declined by 10 or 15 percentage points. But that kind of statistic, as we’ve discussed, doesn’t really convey the severity. We’d like to provide districts with the tools to gauge the losses in the kinds of units 鈥� like standard deviations, or dollars spent, or weeks of instruction 鈥� that they could compare to the effect sizes of educational policies. That could make it easier for people to translate their local losses into a package of interventions of equivalent size. In , I tried to put both the learning loss and the intervention effects into instructional weeks rather than standard deviation units to make it easier.

I think that needs to happen. Local decision makers need to see the scale of their students’ losses in ways that are more readily comparable to the expected effect sizes of the interventions they have to choose from. Once that sinks in, I think people will realize that more aggressive action is necessary. In the absence of that, it’s hard to blame local folks for not taking more aggressive action because they have no way to know that what they’re planning is nowhere near enough. It certainly sounds impressive to say, “We’re going to double our summer school enrollment and provide a tutor to 5 percent of the students in our schools.” All of that would reflect more than the catch-up effort in a typical school year, but it’s only when you compare those to the effect sizes for those interventions, and the magnitude of their losses, that you realize that it’s nowhere near enough. So we’ve got to make that lack of proportionality clearer to local decision makers, and not just in these national reports.

Another recent study using MAP data found that U.S. students had sustained as much academic damage from school closures as kids in Louisiana suffered after Hurricane Katrina. But after the storm, the whole New Orleans school district was fundamentally restructured, such that it’s now mostly composed of charters. What do you think of more drastic attempts to change the organization of schools and districts? 

Here’s one reason why this challenge is greater 鈥� and it’s actually related to the situation in Boston. I think that if people were confident that a state takeover would produce the big improvements that are necessary in Boston, there would be political will. The problem is the uncertainty: “If we take this very difficult step, is it going to produce the results we’re hoping for?” 

If some district said, “We’re a high-poverty district, and we were remote for more than half of 2021. What should we do?” I could list a few things they should be trying, but I couldn’t point to a package that would definitely close the gap because it’s an unprecedented gap. There is one thing I think could provide the hope and ammunition that would generate political will: We could organize for the next few months around a set of interventions to be launched in the spring of 2023 and then find a few places that would be willing to try that package of things. If we could evaluate those and generate some results early in the summer of 2023, we could then say, “Here is a set of interventions that, if you implement them, it’ll get you a long way toward closing the gap.” And I think we’d have an easier time persuading people to use the political capital you need to invest in that.

So to anyone reading this interview: If there are districts or states that are willing to implement some really creative catch-up strategies next spring and want to contribute to an evidence base that the rest of the country can use, I want to work with you! Right now, there’s no package of efforts that I’d be confident would be enough to close the gap. Absent that, it’s no wonder that politicians aren’t willing to invest political capital in it. But if we had that, we could all get behind advocating for them. It would help everybody if a small set of districts would step forward and try to provide a model for the rest of the country to copy.听

The clock is ticking, and I think we’d have to do it next spring. I’m sure we could design a study and get results out quickly to people about the type of effort that would generate enough [learning] gains. But there shouldn’t be just one model we’re trying 鈥� there should be multiple approaches that we systematically try next spring, and ideally, one or two of them will prove to deliver the effects we need. And then we could organize advocacy around those.

So what comes next for your research in this area?

We’ve been working with a group of 14 districts that are giving us data on which kids they provided tutors to, which kids got double-dose math, and various other things over this past school year. We’ve been working with the NWEA data and hope to have a report out in August laying out the effect sizes that districts got for the interventions they attempted in 2021-22.

Mayor Michelle Wu warned that the most dire option, a state takeover, would be 鈥渃ounterproductive鈥� at a time when she is trying to elevate district management, including reaching a tentative agreement with the Boston school bus driver鈥檚 union to reform a school transportation system that has been .

鈥淣o one is better equipped to accelerate the progress Boston has made than our Boston Public Schools communities,鈥� she said at Tuesday鈥檚 meeting of the state board.

Wu was part of a stream of politicians, teachers, and parents who offered more than an hour of public commentary opposing a takeover and arguing that Boston should be given the opportunity to solve its academic and organizational problems. The meeting came a day after the state released a 188-page report outlining systemic problems facing the district and calling for 鈥渋mmediate鈥� action on behalf of its nearly 46,000 students.

Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley didn鈥檛 show his hand on the subject of a takeover Tuesday, but called the audit鈥檚 revelations 鈥渆xtremely disheartening,鈥� with structural improvements needed across six dimensions: safety, transportation, special education, English learners, data transparency, and facilities.

鈥淭here are just a myriad of problems here, many of them emanating from a bloated central office that is often incapable of performing the most basic functions,鈥� he said.

State law stipulates that such an audit must be completed before a takeover, known locally as receivership, can proceed. pointed to a district office plagued by rapid turnover; inadequate services for English learners and special needs students; and what it called 鈥渁 pattern of inaccurate or misleading data reporting鈥� on issues as disparate as graduation rates, bus routes, and bathroom renovations. 

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz 鈥� a Boston Democrat currently waging a progressive campaign for governor 鈥� addressed the board members as a former classroom teacher and current public school parent, evoking the difficulties of previous receiverships attempted in other Massachusetts cities.

鈥淲hat I urge you to do today is to keep working in partnership with Boston to hasten improvements for BPS students rather than erode parent voice and local democracy by triggering receivership,鈥� Chang-Diaz argued. 鈥淲e have new leadership in our mayor and will soon have a new superintendent鈥�.They deserve a chance at bat.鈥�

With the report now in public view, the next steps will be taken by Mayor Wu, who has already met with both Riley and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to discuss a possible collaboration with Boston Public Schools that could initiate needed reforms while stopping short of full receivership. Riley said he hoped to have a 鈥渟tatement of assurances鈥� from the mayor around the need for improvements in key functions 鈥� particularly transportation and data reporting 鈥� within 鈥渁 week or so.鈥� 

Matt Hills, a director at a private equity firm who is so far the only board member to have publicly supported receivership, advocated for a decision to be reached quickly, proposing that 鈥渋f God was superintendent, God would need receivership to be effective here.鈥�

After the statement aroused angry murmuring among audience members, he continued.

