View video clips from the Understanding Boston Forum
The Education Revolution: Fulfilling the Promises of Reform.

Strengthening the education pipeline—beginning with universal, high quality pre-kindergarten and extending through higher education—is crucial to Greater Boston’s—and the entire region’s—competitiveness in the global economy. 

Through its research and civic leadership, the Boston Foundation supports efforts to make high quality early education available to all children in Massachusetts.  It is also dedicated to improving education for children in the Boston Public Schools through systemic reforms.  And, as an early and consistent supporter of the Pilot School movement and of charter schools, the Foundation encourages school choice and innovation in education.

With the knowledge that Boston’s young people spend only 20 percent of their time in school, the Foundation also works in partnership with other organizations to strengthen and improve Out-of-School Time activities for Greater Boston’s young people.

Education Spotlight:

Out of the Debate and Into the Schools In January 2009, the Boston Foundation, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, published Informing the Debate, which suggested middle and high school students attending charter schools significantly outperform their counterparts attending traditional schools.  This new study uses the findings from Informing the Debate as a launching point to delve deeper into the issues that may explain differences in student outcomes – thus moving us out of the debate and into the schools. Learn more »

Indicators-related research: October 07, 2009 Connect to the Boston Indicators Project's Education sector for data, trends, research and resources October 07, 2009 Condition of Education 2009 October 05, 2009 Closing the Achievement Gaps: An Annual Massachusetts Report on Performance-Based High School Interventions and Turnarounds		Selected grants: June 10, 2010 Mass2020 June 10, 2010 College Bound Dorchester March 30, 2010 ACCESS
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Recent Education Reports:

Who’s Making It: The Academic Achievement of Recent Boston Public School Graduates in the Early College Years This report takes an in-depth look at the academic experiences of recent Boston Public School graduates during their first two years of college.  It finds that students with more rigorous high school preparation had much higher rates of persistence, progress and performance.  It also reveals that, not surprisingly, those who attended college continuously, without taking a break do best—and that the efforts colleges make to help students do count.   Recommendations for colleges, high school and local leaders are included. Read Report

The Arts Advantage: Expanding Arts Education in the Boston Public Schools This report contains new research about the state of arts education in Boston.  It provides a detailed picture of current offerings in the schools as well as a set of recommendations advanced by School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson. Read Report

Informing the Debate: Comparing Boston’s Charter, Pilot and Traditional Schools On January 6, 2009, the Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released a groundbreaking report by a team of Harvard and MIT  researchers at an Understanding Boston forum that, for the first time, effectively compares student performance at charter and pilot schools against a similar group of students attending traditional public schools in Boston. The report uses an innovative research design based on school lotteries that made possible a direct comparison of charter and pilot school students with their peers, for the first time. Read Report

Boston’s Education Pipeline: A Report Card This report for the first time examines in data-rich detail the entire arc of the educational experience in the city from early childhood through college or post-secondary training and on to the regional workforce. In addition to an unprecedented array of information provided for every school in the district system, the report presents a wealth of contextual information about factors that can inform the ability of Boston school children to make full and best use of what has been described as the best large urban school system in the country. Read Report

Getting to the Finish Line: College Enrollment and Graduation This report provides a detailed outline of the story of the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Class of 2000 as seen through the lens of college enrollment, graduation and continuing enrollment. This is a study of student experiences and tells us how many students from the BPS Class of 2000 enrolled in two and four year colleges over the seven years following high school graduation. Read Report

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Education Forums:

Boston’s Education Pipeline: A Report Card December 11, 2008 Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation, opened a major forum on December 11th attended by hundreds of educators, civic leaders, teachers and parents. The occasion was the release of the much-anticipated Boston’s Education Pipeline: A Report Card, the first comprehensive view of the entire arc of Boston’s system of educational opportunities and outcomes from early childhood development to PreK-12 schooling through college or post-secondary training and into the workforce.

A Conversation with Dr. Carol R. Johnson March 20, 2008 Dr. Carol R. Johnson, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools, engaged in a wide-ranging dialogue with the award-winning broadcast journalist David Boeri at a special spring forum sponsored by the Boston Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Roadmap to Opportunity: Massachusetts Community Colleges February 27, 2007 A report released by the Boston Foundation at an Understanding Boston forum in late February highlights the central role that strong community colleges can play in building a successful workforce development strategy for the global economy. It also details areas in which community colleges in Massachusetts— with a particular focus on Greater Boston—lag behind national standards in terms of student performance and state support, and identifies ways to strengthen these important institutions.

Progress and Promise: How Pilot Schools Stack Up January 18, 2006 Principals, teachers, parents, administrators, funders, civic leaders. It was standing room only at the Boston Foundation on the morning of January 18th for an Understanding Boston forum focused on the first report to measure the performance of Boston’s Pilot Schools. Unique to Boston, Pilot Schools are generally small schools that set their own course in everything from curriculum and budget to schedule and staffing. The Boston Foundation has been a major supporter of Pilot Schools by providing the early funding needed to start new schools and help district schools to explore the innovative Pilot model.

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