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March 18, 2004
A strategy for proficiency
The Boston public School Department plans to change
the student assignment policy. It is expected that a new plan
can substantially cut the funds spent on busing. However, because
of the political sensitivity of the issue a series of public meetings
have been held for comment from parents and community leaders.
Some of the opposition to change comes from the African American
community which is understandably suspicious of the intentions
of the school administration. Decades ago, when the black population
was significantly smaller, racial conflict arose first over the
refusal of white schools to admit black students. Everyone went
to neighborhood schools, but the problem developed when the number
of seats in the predominantly black neighborhoods was inadequate.
That conflict finally led to court ordered busing to achieve racial
integration in the schools. However, everyone now recognizes that
racial integration is a dead issue since fewer than 10 percent
of the elementary and middle school students are white. Racial
integration has become mathematically impossible.
A major concern now is that school department proposals sound
like a reinstitution of the neighborhood schools concept. While
this idea still cannot work in Roxbury because of an inadequate
number of schools, there are open seats in Brighton, West Roxbury
and other sections of the city. Nonetheless, it is an approach
to school assignment that ought to be considered. Neighborhood
schools have a much greater chance of encouraging the involvement
of parents.
The primary focus of opposition that has any merit is that an
increase in the number of zones from the present three will limit
choice. Under the existing assignment policy, a number of seats
in a school are made available to local residents. Parents who
live in that zone may also choose to send their children there
for the remaining seats. These choices are made on the assumption
that the chosen school offers superior academic quality.
In an ideal school system there would be little difference in
the academic quality of schools. When a school is deficient there
is a belief that it will take a long time to correct the problem.
However, the extraordinary success of Roxbury Preparatory Charter
School has shown that it is possible to achieve great results
in a short time.
Sixth grade students at Roxbury Prep had the highest percentage
of students scoring proficient or advanced (76 percent) of any
Boston public school in the math MCAS test. Yet 27 percent of
those who also took the math exam in the 4th grade failed then;
but none failed in the 6th grade. And what is even more significant,
81 percent of those who took the test in the 4th grade scored
proficient or advanced in the 6th grade.
Roxbury Prep outscored students in Concord, Weston and Newton.
There can be no dispute about Roxbury Prep’s quality. And
they were able to achieve this result in only two years. Boston
public schools can achieve comparable results in a short time.
All that is needed is commitment, the necessary funds, a dynamic
pedagogical philosophy such as Efficacy, and an involved community.
The Boston schools are under enormous financial pressure. It would
be wise for community leaders to support an assignment plan that
would save money from the busing budget, provided that there is
a commitment to use the savings to improve the quality of schools
in the black and Latino communities.
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