鈥淲hen is enough enough? When are you prepared to act?鈥�

In a city renowned for its colleges and universities, Boston Public Schools earned its own acclaim in recent years as an innovative, fast-improving hub of K-12 excellence. Situated in the birthplace of American public education, and combining generous funding with a thriving charter school sector, the district was held up for over a decade as a model of urban education reform. 

But as the 2021-2022 school year draws to a close, those past accolades seem as distant as the days of Horace Mann. Amid plummeting enrollment, persistent achievement gaps, and a nasty COVID hangover, Boston faces perhaps the greatest educational crisis since its scarring experience with desegregation in the 1970s. And in the weeks to come, the city may lose more than its national luster.

In March, Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley of the state of the district. Both local and national experts wondered openly whether the review, which follows a , was the first step toward a complete takeover of the region鈥檚 largest school district. In the months since, of bad press has done nothing to quiet speculation.

The audit, released Monday, provided the latest sign that state authorities are strongly considering action. Despite making improvements in a few areas, the reviewers found, 鈥渢he district has failed to effectively serve its most vulnerable students, carry out basic operational functions, and address systemic barriers to providing an equitable, quality education.鈥� The situation called for 鈥渋mmediate improvement,鈥� they concluded.

The prospect of receivership (as takeovers are known locally) is hardly unprecedented in Massachusetts, which allows its education department greater latitude to reshape failing school districts than most state authorities elsewhere. But the structural problems facing Boston cast doubt on whether such an effort can be successful.

For three decades, the district has operated substantially under mayoral control, and newly elected Mayor Michelle Wu has already made clear her opposition to state intervention. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker 鈥� an education reform ally whose tenure has seen several takeovers 鈥� will soon be leaving office, likely to make way for a Democratic successor with sharply different views.

Wu told the that she met with Baker and Riley Friday and that they are still working on an agreement 鈥渢hat will set the district up for success.鈥�

鈥淎 lot of what is in the review matches with what our school communities and administrators have been calling for, in how urgently we need to focus on BPS and our young people, and in the need for strong, effective leadership,鈥� she said.

Cara Candal, a senior fellow at , said it was ambiguous whether Riley was leaning toward receivership or a somewhat less drastic approach. While significant obstacles existed, she said the recently completed review demonstrated that 鈥渒ids 补谤别苍鈥檛 learning, and many are unsafe in school.”

Candal, who calling a takeover Boston鈥檚 鈥渂est hope鈥� for revival, said her takeaway was that things were 鈥渁s bad as expected in some places and worse in others. In my opinion, the report underscores that the state needs to move with some urgency to provide BPS with the structures, support, and accountability necessary to effect change 鈥� There is a window for the state to act now, and I hope it will.鈥� 

Ultimately, the audit called for 鈥渂old, student-centered decision-making and strong execution鈥� to reverse what it described as the district鈥檚 鈥渆ntrenched dysfunction.鈥� What that means in practice is difficult to predict. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to deal with the report鈥檚 findings at its regular meeting on Tuesday morning.

But Ross Wilson, executive director of the Boston-based Shah Family Foundation, said Massachusetts should consider multiple options for intervention instead of duplicating the takeovers of major districts that have taken place in other states.

鈥淥ur state and city have the opportunity to do things differently,鈥� Wilson argued in an email. 鈥淲e should think creatively, collaboratively, and with urgency about the support and accountability necessary to serve the students of Boston.”

鈥楢 steady stream of negative reports鈥�

Few share Wilson鈥檚 historical perspective on the highs and lows of Boston Public Schools. A former kindergarten teacher, school principal, and central office administrator, he finished his career with the district in 2017 as deputy superintendent.

That long tenure gave him an inside look at Boston鈥檚 ascent in the late-1990s and 2000s as a district known for continuity and rising performance. The schools were overseen for over a decade by Superintendent Tom Payzant, who placed and enjoyed a strong partnership with the city鈥檚 similarly long-serving mayor, Tom Menino. By the end of his tenure, Payzant was frequently named as one of America鈥檚 best schools chiefs, and the district the prestigious Broad Prize for excellence in urban education. As measured by the National Assessment of Academic Progress, the academic growth of Boston students that of students in other major districts during this time.

The momentum carried on for several years after Payzant鈥檚 departure but eventually began to stall. A major culprit was churn: Including interim appointments, Boston has named four superintendents since 2012. Fast turnover has also extended to the bureaucracy 鈥� between 2016 and 2019, the district, and less than 12 percent stayed in the same role 鈥� and even to the mayor-appointed school committee, which over the last few years.

Wilson remembered that the strategy for governing both traditional K-12 schools and their more autonomous counterparts (the district operates over 20 鈥減ilot schools鈥� that enjoy greater flexibility in hiring, setting budgets, and choosing curriculum) had 鈥渟hifted from superintendent to superintendent,鈥� leading to 鈥渙verall confusion.鈥�

The result of Commissioner Riley鈥檚 first review was a highly critical document that pointed to 鈥渟taggering鈥� rates of student absenteeism; in all, close to one-in-three Boston students attended schools that ranked in the bottom 10 percent across the state. In response, the city joined in a 鈥渕emorandum of understanding鈥� with Riley鈥檚 state education department in March 2020, pledging to turn around achievement in underperforming schools, diversify its workforce, and revamp its oft-troubled system of school transportation. 

But the memorandum went into effect at almost the exact same time that the city鈥檚 schools first closed due to COVID-19, not to reopen for fully in-person learning for over a year. As in most of the country, test scores tumbled dramatically during the pandemic. Since students returned to classes, however, Boston has also been plagued by constant bad press, including several of against school employees; at a K-8 school that the school committee voted to close; and that has left the district nearly 20 percent smaller than it when it won the Broad Prize. 

In February, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius that she would resign in June after three tumultuous years. In a letter to the school community, the Globe reported Monday, she vowed to push forward needed changes but acknowledged that 鈥渢his work will require increasing staffing, operational support, and other resources, including a more robust collaboration with City departments, to ensure that we are prepared to meet all of our students鈥� needs.鈥�

Paul Reville, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who formerly served as the Massachusetts Secretary of Education, said that the search for a new superintendent came at a distinctly unpropitious moment. 

