Education in Boston

Education reform takes on new meaning to me now that Calvin is nearing the age that we have to start thinking about his schooling.

I just glanced over this Boston Globe Article "Re-image, rather than patch, Boston Schools" and I am struck by the simplicity of the notion.  Parents in Boston have no clear idea of where their kids will end up in high school, let alone whether they'll be among the 54% to actually get into the BPS system for kindergarten.  You enter a lottery for each entry point into elementary, middle school, and high school.  But the trade-off for that application system is not usually an awesome education where teachers have a lot of curricular control or flexibility to work with their specific set of students.  The current set-up is bureaucratic and top-down.  When I was volunteering at a a middle school in Roxbury, I was amazed that the teacher had to use math handouts from the central office that was somehow supposed to be adequate for all learners. What???

You can imagine how bizarre that strikes me as a person who grew up in a rural setting who knew, from the time I was 6, what school I would go to when I was 18.  There was a sense of cohesion.  The high school hosted events for us.  We formed relationships with older students and had district wide arts festivals.  I went to the high school's basketball games when I was in 6th grade.  The school served as a focal point for community events.

Contrast that to the fragmented Boston system.  I like the idea that this former commissioner has, and I hope the new mayor-elect Marty Walsh takes heed.  Otherwise, we are left with the daunting process of applying to public school without any sense of continuity or community buy-in.  And that sounds like a bummer.