BOSTON - Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - This evening Mayor Michelle Wu delivered the first ever State of the Schools address to showcase the Boston Public School’s progress under the leadership of Superintendent Mary Skipper. Mayor Wu made a call to action for every sector of the city to invest in Boston’s success by stepping up for our families and our future. Mayor Wu’s goal is to connect every resource in the city to create opportunity, support, and accountability for every student to thrive.
Under Superintendent Skipper’s leadership, BPS has made substantial progress for our students. This includes implementing the inclusive education plan, expanding Boston Pre-K, driving down chronic absenteeism across every grade level and student group, launching 16 new bilingual education programs, expanding early college and career pathways, and carrying out the long term facilities plan.
During the speech, Mayor Wu announced a citywide goal to provide quality, enriching before- and after-school programming at every BPS school. The district is starting with new afterschool programs at each of the 20 community hub schools, in partnership with the BTU, YMCA, United Way, and the Lubin Family Foundation. Ensuring every school has before and after programming is critical for working parents to guarantee there is no gap in care between the end of the student’s school day and the end of the parent's work day. Currently, 83% of schools offer before or after school programs.
Additionally, building on an announcement from the 2025 State of the City Address, Mayor Wu tonight announced the launch of Wicked Math, a new partnership with EdVestors, The Young People’s Project, and The Calculus Project to start advanced math clubs, strengthen math pathways, and train juniors and seniors to tutor middle school students. Wicked Math aims to address the shortage of opportunities for Boston Public School students who enjoy math or have demonstrated a high aptitude for it by providing opportunities for them to engage with math inside and outside of the classroom. These programs launched this school year.
Wicked Math is currently offered across 20 schools in three ways: - Math Clubs led by teachers provides students with the opportunity to participate in math league and math olympiad competitions while refining their math skills.
- Young People’s Project (YPP) builds a culture of math and mentoring throughout a school community by hiring juniors and seniors to tutor 7th & 8th graders.
- The Calculus Project uses research-supported strategies to increase the representation and success of minority and low-income students in advanced mathematics.
Telescope Network will work with The Young People Project, and The Calculus Project to provide a professional development learning lab for teachers to support expansion of this programming.
Lastly, Mayor Wu announced the expansion of Great Starts, allowing parents and families to register online for Boston Public Schools in 10 languages for the first time ever. With Great Starts, families no longer need to visit a BPS Welcome Center. Great Starts is a citywide enrollment platform co-created by the Office of Early Childhood and Boston Public Schools in partnership with a number of state agencies and community-based partners. This platform offers families a streamlined, simplified dashboard of their school options in the City of Boston, including childcare, preschool, and Boston Public Schools. Through Great Starts, families can explore programs based on what matters most to their family: the size of the program/school, location, hours that match your work schedule, and the activities that will help your child thrive.
Mayor Wu’s first ever State of the Schools address showcased progress made by the district, while emphasizing there is more work to be done. In a moment when public education is being undermined by the federal administration, Mayor Wu is focused on making the oldest public school district in the country the first choice for families in Boston.
The remarks as prepared can be found here.
###
Fact sheet
The district is making progress under the leadership of Superintendent Mary Skipper. - Every spring, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) publishes an accountability percentile for every district in the Commonwealth. The percentile takes into account both MCAS performance and growth. Districts in the bottom 10% may be designated as chronically underperforming and placed into receivership.
- From 2015-2023, Boston ranged from the 5th to 8th percentile. (Aspects of the accountability system were suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.) In 2024, Boston jumped to the 20th percentile.
- In its District Analysis and Review Tools (DART), DESE compares Boston to 10 comparable districts based on grades span, total enrollment, and special populations. Boston’s accountability percentile is higher than all 10 of its peers.
Getting the operational details right so students can thrive in classrooms. Transportation - More buses arrived on time in September and October of this year than ever before, with yesterday morning, October 27, day 37 of the school year, having the best on time performance (OTP) of the year at 96%.
