Last Night At School Committee podcast

Available Episodes

5 of 7

Boston School Committee: 9·10·25 Meeting Recap
Last Night at School Committee – September 10, 2025 The Boston School Committee met last night for its first meeting of the school year. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, from the district's back-to-school updates to the ongoing discussion of the exam school admissions policy. Here’s a recap of what happened: Mayor Wu Makes a Surprise Appearance: Mayor Michelle Wu kicked off the meeting with a heartfelt welcome to the Boston school community. The Mayor touched upon some major areas of improvement for the district, including better transportation arrival times. The Mayor and Superintendent complimented each other for their partnership in overcoming enduring challenges across the system. Superintendent Mary Skipper began her report with a comprehensive overview of how the first days of school have been going. She highlighted some key areas and spoke to some important data points that illuminate both weaknesses and strengths throughout BPS Enrollment Numbers: As of the first week of school, enrollment was just over 48,000 students, with 2,400 new registrations since June. However, the district cautioned that enrollment numbers would fluctuate, especially as the district waits for students to report. Attendance: The first day attendance was 78.8%, a two-point increase from the previous year. By the end of the week, that number rose to 79.8%, showing steady improvement. Yet, this is still alarming as it means that 1/5 children are not showing up to their school. Transportation: The district touted its best-ever on-time performance for school buses. While the numbers are up, 3 out of 10 kids are still arriving late to school, which remains a significant issue, considering the $188 million spent on school transportation. For comparison, other districts like Newark, New Jersey, spend $105 million less for similar levels of service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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34:42
Understanding MassCore: The Opportunity Myth (Re-Release)
Note: This episode originally aired June 12, 2019. In the final installment of our series about MassCore, Jill Shah interviews Orin Gutlerner about the challenges of scaling rigorous and engaging curriculum and teaching practices. They dissect a report called “The Opportunity Myth,” which attempts to answer the question of whether K-12 schools are fulfilling the fundamental promise that if students put in the effort and succeed with their work, they will be prepared for higher education. The short answer: It's not even close. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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41:24
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41:24
Understanding MassCore: Why Adopt? (Re-Release)
Note: This episode originally aired May 29, 2019. In part 2 of Understanding MassCore, Jill talks with Paul Reville, a key architect and advocate for MassCore, about topics that are key to understanding the intentions and context for this policy, such as: The role of globalization and the standards movement in the crafting of the MassCore policy; How and why the state viewed it through a lens of educational equity; Why it was a recommended—rather than required—framework for a high school diploma; And, the challenges of its adoption, particularly in BPS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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1:05:12
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1:05:12
Understanding MassCore: Academic Standards in BPS (Re-Release)
Note: This episode originally aired May 15, 2019 In the spirit of enrichment and connectivity, we offer this three part series on the topic of MassCore. Part 1 looks at the context of graduation requirements in BPS High Schools. Stay tuned for parts two and three that will be released over the next two weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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26:29
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26:29
A Deeper Dive: Enrollment Declines and MassCore
In this bonus episode, Jill and Ross touch upon two main themes significantly impacting the district: enrollment decline and graduation standards. We discuss how enrollment has dropped over the past half-decade and dive into those numbers. Ross and Jill then use analysis and insight from some of our first episodes in 2019 to touch on the key components of MassCore and why they matter for Boston Public Schools. Enrollment Losses, A Startling Decline: Since the 2019–2020 school year, BPS has lost over 4,000 students, a 9.4% drop, making it one of the fastest shrinking large school districts in the country. Recent data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education suggests the trend may be even worse. At the same time, staffing in the district has grown by 12.7%, primarily driven by increases in non-teaching roles like administrators and paraprofessionals. This mismatch, fewer students, more staff, raises major questions about resource alignment and what the City and district are doing to stem the loss of students across BPS. A New Graduation Standard - MassCore in 2025 On the academic front, BPS is in a moment of transition following Massachusetts’ recent vote to remove MCAS as a graduation requirement. With local control now shaping graduation standards, BPS has chosen MassCore, a state-recommended framework aimed at aligning high school coursework with college readiness. Interestingly, this question links closely with a major study from the Boston Globe relating to how our district prepares our brightest students for the future. We are still awaiting data from this year about graduation rates and are keen to analyze how the similar standards for this past graduating class impacted rates. Adopted in 2021, MassCore includes requirements in math, English, history, foreign language, the arts, and more. However, implementation has been uneven: while MassCore completion rates have doubled in Boston, they still trail the state average by 30 percentage points. With no statewide graduation mandate in place, how BPS chooses to implement MassCore will significantly influence whether the district can deliver on its promise to offer our children a quality education. Looking Ahead! Over the course of the next three weeks, we will be dropping our “Deep Dives” series about MassCore on our feed. These re-releases will build upon our discussion in this episode and expand into some other areas well! The first school committee meeting of the 2025-2026 school year will be on September 10th at 6pm. We will be watching, listening, and recording! Until then, we hope you enjoy the final days of summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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