Last Night at School Committee: October 21st, 2020 Meeting Recap - School Performance Data
On October 21st, 2020, the Boston School Committee unanimously approved a change to the admissions policy for the three exam schools: Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. The policy, recommended to the Superintendent by a working group formed over the summer, scraps the use of an admissions test and distributes seats to eligible students through a combination of GPAs from the 2019-2020 fall and winter semesters and zip code. The School Committee voted for this one year policy, and the working group will continue to look at revising the exam school admissions policy for the following years.
The exam schools make up about 5785 students in the district, and about 11% of the whole district. The School Committee spent a lot of time discussing this change and heard from many parents praising the committee for ensuring equity for all students and others critiquing the new policy. It was made clear from many, including School Committee members and public commenters, that not every child has access to a high-quality education. While the committee spent hours discussing three schools, there are a large number of low performing schools that also need to be discussed and supported.
Here is a list of every school in Boston Public Schools that shows their enrollment, accountability percentile (how they perform in relation to the rest of schools in Massachusetts), percentage of how many students did NOT meet or exceed expectations on the MCAS, and where they rank in relation to schools in Massachusetts.
| School Name | Enrollment (as of 3/6/2020) | Accountability Percentile (1-99) | % NOT meeting or exceeding expectation on MCAS (ELA, MATH) | Meeting or exceeding expectations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston-Clarence R Edwards Middle | 370 | performing at the bottom 1% of all schools in the state | 87, 90 | 8 schools performing in the bottom 1-2% |
| Boston-James P Timilty Middle | 317 | performing at the bottom 1% of all schools in the state | 80, 85 | |
| Boston-Madison Park High | 918 | performing at the bottom 1% of all schools in the state | 92, 85 | |
| Boston-Washington Irving Middle | 244 | performing at the bottom 1% of all schools in the state | 89, 96 | |
| Boston-Brighton High | 489 | performing at the bottom 2% of all schools in the state | 86, 88 | |
| Boston-David A Ellis | 424 | performing at the bottom 2% of all schools in the state | 88, 86 | |
| Boston-Higginson/Lewis K-8 | 232 | performing at the bottom 2% of all schools in the state | 89, 96 | |
| Boston-Lilla G. Frederick Middle School | 484 | performing at the bottom 2% of all schools in the state | 91, 90 | |
| Boston-Dearborn | 521 | performing at the bottom 3% of all schools in the state | 85, 83 | 5 schools performing at the bottom 3% |
| Boston-John W McCormack | 328 | performing at the bottom 3% of all schools in the state | 87, 84 | |
| Boston-Sarah Greenwood | 405 | performing at the bottom 3% of all schools in the state | 83, 93 | |
| Boston-West Roxbury Academy- CLOSED | 24 | performing at the bottom 3% of all schools in the state | ||
| Boston-Young Achievers | 601 | performing at the bottom 3% of all schools in the state | 87, 83 | |
| Boston-Blackstone | 570 | performing at the bottom 4% of all schools in the state | 80, 81 | 3 schools performing at the bottom 4% |
| Boston-Community Academy of Science and Health | 375 | performing at the bottom 4% of all schools in the state | 93, 93 | |
| Boston-King K-8 | 549 | performing at the bottom 4% of all schools in the state | 78, 88 | |
| Boston-James J Chittick | 273 | performing at the bottom 5% of all schools in the state | 68, 76 | 3 schools performing at the bottom 5% |
| Boston-John D Philbrick | 148 | performing at the bottom 5% of all schools in the state | 68, 68 | |
| Boston-Lyon Upper 9-12 | 132 | performing at the bottom 5% of all schools in the state | 67, 93 | |
| Boston-Excel High School | 495 | 6 | 71, 67 | 2 schools performing at the bottom 6% |
| Boston-Mario Umana Academy | 931 | 6 | 76, 81 | |
| Boston-Edison K-8 | 603 | 7 | 76, 81 | 5 schools performing at the bottom 7% |
| Boston-Mission Hill School | 230 | 7 | 73, 81 | |