- Last year, BPS Transportation did not see 96% OTP until day 58.
- By the end of 2025, BPS Transportation’s school bus fleet will include 94 electric school buses.
Food - Since 2022, BPS has overhauled its meals program, and is now serving fresh meals cooked on-site in 107 school buildings. Today, 96% of meals are being made freshly in house by BPS kitchen staff.
- Previously, many schools –– because they lacked the kitchen facilities and/or the food service staff – served vended meals, preventing students from accessing the culturally diverse menus designed by BPS staff, in partnership with students and families.
- More than 15% of school meal ingredients are locally sourced, and BPS is on track to meet its goal of 30%.
- Sixteen school buildings do not have either the kitchen facilities or enough student demand to cook meals from scratch on-site, but through targeted renovations of the BPS Central Kitchen facility in Dorchester, Food and Nutrition Services will soon begin cooking and packaging meals in-house and delivering to these locations.
- The Central Kitchen is expected to re-launch its food preparation operations by the end of 2025, gradually scaling up to produce 1,000 meals per day. Centralizing food production will also bring about substantial cost savings.
Air conditioning - In 2021, only 32% of BPS schools had working air conditioning, primarily in newer buildings with central HVAC systems. Now, 92% of BPS schools have air conditioning, as the District continues to work on the remaining, with several schools currently in design for HVAC systems.
Historic investments in school facilities In the last four years, Mayor Wu and Superintendent Skipper launched more major school building projects than Boston has had in the previous 40 years, combined.
Launched prior to 2021, but completed during Mayor Wu’s administration: - Boston Arts Academy (2022)
- Josiah Quincy Upper School (2024)
- Carter School (2025)
Launched under Mayor Wu’s administration: - Horace Mann School (2024)
- PJ Kennedy Elementary School (2025)
- Sarah Roberts Elementary (2025)
- Shaw-Taylor Elementary School (invited into MSBA Core program in 2023)
- Ruth Batson Academy (invited into MSBA Core program in 2024)
- Boston Adult Technical Academy–East (2025)
- Navigating Employment and Transition (NExT) program (2025)
- White Stadium
- Madison Park Technical Vocational High School (begun design, submitted to MSBA Core program in 2025)
- Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers (renovations to temporary home completed in 2025; active RFP process underway for new permanent site)
- Former South Boston High School building (decarbonization and renovation work currently being scoped by PFD through the Renew Boston Trust program; won grant from MassCEC in 2025)
- Frederick (renovation to convert to preK-6; estimated completion in 2026)
In addition, BPS has also ramped up its investment in state-of-good-repair projects, including through a strengthened partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) through its Accelerated Repair Program (ARP):
- Dr. Albert D. Holland High School of Technology - boiler
- English High School - windows/doors
- Henderson Upper School - roof
- Haley Elementary School - boiler
- Kenny Elementary School - roof
- O’Donnell Elementary School - roof
- Adams Elementary School - windows/doors
- Murphy K-8 School - windows/doors
- Chittick Elementary School - windows/doors
- Gardner Pilot Academy - windows/doors
- Everett Elementary School - windows/doors
- Lyndon K-8 School - windows/doors
Partnerships that educate our students beyond the classroom - Boston Family Days has grown to include 23 of Boston’s world-class cultural institutions. To date, 14 museums have welcomed over 65,000 students and families.
- This fall, the City launched the inaugural season of Boston Family Day performances at the American Repertory Theater, ArtsEmerson, Berklee, Boch Center, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Huntington Theatre, and Wheelock Family Theatre. Thank you to Amazon, Barr Foundation, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Jim and Cathy Stone, and Michelle and Bob Atchinson for their support.
- This year, more than 10,500 young people worked paid summer jobs, which is the most in the City’s history. Additionally, the City has launched a youth jobs program to run during the school year. Thank you to Mass General Brigham, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, State Street Corporation, Boston Children’s Hospital, John Hancock, Bank of America, and Liberty Mutual Insurance and all our employer partners for helping us achieve this historic milestone.
