Join the Downtown Progressives for a discussion on equity in Boston exam school admissions on Wednesday, June 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Nazzaro Center.
Boston’s exam schools have long been held out as the merit-based means of upward mobility for the children of Boston’s working-class families. However, these schools, the top-ranked ones in our city, enroll far fewer Black and Latino students than Boston’s other public schools.
While problems with racial equity are an issue with access to Boston’s exam schools, inequities in the admissions process go beyond race. For example, last year Boston Latin School, the top public high school in Massachusetts, enrolled over 40% of its entering class from private and parochial schools, and the population coming from BPS was concentrated among a handful of “high-performing” schools.
These high-performing public schools, like the Eliot School here in the North End, often raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to supplement the funding they receive from BPS. Many schools without this financial advantage do not send even a single student to Boston Latin School. Can we honestly say that the children of Boston have a level playing field?
But what would an equitable admissions system look like, and how can we ensure voices from across the spectrum of Boston’s various neighborhoods and communities are heard?
Join the discussion on Wednesday evening. Dinner will be provided. RSVP here.
