C for Menino on Boston Schools

The Globe Editorial Board looks at the progress, and lack of progress, being made in the Boston Public Schools, concluding that:

"Menino can point to a steady increase on statewide assessment tests since 1998. His critics can point to a system that falls short on helping students reach the next stage of proficiency. He can point to progress on the dropout rate. They can point to flat graduation rates and racial achievement gaps. On and on. Perhaps he deserves a gentleman’s C for his handling of the schools. But the larger point is that he shouldn’t be a gentleman if given another four years in office."

Improvement marks schools, but no ‘Pathway to Excellence’ - The Boston Globe

On a more personal note, my family is very much looking forward to the start of school later this week when our son will be in first grade and our daughter in K1 at the BPS Gardner Pilot Academy. The Gardner may be one of the three-quarters of the city’s 135 schools classified as "in need of improvement" but for us this is a case where an overall statistic for the school bears no relation to our individual experience.