鈥淲e’re trying to attract a new superintendent at a time when we’re on the heels of two superintendencies that did not end well,鈥� observed Reville, who receivership. 鈥淲e’re facing the threat of a state takeover, we’ve got a steady stream of negative reports on the performance of the school system, and the governance system is shifting. So you might be a superintendent working for a new boss in two years.鈥�

Top on the list of responsibilities for the next superintendent will be dealing with a daunting set of problems laid out in the state audit. Among them:

• While one-in-five local students take part in special education, that area of services 鈥渞emains in disarray鈥� two years after the 2020 review found them to be sorely wanting. Education of English learners was also highlighted for particular criticism.
• Boston is not meeting minimal standards for the delivery of essential district services, including school transportation. Late or uncovered bus routes are 鈥渟ignificantly disrupting education for tens of thousands of students each month,鈥� the authors wrote.
• Even the grievances identified in the audit may understate the extent of the problems because of a 鈥減attern of inaccurate or misleading data reporting by the district.鈥� BPS officials inflated the number of buses arriving on time, inaccurately reported the number of school bathrooms it had renovated, and possibly displayed incorrect student enrollment and withdrawal data on its public website.

Skepticism on takeovers

But if the problems facing Boston are significant, it鈥檚 not clear that receivership is the remedy.

Takeovers are among the most contentious school improvement strategies available to states. Even when launched in cities where schools have struggled to serve students for many years, they often sideline elected boards and offend both teachers and families by abrogating local control. Some scholars contend that by alienating voters 鈥� disproportionately those of color in cities like Boston 鈥� from governance of their own institutions, takeovers do more civic harm than educational good. 

What鈥檚 more, evidence of their effectiveness is somewhat scant. A 2021 study of takeovers initiated in dozens of mid-sized school districts found that, on average, they yielded no positive outcomes on test scores; in fact, the disruption of the move led to further struggles in some communities.

Reville argued that the recent history of district takeovers suggested that most states lacked the capacity or the legal scope to pursue them effectively. 

鈥淚 think our legislation gives the state more tools and more power than is the case virtually anywhere else in the country, so if you got a chance to do it, it would be in Massachusetts,鈥� he said. 鈥淪till and all, I think the evidence from past experience suggests more modest expectations about state takeover.鈥�

Much of the Massachusetts debate will center on the existing takeovers launched over the last decade in the long-scuffling districts of Southbridge, Holyoke, and Lawrence. None of the three school systems have yet regained control over their school systems, and all still rank among the lowest-performing in the state. Still, initial test results included in the 2021 analysis found that reading test scores had improved somewhat in both Holyoke and Lawrence. Receivership in the latter city was personally overseen by none other than Riley, whose appointment as state schools commissioner was predicated partly on the results he achieved in Lawrence.

“Although nationally we don’t have great evidence that this is a key way to improve academic achievement, it does seem like Massachusetts has a stronger track record in this area than other states at using receivership toward the ends of improving achievement,” said study coauthor Beth Schueler, a professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia.

Because of the relatively narrow time period under observation, that paper excluded the takeovers of schools in New Orleans and Newark, where student outcomes improved sizably while under state control. But in those cases, a principal tactic of improvement was the expansion of high-performing charter school networks, which came to enroll sizable portions of K-12 students across both cities. Boston is similarly home to in the country, but a statewide cap on new charter schools prevents their expansion.

“As much as I would love to say to Boston families, immediately, ‘We’re going to knock down district boundaries and make choice available to you,’ that’s not going to happen in Massachusetts,鈥� the Pioneer Institute鈥檚 Candal said. 鈥淚 think there are lessons to be learned, but we’re not going to be a Newark or a New Orleans because the other stakeholders in the state won’t allow it.”

A ticking electoral clock

The dynamics of receivership in Boston would differ from prior takeovers in at least one other aspect: Authority would be flowing away from a newly elevated leader with an unblemished record, and toward a state government that is headed for the exits.

Wu, both the first woman and first non-white person elected as Boston mayor, won the Democratic Party鈥檚 nomination in 2021 with for the district鈥檚 future. In office for just four months, she has already proposed her own 鈥淕reen New Deal鈥�: a $2 billion investment in school renovation and construction. With Superintendent Cassellius stepping down, she will soon help select BPS鈥檚 next leader, the most crucial decision facing the district in the coming months.

Wu鈥檚 outsize influence over local schools means that if receivership comes, it will be at the expense of a well-known and highly popular figure rather than the obscure members of a local school board. Wu has already demonstrated her awareness of that advantage by , alongside the head of the Boston Teachers Union, to warn against the possibility of receivership.

In a statement responding to the audit, Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang called the timing of the release “suspect, rushed, and ill-advised,” alleging that the state report was marred by unspecified factual errors.

“This is an opportunistic attempt to overcommit the state past the current governor鈥檚 tenure to a hostile, unhealthy and burdensome relationship with the city by bullying the new mayor into an untenable, undemocratic, and patronizing arrangement,” Tang said.

In response to the unified pushback, Schueler said she wondered how politics might influence a takeover鈥檚 effectiveness.

鈥淧roponents of takeover often point to school board dysfunction as the source of all the problems. What do they see as the source of the problem in Boston, and is that problem going to go away with takeover? It’s not getting rid of the board in this case.”

Receivership is almost always dreaded in local communities, but in Boston, there is another wrinkle: Even while electing Wu last fall, voters also demanding a return to elected school board members. Such a move would also inevitably limit the powers of the new mayor, who has said she favors a hybrid committee including both elected and appointed members. 

Will Austin, a former charter school leader who now serves as the CEO of the nonprofit , argued that while popular opinion might be firmly set against the appointment of a state receiver, state law was unambiguous in delineating Commissioner Riley鈥檚 powers to act in struggling school districts 鈥� of which Boston is undeniably one. 

“The statute and regulations are clear and blunt,鈥� Austin said. 鈥� A vote by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education decides this 鈥� nothing else.”