- The City has expanded Boston Pre-K to serve more than 5,000 families, and added programming for our littlest learners, such as music lessons from the New England Conservatory. Over the last four years, City programs and partnerships helped almost 9,000 kids learn to ride bikes, taught nearly 12,000 more how to swim, and expanded youth sports access across every neighborhood.
- This year, in partnership with Boston After School and Beyond, the City set a new record of more than 18,000 students taking part in the 5th Quarter summer learning program.
- Starting this fall, the WPS Institute is partnering with BPS to help reimagine 7th and 8th grade as an engaging launchpad into secondary school. Charlestown High Schools’s Dream Academy is piloting a model that focuses on creating a strong foundation experience for students in 7-12 schools where every student feels engaged, connected and prepared for college, career and life readiness.
- Last year, colleges and universities funded $72 million in scholarships for Boston students. Thank you to Boston University, Northeastern University, Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wentworth University, Boston College, Fisher College, Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, Emmanuel College, Simmons University, Suffolk University, New England Conservatory, Harvard University, and Tufts University.
Setting strong expectations for our students when it comes to learning. - Since the implementation of the BPS Equitable Literacy strategy, every student is expected to do what educators call “heavy lifting.” This includes students reading aloud and writing down reflections on the content they’re learning; solving math problems together and discussing the material with each other.
- The shift to hands-on, active learning with high-quality instructional materials is guided by measurement, alignment, and accountability. Teachers and school leaders meet regularly to review effective teaching strategies, and district leaders and coaches conduct classroom observations to give teachers feedback.
- In 2022, just 179 BPS high schoolers took college courses. Last year, the City more than quadrupled that number to 790 students. This year, more than 1,000 students are taking college courses at schools including Roxbury Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, Franklin Cummings Tech, and UMass Boston.
- Nearly all (26 out of 32) high schools offer either AP or IB courses. The six schools that do not are either specialized schools or alternative education high schools. The District has recently significantly expanded AP course offerings, including by piloting AP Seminar at 5 secondary schools and AP African American Studies at 15 secondary schools as part of a College Board pilot. BPS has also created new professional development for AP teachers focused on AP curriculum and instruction for multilingual learners to ensure learners with varying levels of English proficiency are encouraged and able to access AP courses.
- Finally, BPS also redesigned course sequences, including embedding Pre-AP frameworks in core courses and expanding courses such as AP Seminar, AP Pre-Calculus, and AP Computer Science Principles. These courses are designed to support students in learning the skills necessary to be successful in AP and college classes.
- In 2025, BPS students took nearly 7,500 AP exams, more than two thirds of which received a score of three or higher. That’s a nine-percentage point jump in just one year, and the best performance on AP exams in our city’s history. For example, today, every ninth grader at the Dearborn STEM Academy takes AP Biology.
Student involvement in State of the Schools - Several Josiah Quincy Upper School (JQUS) students are participating in the event. This includes the six JQUS students who are delivering the Pledge of Allegiance as part of the program: Joseph Kasongo, 12th; Lucas Brent Huyghebaert, 11th; Ethan Jordan Funches, 7th; Maliyah Aylani Roberts, 7th; Cameron Gabriel Williams, 7th; and Elliot Grace Lee, 6th. Additionally, representing the student body, 12th grader Omar Ramadan is the student speaker introducing Chair of the Boston School Committee Jeri Robinson. There are also four JQUS students serving as ushers, helping guests to find a seat.
- In addition to JQUS, other schools are a part of the production for the event. Students in Madison Park Technical Vocational High School’s Graphic Communications program printed the programs and students in the Culinary Arts program baked the chocolate chip cookies that will be served at the end of the program.
- Student journalists from Brighton High School, John D. O’Bryant High School, Charlestown High School, and Boston Latin School are in the media section covering the event tonight.
|
沒有留言:
發佈留言