| Boston-Orchard Gardens | 909 | 7 | 81, 86 | |
| Boston-Roger Clap | 117 | 7 | 72, 79 | |
| Boston-Samuel W Mason | 241 | 7 | 64, 74 | |
| Boston-Charlestown High | 882 | 8 | 84, 72 | 5 schools performing at the bottom 8% |
| Boston-Condon K-8 | 828 | 8 | 70, 71 | |
| Boston-Curley K-8 School | 970 | 8 | 70, 71 | |
| Boston-Paul A Dever | 424 | 8 | 69, 60 | |
| Boston-The English High | 581 | 8 | 90, 90 | |
| Boston-TechBoston Academy | 917 | 9 | 64, 84 | 20 schools performing at the bottom 9-15% |
| Boston-James W Hennigan | 587 | 10 | 74, 82 | |
| Boston-Joseph Lee | 647 | 10 | 74, 85 | |
| Boston-Boston Community Leadership Academy | 484 | 11 | 79, 79 | |
| Boston-Donald Mckay | 813 | 11 | 75, 78 | |
| Boston-Snowden International School at Copley | 471 | 11 | 59, 74 | |
| Boston-Curtis Guild | 259 | 12 | 75, 74 | |
| Boston-Henry Grew | 242 | 12 | 57, 68 | |
| Boston-Jackson Mann | 535 | 12 | 71, 64 | |
| Boston-Maurice J Tobin | 428 | 12 | 73, 73 | |
| Boston-Mildred Avenue K-8 | 702 | 12 | 82, 81 | |
| Boston-O W Holmes | 302 | 12 | 69, 73 | |
| Boston-Charles H Taylor | 441 | 13 | 65, 76 | |
| Boston-Franklin D Roosevelt | 438 | 13 | 74, 71 | |
| Boston-William Ellery Channing | 207 | 13 | 62, 83 | |
| Boston-John Winthrop | 253 | 14 | 71, 82 | |
| Boston-Urban Science Academy | 37 | 14 | 77, 70 | |
| Boston-Dennis C Haley | 405 | 15 | 60, 69 | |
| Boston-John F Kennedy | 375 | 15 | 62, 63 | |
| Boston-Mather | 567 | 15 | 58, 64 | |
| Boston-Another Course To College | 245 | 16 | 74, 86 | Another 35 schools that perform between the bottom 16 and 48% of all school in the state |
| Boston-Gardner Pilot Academy | 389 | 16 | 75, 75 | |
| Boston-William Monroe Trotter | 421 | 16 | 69, 74 | |
| Boston-Joseph P Tynan | 234 | 17 | 74, 86 | |
| Boston-Margarita Muniz Academy | 310 | 17 | N/A | |
| Boston-Boston Arts Academy | 453 | 18 | 58, 64 | |
| Boston-East Boston High | 1128 | 18 | 70, 67 | |
| Boston-Charles Sumner | 529 | 19 | 56, 70 | |
| Boston-Phineas Bates | 242 | 19 | 72, 65 | |
| Boston-Michael J Perkins | 160 | 20 | 60, 63 | |
| Boston-Hugh Roe O'Donnell | 258 | 21 | 79, 80 | |
| Boston-Oliver Hazard Perry | 247 | 21 | 71, 68 | |
| Boston-Patrick J Kennedy | 263 | 21 | 70, 69 | |
| Boston-Quincy Upper School | 529 | 21 | 61, 72 | |
| Boston-Fenway High School | 385 | 22 | 75, 76 | |
| Boston-Mozart | 170 | 22 | 57, 51 | |
| Boston-Rafael Hernandez | 413 | 22 | 67, 81 | |
| Boston-Samuel Adams | 231 | 23 | 66, 65 | |
| Boston-George H Conley | 184 | 24 | 62, 75 | |
| Boston-William H Ohrenberger | 611 | 25 | 60, 59 | |
| Boston-Jeremiah E Burke High | 443 | 26 | 71, 53 | |
| Boston-Thomas J Kenny | 300 | 26 | 69, 62 | |
| Boston-Dr. William Henderson Upper | 702 | 27 | 70, 89 | |
| Boston-UP Academy Holland | 30 | 69, 69 | ||
| Boston-Boston Teachers Union School | 288 | 35 | 55, 48 | |
| Boston-Harvard-Kent | 377 | 35 | 50, 51 | |
| Boston-Lyon K-8 | 134 | 35 | 50, 57 | |
| Boston-James Otis | 390 | 37 | 62, 56 | |
| Boston-William E Russell | 391 | 38 | 60, 50 | |
| Boston-Richard J Murphy | 928 | 39 | 45, 51 | |
| Boston-Edward Everett | 235 | 40 | 59, 58 | |
| Boston-Lyndon | 659 | 40 | 45, 55 | |
| Boston-Ellis Mendell | 270 | 41 | 42, 53 | |
| Boston-Joseph J Hurley | 363 | 48 | 39, 49 | |
| Boston-Joyce Kilmer | 455 | 48 | 46, 47 | |
| Boston-Josiah Quincy | 793 | 53 | 51, 45 | 11 schools performing in the upper 50% |
| Boston-Nathan Hale | 159 | 59 | 32, 49 | |
| Boston-Winship Elementary | 239 | 59 | 48, 52 | |
| Boston-Joseph P Manning | 150 | 62 | 32, 47 | |
| Boston-New Mission High School | 440 | 62 | 31, 24 | |
| Boston-Warren-Prescott | 576 | 64 | 36, 44 | |
| Boston-Manassah E Bradley | 274 | 66 | 31, 38 | |
| Boston-Eliot Elementary | 731 | 78 | 28, 27 | |
| Boston-Boston Latin Academy | 1762 | 84 | 13, 7 | |
| Boston-O'Bryant School Math/Science | 1571 | 87 | 21, 11 | |
| Boston-Boston Latin | 2452 | 94 | 3, 1 |
It is clear that there are a lot of schools that are struggling to provide students with an equitable and high quality education and are some of the worst performing schools in the state. If the goal is to provide opportunity and equity for all, there needs to be a focus on ensuring every child has access to high quality education.