But the relevant actors also face a ticking clock. In November, the state鈥檚 deep-blue electorate will choose a new governor; it is widely expected that Gov. Baker, a two-term Republican, will be succeeded by a progressive Democrat cut approximately from Wu鈥檚 cloth. Whoever that person is 鈥� Attorney General Maura Healey appears to be 鈥� will have little interest in being accused of disenfranchising Wu and the voters of Boston. So while an opportunity exists to set a receivership in motion, it could disappear before long. 

In the meantime, the district continues its reemergence from the COVID era. With to be the next superintendent, Wu and the school committee could race to make a hire before the state reaches a consensus.

In response to the newly released review, Reville said the situation demanded close cooperation between Boston and the state.

鈥溾�嬧�婽he report reiterates and describes problems that have persisted for a long time. The conversation needs to shift now from diagnosis to prescription. Neither the state nor the city is likely to be able to go it alone. The best chance for a remedy is a robust partnership between state and local leaders鈥nd the political will to overcome resistance to change.鈥�

The study, circulated as by the National Bureau of Economic Research, represents the latest evidence pointing to some charters as institutions that strengthen civic engagement. A that focused on North Carolina schools found lasting benefits to traditionally underserved students, including more frequent voting and reduced criminality, who attended a charter secondary school rather than a traditional public school.

And both echo the findings of of the civics-focused Democracy Prep charter schools. Graduates of the network, which operates over 20 schools across five states, were 12 percentage points more likely to vote in the 2016 presidential election than similar students, according to that study, and substantially more likely to be registered as voters.听

Sarah Cohodes, an economist at Columbia University鈥檚 Teachers College and a co-author of the Boston paper, noted that the voting effects she found were about half as large as those generated by Democracy Prep 鈥� six percentage points of increased voting likelihood, from a status quo of 35 percent 鈥� and that she measured no impact on registration. But a network like Democracy Prep, which persistently emphasizes civic participation and demands that students demonstrate mastery over multiple democratic skills, might be expected to lift voter participation, Cohodes added.

鈥淭his [research] is showing that even if you have a school where civics isn鈥檛 the mission, but you are still instilling more general skills 鈥� executive function, conscientiousness 鈥� alongside academic skills, that spills over into voting,鈥� she said.

Cohodes and co-author James Feigenbaum, a professor of economics at Boston University, gathered student records from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, along with lottery reports and voter records. The academic data included a battery of student demographic information, as well as performance metrics on state standardized tests, Advanced Placement course enrollment, SAT-taking, and college enrollment and persistence. Their sample included 12 Boston charters that enrolled students who were at least 18 years old at the time of the 2016 U.S. elections.

They then matched those records with Massachusetts voter files drawn from 2012, 2015, and 2018 (as well as files from nearby states New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine, to account for out-of-state moves).听

Like many other studies of charter school effectiveness, the analysis relies on the lottery mechanism that randomly assigns admissions to Boston鈥檚 heavily oversubscribed charter sector. Lottery 鈥渨inners鈥� (students who are ultimately enrolled in the charters) are broadly similar to lottery 鈥渓osers鈥� in terms of racial and ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and prior academic performance.

After comparing the two sets of data, the authors found that charter attendance increased students鈥� incidence of voting in their first presidential election after turning 18 by about 17 percent. That effect is particularly noteworthy because the study found that charter attendance did not seem to increase voter registration, as one of the biggest procedural barriers preventing people from turning out on Election Day.

But within those results, an even more striking pattern emerged: The average increase in voting is the result of an especially large boost to female charter students 鈥� 12.5 percentage points 鈥� and no corresponding rise among males. That outcome generally mirrors , which have increasingly shown females outvoting males in recent years.听

To isolate a possible explanation for the gender split, the authors studied the various ways in which Boston charters affected their pupils compared with traditional public schools, including academic aptitude (measured through test scores), civic skills (measured through enrollment in an AP government or U.S. history class), and non-cognitive abilities (measured through school attendance and a student鈥檚 decision to take the SAT). Ultimately, the third category was the only realm in which a similar gender disparity existed, showing significant increases for girls compared with boys.

That detail is reminiscent of research conducted by political scientist John Holbein, who has found that high school students who are more likely to describe themselves as gritty are also more frequent voters. The link between non-cognitive skills like grit and persistence and voting propensity could be due to the obstacles that often stand in the way of filling out a ballot, Cohodes argued.

鈥淵ou have to register, you have to find your polling place, you have to make your plan for getting there and getting off of work,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then you actually have to show up and do it all. That involves persistence and follow-through, and…that鈥檚 where I see those schools coming in.”

It鈥檚 unclear whether charter schools in Boston are aiding the cultivation of such follow-through in female, but not male, students 鈥� or, perhaps, that they are burnishing those qualities in equal measure, but that boys begin school already far behind their female classmates. In either instance, Cohodes concluded, the findings provide more reason to think that the civic聽byproducts of charter schooling could be as consistent as their academic effects, which have largely been shown to be replicable across different settings and charter models.

鈥淚 do think it鈥檚 a different dimension of skill from academics, so it鈥檚 not necessarily the case that the schools that are bringing up test scores the most are also bringing up voting the most. But the things that Boston charters do are also things that KIPP schools do, that STRIVE charters and others do. So it鈥檚 not like it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 totally out of left field.鈥�

She herself moved to the United States from Bangladesh with her family when she was 5, and still remembers the feeling of struggling to communicate with her classmates in the years following. Many non-English speakers, the Quincy, Massachusetts high school junior feared, might miss out on potentially life-saving facts about the virus and immunizations.

鈥淭here’s that whole language barrier that makes it a lot more difficult to communicate and share accurate information,鈥� she told 社区黑料. 鈥淚t also does cause a lot of [vaccine] hesitancy.鈥�

Wanting to do her part to combat the problem, the teen in March signed on as a youth leader with the a Boston-based team of high school, undergraduate and medical students of color working to provide information about coronavirus immunizations to the area鈥檚 Black and immigrant communities.

Now, she leads online seminars 鈥� called 鈥渆mpowerment sessions鈥� 鈥� that address some of the most commonly held misconceptions about the COVID shots. The sessions not only provide facts about the vaccine, but also speak to histories of medical racism, such as the infamous Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis where for decades under the guise of free health care. 

