Jobs for the Future (JFF) today announced a $13.6
million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to
support a citywide effort to develop small, dynamic high schools
in the Boston Public Schools (BPS). The grant will expand the
city's pioneering efforts to prepare all students for college-level
work by creating high schools where students receive a rigorous,
personalized education in a supportive atmosphere. In four years,
30 percent of all Boston high school students will be enrolled
in such high schools.
Building on a 2000 grant of $8.25 million from the Carnegie Corporation
of New York, this investment will create new small schools and
further develop existing schools, serving a total of 10,000 students.
JFF and the Boston Public Schools will collaborate with the Boston
Plan for Excellence, the Boston Private Industry Council, and
the Center for Collaborative Education to create the schools.
Home to some of the world's finest academic institutions and
the nation's first public school district, Boston is considered
a pioneer in public education. In recent years, BPS Superintendent
Thomas W. Payzant, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and the Boston
School Committee have teamed up to improve student achievement.
Boston's ongoing comprehensive reform plan includes transformation
of the district's high schools into smaller learning communities
and an intensive literacy effort.
"This grant will build on the work we have done over the last
decade of guaranteeing that all students have access to a solid
education, no matter their race, their income level or their neighborhood,"
said BPS Superintendent Thomas Payzant.
Boston Public Schools enrolls 62,400 students each year, including
18,300 students in grades 9-12. Seventy-one percent of BPS students
qualify for free and reduced school lunch programs. Yet despite
that high poverty rate, the district has a high school graduation
rate of 82 percent Ð the fourth highest of the 50 largest districts
in the country, according to the Manhattan Institute. In addition,
67.4 percent of the district's 1999 graduates went on to college,
more than ever before, according to the district. BPS has shown
steady improvement in test scores over the last five years.
"We want our efforts to serve as a catalyst for the nation, to
show the rest of the country that better high schools are within
reach," said Menino. "It takes hard work, strong partnerships
between the public and private sectors, and widespread community
commitment to change." Still, BPS faces serious challenges. Despite
recent improvement, about one in five students still fail to pass
the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in time
to graduate.
"High standards are important if we want our young people to
succeed in life," said Hilary Pennington, CEO of Jobs for the
Future. "Smaller, more personalized learning environments will
help ensure that all students get the attention and rigorous courses
they need to meet those standards."
Students, particularly those who are already struggling, can
easily get lost in large, impersonal high schools where teachers
see more than 150 students a day. Recent studies have found that
students in small schools in Chicago and New York graduated at
a higher rate than their counterparts in large schools.
This grant recognizes the success of Boston's commitment to ensuring
all of its young people have access to high-quality schools. To
this end, BPS has developed an array of small schools, including
six BPS pilot high schools, which are free to determine their
own curricula, budgeting, schedules, and governance structures,
and can make decisions about staffing. For example, students from
all over the city apply to the 400-student Boston Arts Academy
high school, which sent 88 percent of its first graduating class
to college in 2001.
This year, BPS has begun creating small, autonomous schools within
the walls of large district high schools. Boston's approach includes
reprogramming existing facilities to become small schools; creating
and "incubating" new small schools in available facilities; further
developing existing small schools; and transforming several existing
programs into schools.
"Boston is proving that big-city school districts don't have
to accept low graduation rates and poor student achievement,"
said Ray McNulty, program director for the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. "Boston is leading the way in giving all students
the opportunity to receive a high-quality, rigorous education."
The grant builds on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's nationwide
effort to improve graduation and college-going rates, particularly
among African Americans and Hispanics. In all, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation has invested $475 million to create 1,200 small
high schools around the country to help communities provide educational
options tailored to individual student needs.
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Jobs for the Future believes
that all young people should have a quality high school and postsecondary
education, and that all adults should have the skills needed to
hold jobs that pay enough to support a family. As a non-profit
research, consulting and advocacy organization, JFF works to strengthen
our society by creating educational and economic opportunity for
those who need it most.
www.jff.org
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is building upon the unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century
to improve equity in global health and learning. Led by Bill Gates'
father, William H. Gates Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based
foundation has an endowment of approximately $24 billion. www.gatesfoundation.org
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