A Decade of Boston School Reform:
Reflections and Aspirations
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The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy recently convened a major event entitled A Decade of Boston School Reform: Reflections and Aspirations, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Education leaders from Boston as well as from around the state and nation descended on the JFK Library and Museum to reflect on the Boston Public Schools’ progress over the past decade and the challenges the district faces in the future.
The Boston Public Schools has entered a period of transition, as Superintendent Thomas Payzant steps down after ten years leading the district. Superintendent Payzant has focused on consistent, district-wide reform initiatives with particular attention to improving instruction for all students. Over the course of his tenure, Payzant enjoyed adequate financial resources, decent union relationships and substantial involvement and support from outside partners. Additionally, the Boston Public School district, unlike other urban districts throughout the nation, has benefited from strong and steady support from its School Committee and mayor over the past ten years, further buttressing Payzant’s reform efforts. Payzant’s departure presents a strategic opportunity to examine the progress of reforms during his tenure and distill lessons to inform future improvement efforts in Boston and in other urban districts throughout the nation.
The purpose of our convening was to generate an evidence-based dialogue on existing reform efforts and the possibilities that lay ahead for the new superintendent. Last winter, we commissioned a team of leading researchers, all with a national reputation as well as ties to the Boston Public Schools, to write a series of papers on key reform strategies that marked Payzant’s tenure. Those papers were the centerpiece of the event.
The event commenced with a cocktail reception and dinner on the evening of June 19, 2006. Following dinner, Rennie Center research director, Celine Coggins, set the stage for the event by presenting an analysis of the changes that have occurred in the BPS over the past ten years in terms of demographics, educational services, student achievement, graduation rates and college matriculation. (See The Boston Public Schools 1995-2005: A Retrospective Analysis.) Next, Warren Simmons of the Annenberg Institute and Norm Fruchter of New York University presented an overview and critique of the BPS reform strategy based on their research for the report Strong Foundation, Evolving Challenges: A Case Study to Support Leadership Transition in the Boston Public Schools. The evening concluded with remarks from Superintendent Payzant and a panel discussion led by Rennie Center President, Paul Reville, which included each of the evening’s speakers.
Day two of the convening, June 20, was designed to take a deeper look at key reform strategies of the Payzant era. Education leaders, activists, education foundations, Boston Public School officials, higher education faculty and press were invited to engage in conversation about the research and to discuss the development of an agenda for the next era of reform in Boston. Research papers were presented in the following pairs.
Human Capital Development:
Building a Human Resource System in the Boston Public Schools
Susan Moore Johnson and Morgaen Donaldson, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Leadership Development at the Boston Public Schools
Karen Mapp and Jennifer Suesse, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Instructional Improvement:
Instructional Improvement in the BPS: 1996-2006
Barbara Neufeld, Education Matters
Using Data to Inform Decision-making in the Boston Public Schools: Progress and New Challenges
Richard Murnane, Liz City and Kristan Singleton, Harvard Graduate School of Education
High School Reform and Special Populations:
The Road to Reform: Building a System of Excellent and Equitable High Schools in Boston
Adria Steinberg, Jobs for the Future
Escaping from Old Ideas: Educating Students with Disabilities in the Boston Public Schools
Ellen Guiney, Boston Plan for Excellence
Each pair of paper presentations was followed by panel discussion in which community leaders commented on paper recommendations. Each segment of the program concluded with small group discussions that engaged all stakeholders present in discussions of the papers as well as issues that were not covered by the research.
For more information, please download the executive summary of the proceedings that highlights commentary from panel and small group discussions.
The Rennie Center is working with Harvard Education Publishing Group to produce an edited volume that includes revised versions of each of the papers presented at the convening as well as chapters on family and community involvement and governance in the Boston Public Schools. The book is scheduled for release in early 2007 and will include an afterward by Superintendent Payzant.