Including information on such egregious historical events allows presenters to acknowledge the reasons that undergird many Black, Indigenous, Asian and Hispanic residents鈥� reservations about the vaccine, said the group鈥檚 director of youth programming, Laetitia Pierre-Louis.

鈥淲e make sure that we have just these raw conversations about, you know, medical racism and what happened in the past and is still, unfortunately, happening today,鈥� she told 社区黑料.

Amid a pandemic that at every turn has taken a disproportionate toll on people of color, killing Black Americans at of white Americans, the We Got Us Project conveys reputable information on the virus to Boston鈥檚 most vulnerable communities from voices they can trust, its leaders say.  

It鈥檚 the group鈥檚 makeup as primarily Black, Hispanic and immigrant youth that helps their message resonate for many residents, said Pierre-Louis, who is also a fourth-year premedical student at Northeastern University.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 incredibly important who tells you about the information [on the vaccine],鈥� she said, explaining that her Haitian lineage and ability to speak French have often made her conversations with people of that background easier. 

鈥淗aving somebody who speaks with them in their own language, who understands their cultural background 鈥� and really understands what they mean when they share out their concerns about the vaccine definitely makes a large difference.鈥�

Especially in discussions with young people, said Habiba, it helps to have a peer deliver facts about the vaccine.

鈥淎 lot of times, the things that adults can say to us seem more patronizing 鈥� like the way a parent would tell a child to do their chores,鈥� she explained. 鈥淐oming from another person your own age, it kind of signifies the importance of it.鈥�

We Got Us 鈥� , the first Black woman to serve as student council president at Harvard Medical School 鈥� has so far presented to over 400 youth and adults. They鈥檝e run sessions for groups from schools designed to serve immigrant students like the and nonprofits like the . 

The team has also run door-knocking campaigns and held numerous community events. Most recently, in the primarily Black neighborhood of Roxbury, they ran a Nov. 30 session in collaboration with the Boston Children鈥檚 Hospital for youth to . 

Through its canvassing efforts, the organization has reached over 2,700 individuals, creating and distributing more than 1,500 mask and sanitizer kits and scheduling , Research Director Melissa Jones, an undergraduate student at Harvard University, told 社区黑料. More than half of participants in empowerment sessions said on exit surveys that if the COVID-19 vaccine were offered to them, they would 鈥渄efinitely鈥� take it.

Additionally, the youth-led organization has twice presented to members of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to inform the agency鈥檚 approach to helping marginalized communities access vaccines.

Massachusetts has a higher-than-average overall share of Black, Hispanic and Asian residents immunized against the coronavirus compared to the rest of the U.S., according to published Dec. 2 by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But gaps still remain: The Black vaccination rate (72 percent) lags behind the white rate (81 percent) by nine points, a wider margin than the national average. Numbers published by the state indicate a slightly larger gap.

Though the Massachusetts Department of Public Health does not disaggregate youth vaccination data by race, published in late November by the Massachusetts-based Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition show that communities in the state with higher shares of economically and socially vulnerable households COVID immunization rates among 12- to 17-year olds than locales with fewer vulnerable residents. 

Across the country, racial disparities in youth vaccination worry officials. In five core counties in the San Francisco area, for example, 52 percent of Black students were immunized as of early November, compared to 85 percent of students overall 鈥� prompting fears that looming student vaccine mandates imposed by local school districts may have a .

Those disparities underscore, in the eyes of We Got Us members, the pressing nature of their work. Still, when speaking to people who have their doubts about the vaccine, the group鈥檚 motto is to 鈥渃onvey, not convince,鈥� Pierre-Louis explained. 

鈥淲e want to make sure that [participants] are empowered by the information. We want to make sure that they’re well aware of what’s being discussed about the vaccine so they can make the right decision for themselves,鈥� she said.

Not as a participant but as a youth member, Habiba herself has felt invigorated by what she鈥檚 learned. Training to lead sessions for peers, she was introduced to information that school had never taught her, such as disparities in health care and the historical events that explain some residents’ current day distrust of the medical establishment. 

鈥淥nce you start to connect those dots, it’s really eye-opening,鈥� said the high schooler, who is considering studying epidemiology in college. 

But every time she logs into a session with the We Got Us Project to promote vaccine equity, Habiba believes she鈥檚 working to combat those systemic problems.

鈥淚t definitely does feel like one small step,鈥� she said.

Pierre-Louis is similarly gratified. She鈥檚 so passionate about her responsibilities with the organization, she said, that it 鈥渄oesn’t really feel like work鈥� despite having to squeeze in training sessions between her undergraduate courses and studying for the MCAT exam. 

For her, the ultimate purpose of the project is about hearing and elevating the perspectives of marginalized communities amid a life-threatening pandemic. 

It鈥檚 how she understands the name itself, We Got Us.

鈥淚t really means we鈥檙e here for you,鈥� said the college senior. 鈥淲e鈥檙e here to fight for you. We鈥檙e going to listen to you. And we鈥檙e really here to make sure that your voices are heard.鈥�

From top to bottom, our governing institutions have been significantly eroded by on the of our , the growing influence of , conservative , of governing norms, legislative processes, and a bevy of other worrying trends. 

The depth and breadth of the problem are most visible at the elemental level, where the American democratic spirit is ostensibly most fervent: our thousands of school boards. These little local legislatures have been revered as cornerstones of American democracy . In theory, they provide local schools with democratically elected leadership that is maximally responsive to local needs and the public interest.

And yet, the has brought where local school board have into screaming matches with threats of violence over issues both (e.g. ) and/or (e.g. over or ). Things have gotten that the National School Boards Association , asking for the federal government to do more to protect elected local leaders from . Rather than calming the waters, this just prompted further outrage 鈥� particularly from conservative politicians in Washington, D.C. who cast it as an assault on parents鈥� free speech 鈥� and from the NSBA. 

Problems like these are why, in recent decades, some major cities 鈥� places like Washington, D.C., Chicago, , and New York City 鈥� moved away from elected school boards. The idea had a three-part theory of action: 1) it makes school governance more coherent by unifying control of city schools under mayoral leadership, 2) it insulates education decision-makers from political pressure and 3) it gives mayors a reason to prioritize school funding and improvement. 

