Why are Boston Public Schools so bad?

[sharencare]

If you are a parent seriously considering raising kids in the city, do yourself a favor and join one of the many parents groups and mailing lists in the Boston area. The information shared by parents and full time teachers actually in the Boston Public School systems can be useful--those posts are often very detailed, practical, and based on personal experiences. The discussion topics will be more about the communication of teachers, the leadership of principals, inclusion classrooms, and the energy of school communities. You'll hear questions like: Will my kids be challenged in classroom if they aren't in the accelerated track? How many hours of homework should we expect? Do the teachers take the effort to know my kid? What are the after school programs and childcare options? Of course, you'll hear some frustration about the BPS lottery but there's also a lot of good stories from parents who learned to love their school that was originally not listed as a top choice. These discussions are also not focused so much on race and class, but if you really feel the need to ask, go ahead--you'll probably get a lot of civil and thoughtful feedback about diversity, test scores, etc.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by missionhill

I don't remember even knowing the F word when I was 10 but it's different these days; kids are a lot less sheltered. Anyway, on the subject of BPS, I was surprised to learn that the white student percentage, 13%, is very similar to that of NYC, that hotbed of hipsterdom and white privilege. The NYC public schools are only 14% white. The city is sufficiently segregated that many schools in the 'nicer' neighborhoods of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and other boroughs are predominantly white and highly regarded. People here talk about BPS as if busing killed the system and all the schools are rotten. NYC never had compulsory busing (the Board of Ed there was never found guilty of de jure segregation practices) and yet the % of white kids is scarcely more than in Boston.

Conclusion? The attrition of white families from public education in large cities is not peculiar to Boston. And the ever popular busing narrative you hear among whites hereabouts doesn't explain as much as people think about the state of the school system today. Anyone's children, whatever their ethnic and cultural background, can get a good education in the Boston or New York or (you name it) schools--if you find the right school.

The thing is the white percentage in Boston is 45% compared to new york 33% so its more drastic and compound this with the fact that charter schools are probably only 5-10% white in Boston... Real white percentage in BPS is more likely 10% when Charter schools are included and that is a remarkably low percentage.

[stanley-88888888]

the morning show of big city 101.3 fm is having a discussion about boston public school compared to the metco program:
Big City FM 101.3 FM Radio Online

edit: of course when i post they seem to be over with that discussion.