Tackling equity at Boston’s exam schools

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

By Jim Stergios August 2, 2019
This spring, The New York Times reported that of the 4,800 students admitted to New York’s nine exam schools, a mere 190, or 4 percent, were African-American. At Manhattan’s acclaimed Stuyvesant High School, just seven black students were among the 895 admitted. Less than 1 percent of the school’s total enrollees are black.

Boston earns no bragging rights by beating the thoroughly broken New York City school system at equity of access to elite exam schools. But neither do the Boston Public Schools deserve the recent drubbing they are getting from the NAACP and Lawyers for Civil Rights, who wrote a stern letter to the city condemning the “discriminatory impact” of the schools’ admissions policies and have held out the prospect of a lawsuit.

This op-ed was published in The Boston Globe “Ideas” section – read it in its entirety here.

Get Updates on Our Education Research

Related Posts:

Study Finds Trump’s Most Favored Nation Drug Proposal Could Still Raise Out-of-Pocket Costs Without PBM Reform

BOSTON — Out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors may rise under President Trump’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) proposal if policymakers do not address the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), according to a brief released today by the Pioneer Institute.

Study Recommends Easing Barriers to Innovative Learning Models

Despite Massachusetts families’ strong interest in alternative to traditional educational models, entrepreneurs seeking to establish innovative learning environments face significant challenges, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

GO Tutor Corps’ Michael Duffy on Charter Public Schools & High-Dosage Tutoring

In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng, speak with Michael Duffy, President of GO Tutor Corps, a nonprofit dedicated to closing achievement gaps through high-dosage tutoring in low-income communities. Mr. Duffy shares insights from his distinguished career in public service and education reform, beginning in Massachusetts state government under Governor Bill Weld and later in Boston’s charter school movement.

Pioneer Institute Releases Toolkit to Transform Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School

Pioneer Institute has released a new Urban Voc-Tech Toolkit  aimed at helping Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School reach its full potential as a driver of opportunity for high-need students. Drawing on the successes of vocational-technical schools in Worcester, Springfield, and across Massachusetts, the toolkit outlines strategies based on high academic standards, strong industry partnerships, and increased school autonomy. The toolkit was coauthored by a group of five nationally recognized education leaders.

Pioneer Institute Releases 2025 Toolkit to Guide Policymakers on Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

New report urges maximizing tax-credit value to expand educational opportunity and boost private contributions

We Have a Long Way to Go for Massachusetts Residents to Have the Government Transparency We Deserve

As Pioneer Institute observes Sunshine Week,?we are disappointed by the legislature’s attempts to deny what the vast majority of voters want: an audit of the legislature by our State Auditor. Trying to avoid an audit further exacerbates the loss of public trust. After all, what are we left to think? Do they have something to hide? That is not the government our founders intended; nor is it what 72 percent of Massachusetts voters wanted. This year, during Sunshine Week, we are entirely focused on the top three actions to bring sunlight to the state legislature. They are: 

The Lost Decade Calls for Replacing “Social Justice Education” with Education Rich in Liberal Arts, includes a foreword by John McWhorter

Book finds that marginalized students suffer most from turn away from academics 

Curious Mike’s Visit to Rain Lily Microschool

In this episode of Microschooling Journeys, Curious Mike visits Rain Lily Microschool in Nassau County, Florida.  He visits: Wow.  Then he hears the two founders origin story.  Kati is a veteran Montessori teacher frustrated with culture and teacher respect issues in her former school, dreaming of a place where all parents felt welcome. Tania trains in Cuba, and then with her husband makes the fraught journey to USA, and ends up working her way up the ladder.  Like many, they have a dream of “their own” little school - but how?   Enter Wildflower Network.  It’s a network for teacher-led microschools, and they help people just like Kati and Tania: with septic tanks, with website creation, with touchy legal issues, with building a sliding scale tuition model that can tap Florida’s public dollars.  This episode is a little different stylistically: it’s Mike’s monologue. Tune in next time for an interview with Matt Kramer, CEO of Wildflower’s 70+ campuses, about expanding these innovative schools nationwide.

Study Published by Pioneer Institute Shows Massachusetts Learning Loss Among Nation’s Worst

Recommends Sustainable Policy Responses to Pandemic Learning Loss

Pioneer Institute Study Finds MCAS, Education Reform Have Significantly Improved Academic Attainment

Gains have been particularly notable among low-income, Black and Hispanic students

Study Finds Results of International Assessments Confirm Quality of MCAS

Economist and Fulbright Scholar concludes Massachusetts should return to participating in international testing as a benchmark for state results and internationally competitive economy

Poll Finds Charter Schools Widely and Broadly Popular in Massachusetts

More than six years after the failure of a statewide ballot initiative that would have increased the number of charter public schools in Massachusetts, a poll shows that 62 percent either strongly or somewhat favor them, with only 16 percent opposed.

Study Urges Massachusetts to Embrace Innovative School Models

A new policy brief from Pioneer Institute urges Massachusetts policymakers to encourage the proliferation and progress of non-traditional models that offer families creative, flexible, personalized and low-cost private education options.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Edu Federalism & School Choice

/
This week on “The Learning Curve," guest co-hosts Denisha Allen and Kerry McDonald talk with Betsy DeVos, a former United States Secretary of Education and the author of the book, Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child. She shares how she became one of the country’s foremost proponents of school choice, educational federalism, and bold changes to K-12 education.

Poll Finds Strong Majority of Massachusetts Residents Support Restoring U.S. History MCAS Graduation Requirement

Sixty-two percent of Massachusetts residents support restoring passage of a U.S. history test as a public high school graduation requirement, according to a poll of Massachusetts residents’ attitudes toward education policy commissioned by Pioneer Institute and conducted by the Emerson College Polling Center.

Georgia’s Alisha Thomas Searcy on School Choice, Teacher Unions, & Elections

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard talk with Alisha Thomas Searcy, the Democratic nominee for Georgia state school superintendent. She shares her experience as a former six-term state legislator and school leader; her recent bid for Georgia’s top education post; and her passion for K-12 education reform.

KaiPod Learning’s Amar Kumar on Homeschooling Pods & Blended Education

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard talk with Amar Kumar, founder and CEO of KaiPod Learning, a network of in-person education centers for online learners and homeschoolers, based in Massachusetts. They discuss how the pandemic dramatically changed parents’ sentiments about their traditional public schools, opening the door to wider private school choice options, including homeschooling, micro schools, and pods.

NACSA’s Dr. Karega Rausch on Charter Public School Authorizing

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Karega Rausch, President and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. Dr. Rausch shares some of his background, his interest in K-12 education reform and charter public schools, and lessons from Indiana and other states that inform his work.