The returns from this experiment have been largely encouraging. According to , Chicago schools are 鈥渄ramatically outperforming not just the other big poor districts, but almost every district in the country, at scale.鈥� Research on public schools in D.C. 鈥� 鈥� has also found . 

And yet, , the mayoral control in cities has faced from a cacophony of claiming that returning public education to school board control would an elemental part of U.S. democracy 鈥� representative government at its most profoundly local level. 

As the country wrestles with a national crisis of democracy, it seems odd to focus outrage and energy towards shifting local school governance from the control of elected mayors to elected school boards 鈥� precisely at a moment when school boards across the country are providing daily proof of their weaknesses as institutions. 

Aside from the novelty of , there is nothing particularly exceptional about this latest spate of outrage. Remember the furor a few years ago over how the Common Core State Standards were ostensibly going to push schools to conduct mass retinal scans, promote student promiscuity and advance the cause of global communism? Sure, school board meetings are often sleepy for months 鈥� even years 鈥� but whether it鈥檚 or or or or , periodic eruptions of dysfunction are pretty much a given.

And those are just recent examples. . School boards have long been complicit, for instance, at designing and maintaining racist, inequitable structures in public education 鈥� including decades of segregated schooling. Who did Oliver Brown and his fellow plaintiffs have to sue to begin the long, slow, difficult, haphazard work of integrating American schools? . It was the same in Washington, D.C., where Spottswood Thomas Bolling . Indeed, over and over again, the required (and still regularly requires) 鈥� and appealing to a higher authority over 鈥� local school boards.

It鈥檚 a reliable rule of education politics: elected school boards are almost always most responsive to vested and/or interests in their communities. Consider, for instance, the Los Angeles Unified School District. For most of the last decade, their school board has faced criticism from experts, from community groups, and pressure from the to focus more resources on historically marginalized communities. And yet, nonetheless, the board has to away from those communities. School boards 补谤别苍鈥檛 designed to prioritize the less powerful, organized and noisy.

So 鈥� why, in light of significant educational progress in places that have experimented with other forms of school governance, is it suddenly so important to shift more power to local school boards? Notably, pushes in this direction in Chicago and . have sparked as are . In , at least, a move away from mayoral control would almost assuredly strengthen the voices of white, privileged voters 鈥� who would have a better chance of swaying the outcomes of a handful of , ward-by-ward school board elections than the citywide mayoral race.

Indeed, what constitutes a democracy? Can it really be reduced to whether the public elects a mayor or a board to run the schools? Of course not. Institutionally speaking, modern democratic governance requires choosing leaders through regular, free, and fair elections 鈥� but it also requires the expertise of civil servants and other experts chosen by those leaders. That鈥檚 why, for instance, we don鈥檛 hold a national referendum every time the Mine Safety and Health Administration wants to adjust its regulations, nor do we establish elected panels to determine how much radium is safe to drink in our water supply. 

So: you should absolutely be concerned about the state of U.S. democracy. It cannot long sustain when voting rights are selectively narrowed to grant partisan advantage, or when bills with majority support in both houses of Congress are regularly filibustered dead, or when lawmakers efforts to a on the .

But if you鈥檙e looking for a way to ensure that our schools have elected leadership that鈥檚 fair, equitable and democratically accountable, school boards pretty obviously 补谤别苍鈥檛 the way to go. 

From Aug. 16 through 27, two groups of rising sixth- through ninth-graders embarked on a weeklong intensive STEM camp dubbed DynaMIT, a play on the school鈥檚 name. Founded in 2012 and now organized by about 15 students enrolled in perhaps the country鈥檚 most premier tech university, the free program brings critical thinking, design, science and engineering concepts to life for young people who have never participated in STEM programs before.

Each afternoon, campers worked on individual capstone projects. Boston Latin鈥檚 Steven Miall coded a roleplay game in where a traveler decides between paths in the jungle, ultimately making it out safely or perishing by tiger or hunger.

鈥淚 didn’t know how to do any Scratch before the program, and at the end, I was really, I guess fluent,鈥� Miall said of his 2019 cohort experience. 鈥淜nowing how to use Scratch could help with other different languages of computer science in the future.鈥�

鈥淲e have a lot of access to technological resources and education,鈥� DynaMIT鈥檚 2021 co-director and MIT senior Daniel Zhang said. He described their mission as utilizing their school鈥檚 resources to 鈥渂ring excitement about STEM鈥� to students who don鈥檛 have the economic opportunity to participate in similar paid programs.

Roughly of Boston Public School students are low income, and many of the were cancelled this year out of caution for the pandemic鈥檚 changing conditions. The decision to make the camp virtual for the second summer in a row was made in accordance with MIT policy, and enabled 10 out-of-state students to participate for the first time.

Jacksonville, Florida 9th-grader Emma Lee found DynaMIT in an online search for summer opportunities where she could try her hand at all STEM subject areas, hoping to hone her interests. She said that this summer was the first time she鈥檇 been in an environment with so many kids with similar interests to hers.

鈥淗ere in Florida, I don’t think there are as many opportunities from the colleges because they’re mainly up North,鈥� Lee said. 鈥淓ver since I was little, I鈥檝e always been pretty interested in STEM. I really want to be one of those pioneering females in the future.鈥�

Throughout the academic year, MIT student board members write grants, develop curricula and recruit and train 40 mentors to maintain their 2-to-1 student ratio. In Zoom breakout rooms, no more than two to three mentors and four to six students form a 鈥渇amily鈥� for 鈥減ersonalized guidance and attention鈥� and deeper relationships, Zhang said.

Programming begins with icebreakers and time for students and mentors to check in, and each day focuses on a new subject: math, astronomy, biology, chemistry and finally mechanical engineering. DynaMIT also hosts career panels, inviting scientists and researchers from the university to talk about their professional journeys.

In-person cohorts from past years have witnessed a in action 鈥� the conductive box redirects electric charges away from whatever鈥檚 safely inside, much like a car in a lightning storm. Until 2019, students also toured a pharmaceutical laboratory, Novartis, where many used pipettes for the first time. The company is one of DynaMIT鈥檚 local partners, and provided some materials for this year鈥檚 116 at-home science kits.

