Boston Public Schools make graduation rate gains

Staff members at the Freedom House are readying 30 computer workstations for Boston Public School students struggling to earn the credits necessary to graduate.

Students visiting the Grove Hall nonprofit will be able to tap into a new BPS online learning system that will allow them to complete their coursework outside of school hours.

The workstations are part of a multi-pronged effort Freedom House has undertaken to help students at risk of dropping out of high school. Across the city, organizations like Freedom House have formed a support network BPS has tapped into as part of a years-long effort to reduce its dropout rate.

Freedom House has been working with students at risk of not graduating since 2007 as part of the Multicultural Dropout Outreach Collaborative, a group that includes the Boston Branch of the NAACP, the Young Cape Verdean Club, Oiste? and the office of City Councilor Charles Yancey.

Alternative paths

The coalition works with students who have stopped attending school, and students the BPS terms “in-school drop outs,” those whose attendance or grades has them on track to miss graduation.

“People see them as the black sheep in their schools,” said Charmaine Arthur, who heads the coalition. “They think of themselves as failures. We see them begin to believe in themselves again, and they know that other people believe in them.”

BPS has relied on networks of alternative education programs and improved data-sharing to raise its four-year graduation rate to 66.7 percent — the highest recorded rate in the department’s history. In 2006, before the department began its efforts to raise the graduation rate, it was just over 59 percent.

Black students have made some of the greatest gains in that time period, with a 65 percent four-year graduation rate, up from 55 percent in 2006. Latino students saw their rates increase from 50 percent to 59 percent, and English Language Learners saw an increase from 54 percent to 61 percent.

“This good news is a testament to the hard work of our students, teachers, school and community leaders,” said Mayor Martin Walsh in a press statement. “I am proud of our accomplishments, but I know the work is far from done. We must continue to invest in and strengthen our schools so that every young person has the opportunity to succeed.”

Real-time data

While the four-year graduation rate has risen over the last nine years, the annual dropout rate has dipped to 3.8 percent.

Marsha Inniss, who heads the School Department’s efforts to increase the college graduation rates of BPS grads, credits improved data sharing practices for the educational gains its students are making.

“We have access to real-time data,” she said. “We’re able to do corrections earlier based on the data we’re receiving.”

Test scores, grades and attendance are among the most telling data sets the department is relying on to track students who are at risk of not graduating high school within four years. When a student’s grades, test scores or record of absences indicate that the student is falling behind, the department is able to provide the student with options, including alternative high schools or education programs that better fit the student’s learning style.

A guidance counselor can also refer students to nonprofits such as Freedom House that provide one-on-one tutoring and other forms of support to help them complete coursework they’ve either failed or have not yet taken.

“It might be an algebra 1 course, English or an elective,” said Jan Manfredi, director of Online and Blended Learning at the Boston Public Schools.

Different students, different struggles

The city’s 30 public high schools have different requirements for graduation. And the students have different reasons why they are short on the credits needed to graduate. Some are teen mothers. Some have had run-ins with the criminal justice system. Arthur estimates that as many of 60 percent of the students she works with at Freedom House are holding down part-time jobs to help support their families. The coalition helps those students by placing them in paying internships.

Manfredi says she’s impressed with the students’ focus, once they enter the credit recovery programs.

“They see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “It’s amazing to see the work they put in. They can be on the system 24 hours a day. I get calls sometimes at 10:30 at night.”

Freedom House is currently working with 35 students during the school year. It’s a small slice of the student population, but replicated across the city, programs like those run by the Multicultural Dropout Outreach Collaborative have helped increase graduation rates, working with as many as 3,700 students a year across the city.

For Arthur, the best part is seeing the students she’s worked with graduate.

“It’s rewarding to see them when they go to their graduation and get their degree,” she said.