Mentors prepared and mailed the packages, which included popsicle sticks for mini hydraulic lifts and modeling clay for human organ simulations, to students鈥� homes. For some activities, students also experimented with objects around the home, like trying to determine the acidity of cleaning fluids in a pH scavenger hunt.

DynaMIT鈥檚 smaller class sizes and final projects, which encouraged students to lean into their interests, helped them stay engaged via Zoom after another virtual school year. When comparing 2019 and 2021 test scores across the country, education researchers estimate deep learning losses in math, with low-income students appearing more adversely affected than their high-income peers.

From space camps in Texas, where reach grade-level thresholds in science, to video game coding programs, families sought out STEM opportunities to try to mitigate learning deficits and re-engage the younger generation this summer.

In Massachusetts, summer school as a way to boost STEM mastery 鈥� the state even committed . And Boston students are eager for more opportunities like DynaMIT, to replace Zoom lectures with project-based learning.

鈥淚t was just more personal. The way that it was taught was more of a pick your route, and choose how you want to do things, which I like a lot more than the traditional science class where it’s like, 鈥楾his is your assignment, this is what you learn about,鈥欌�� said 8th-grader Hannah Steves, a 2020 virtual alum interested in pursuing environmental engineering.

The organization is in the process of surveying alumni from the past decade to measure impacts. Of the 70 alum respondents, roughly 63 percent say DynaMIT has had a strong or very strong influence on their future career aspirations, according to survey results.

Willers Yang, a first-generation college student and 2021 co-director, said they try to excite an interest in all kinds of science 鈥� from coding and psychology to chemistry 鈥� before students internalize ideas about the difficulty or accessibility of those careers. fields.

鈥淒ynaMIT is probably a good program to lead students back to school in the sense that we鈥檙e not structuring our days as lectures, we鈥檙e structuring our days as a sequence of activities and experiments that they can have fun building 鈥�,鈥� Yang said. 鈥淪howing them that they can have a place in STEM in the future as a scientist or engineer, giving them a closer look.鈥�

In Boston’s mayoral primary, city councilors Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George , respectively winning 33.3 percent and 22.5 percent of the vote. Acting Mayor Kim Janey, the first woman and first African American to serve as the city’s mayor, finished in fourth place. Wu and Essaibi George will proceed to the general election November 2.

On September 9, public schools in Boston will open for the 2021-22 academic year 鈥� the first since last March, locals hope, not to be irreversibly damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Five days later, the city will hold the first round of a two-step election process to decide its next mayor, whose time in office may come to be defined by the performance of a school district that has struggled in recent years.

Those two deadlines are clearly connected in the minds of the electorate. According to conducted by Suffolk University and the Boston Globe, schools were rated the most important issue by about 18 percent of likely voters across the city, ahead of the economy, crime, and police reform and practically identical to the top-ranking items of housing (20 percent) and racial justice (19 percent). In areas of the city that have historically posted some of the highest levels of voter turnout, K-12 was ranked the most important issue by far.

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David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, observed that the public is drawing connections between the disparate K-12 issues, from police officers in schools to COVID remediation, in a way that could make education 鈥渢he issue of the year.鈥�

鈥淵ou’ve got a constant thread where people are recognizing how important education is, and I think you’re going to see it continue to bubble up through the school reopening and even beyond,鈥� Paleologos said.

Seven candidates have emerged to replace former Mayor Marty Walsh, who was appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor in March. That group, which will be winnowed to two finalists after the preliminary election on September 14, is striking for its representative diversity. Among the favorites to compete in November are three city councillors who would each be the first woman and first person of color elected to lead Boston. (A fourth, Acting Mayor Kim Janey, already set both precedents when she was elevated to the position this spring and is seeking her first elected term).

Whoever wins will face the significant challenge of turning around schools in the birthplace of American public education. Boston Public Schools, once considered something of an exemplar among major urban districts, was widely seen as regressing even before the emergence of the coronavirus. While local experts generally acknowledge the need for improvement, much of the public鈥檚 attention has been directed at an acrimonious debate over the admissions practices of the city鈥檚 three competitive-admissions schools. But the comprehensive improvements needed to lift the performance of the rest of the system, and arrest its persistent decline in enrollment, haven鈥檛 led the discussion.

Most of the bandwidth among parents is also consumed by concerns about the pandemic, says Paul Reville, Massachusetts鈥檚 former education secretary. The increased salience of K-12 schools measured in the Suffolk poll results from a desperate desire to return to the pre-COVID state of existence, when families, schools, and employers could take the school day for granted, he said; but the next mayor will need to accomplish a great deal more than negotiating a return to the status quo ante.

鈥淲e’re not debating strategy so much right now as we’re debating survival issues,鈥� Reville said. 鈥淎re we going to open or not? Will we have enough room for all the students? Will they have to wear masks? What happens if the current spike in numbers keeps going? It’s hard to concentrate on the strategic when the day-to-day is so challenging.鈥�

Critical audit

March 13, 2020, was the most significant day in the recent history of Boston Public Schools. That Friday, then-Mayor Walsh and Boston schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced that the district would close all buildings to in-person learning for six weeks. In fact, the initial reopening date would come and go, with most students stuck at home for the better part of a year.

But another crucial development had been announced just hours earlier, when local officials signalled that the district would be entering a unique governing partnership with the state of Massachusetts to improve learning outcomes for students. The announcement followed the release of of Boston鈥檚 academic performance, which found that one-third of its students attended schools ranking in the bottom 10 percent statewide. State authorities would provide support to the system going forward, but also hold it responsible for meeting specific performance goals.

The new arrangement was especially startling given Boston鈥檚 reputation as a comparatively high-flying district among its large, urban peers. Beginning in the 1990s and early 2000s, national observers the steady growth in student test scores, which was widely attributed to then-Superintendent Tom Payzant鈥檚 efforts to restructure curricula and focus on literacy instruction. While large gaps still separated the city鈥檚 underprivileged children from their peers in nearby suburbs, the arrow was definitively pointing upwards.

The progress about a decade ago, according to a report by the research organization Bellwether Education Partners, as the district cycled rapidly through a sequence of short-lived and interim superintendents before landing on Cassellius in 2019. The 2020 鈥渕emorandum of understanding鈥� 鈥� which created a substantial role for state oversight while stopping short of a takeover 鈥� might have offered an opportunity to reclaim momentum. But according to John Portz, a political scientist at Northeastern University, it was instantaneously overshadowed by COVID.

鈥淭hat would have been a key jumping-off point, if you will, for where education was going to go,鈥� Portz said. 鈥淏ut it just got totally swallowed up by the pandemic. Thinking back, no one has talked about it, and I wonder whether it’s simply a dead letter at this point.鈥�

Exam school admissions

The prolonged closure of the city鈥檚 125 schools pushed systemic recovery far down the agenda, with a proposed as Walsh and Cassellius attempted to chart a course to safe reopening. The process became bitterly political at times, as when the Boston Teachers Union passed in Cassellius last December, citing unequal access to ventilation, testing, and protective gear.

Once K-8 schools returned, attention shifted again to the city鈥檚 public 鈥渆xam schools鈥�; of the three, the best known is Boston Latin, whose lofty alumni roll extends from Ben Franklin and John Hancock to many present-day elites in media, politics, and business. A decades-old debate over the school鈥檚 rigorous admissions test was first reignited in 2017, when that just one-quarter of Latin鈥檚 students were African American or Hispanic 鈥� compared with roughly three-quarters of Boston students overall.

Hearings held on the subject last fall by the Boston School Committee 鈥� a seven-member body appointed by the mayor 鈥� quickly became heated, with many parents arguing in favor of the existing admissions requirements and others calling for the introduction of criteria that might increase the odds of disadvantaged students winning seats. The debate grew so charged that three members after it was discovered that they had mocked and insulted Asian American parents and those living in the predominantly white neighborhood of West Roxbury. Still, the committee to approve a new admissions system that will decrease the importance of exam scores relative to school grades and reserve more seats for students living in low-income areas of Boston.

The controversy has attracted enormous coverage in local media. The changes are supported by three leading candidates in the September preliminary, including Acting Mayor Janey, Councilor Michelle Wu, and Councilor Andrea Campbell. Only Annissa Essaibi George, another city council member who previously worked as a teacher in East Boston, the new system and the process that led to its adoption.

That position may position her favorably with families living in the largely middle-class West Roxbury and Hyde Park neighborhoods, who typically make up as much of a quarter of the city鈥檚 electorate. Attorney Larry DiCara, a former city councillor and longtime observer of city politics, said that the issue鈥檚 outsized importance could swing more votes than one might expect.

“In some neighborhoods, the Latin issue is the most important issue,鈥� DiCara said. 鈥淭here are parents who, if their kids don’t get into Latin, they move.鈥�

But Will Austin, a former teacher who founded the nonprofit , said he was dismayed by the race鈥檚 persistent focus on what he called 鈥渃lick-bait-y鈥� issues at the expense of a more substantive conversation of the district鈥檚 stagnant academic results.

“You can’t lead systematic reform by changing which kids go to three of your 125 schools, which is essentially what we spent a couple of months doing,” Austin argued.

No 鈥榚ducation candidate鈥�?

There is still little clarity on which two candidates will advance in the preliminary election round. The most recent polls, conducted in and , put Wu in the lead, with Janey, Essaibi George, and several lower-ranked candidates further behind. But around one-fifth of respondents were undecided, and any configuration of the top-four candidates is generally viewed as plausible.

All four can broadly be defined as progressive, with Essaibi George venturing somewhat toward the center in her attitudes on exam schools and public safety. But Northeastern鈥檚 Portz said that the lack of more ideological differentiation made it difficult for the candidates to build more distinct brands.

鈥淚t’s tough to some degree because they’re driven by events in the news, the exam schools or the school committee resignations,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose things are capturing more attention, and it’s hard for them to strike out and distinguish themselves.”

The race is notably different in this respect from the recent primary held in New York City, in which leading candidates sorted into camps of progressives and moderates. The moderates 鈥� including the eventual Democratic nominee, Eric Adams 鈥� generally supported the city鈥檚 charter school sector and advocated for more modest changes to admissions criteria for the city鈥檚 own exam schools.

DiCara served on the city council in the 1970s, when the district still enrolled over 100,000 students and a robust network of parochial schools served tens of thousands more. In , he argued that runaway housing costs had made Boston less friendly to families and the working class, while the disappearance of children rendered public education a less relevant concern to the city鈥檚 newer, more affluent residents.

“The dramatic changes to the population, where we have so many single people in Boston or married people without children, make Boston very different from New York City,鈥� DiCara said. 鈥淥nce you get out of Manhattan, [New York is] really a city with a lot of families.”

The city鈥檚 thought leaders have taken note of the short shrift given to schools during the campaign, with an August op-ed in the Boston Globe why no 鈥渆ducation candidate鈥� had yet emerged. and (a former BPS teacher) have each released lengthy proposals concerning education and childcare; Janey, the acting mayor, can even boast of as an advocate for children and families. But so far, none of it has produced a sustained conversation about what it would take to put Boston schools on the road to improvement.

Austin said that Boston municipal races are often dominated less by policy debates than personal experience.

鈥淓very candidate in Boston is going to talk about how housing is unaffordable. Every single candidate will talk about how we need to reform the police. Every one will say that racial equity is core to their work. They don’t have really significant policy differences, so they differentiate themselves through how they campaign and their biographies.”

Reville said that the lack of greater variation within the field has held back the kind of boundary-breaking proposals that would address the key issue plaguing education in Boston: 鈥渢oo many longstanding, ongoing, chronically underperforming schools.鈥�

鈥淣obody’s coming along to propose radical change,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou’re not hearing someone saying, for instance, ‘Let’s make summer learning an entitlement for every child in the Boston Public Schools.’ Or, ‘Should we be doing something radically different, given the changing population within the Boston Public Schools?’ We don’t have a lot of outlier proposals to make a radical shift in the status quo. It’s hard to change, and there’s an enormous amount of inertia.”