New report highlights challenges, progress for Cradle-to-Career pipeline for Boston schools
Report explores recent partnerships and encouraging improvement in kindergarten readiness
April 30, 2026
Boston – A new report from Opportunity Boston (formerly the Boston Opportunity Agenda) finds mixed results as education institutions work to recover from the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Opportunity Boston’s Cradle to Career Outcomes Report: Partnerships Driving Progress, examines how Boston Public Schools and Commonwealth Charter Schools students in Boston are faring across several areas, from Kindergarten Readiness (for BPS students) to early grade reading, middle grade math and several metrics related to high school graduation, career and life readiness and postsecondary success.
The report finds that while recovery is slow and uneven on many metrics post-pandemic, there has been important progress in the percentage of students coming into kindergarten ready to succeed. The percentage of students showing early literacy skills on the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) reading fluency assessment rose from 66.7 percent in School Year 2022–2023 to 74.4 percent in School Year 2024–2025, with Black and Latino students, especially Latino males, making substantial progress, helping narrow achievement gaps.
“While MAP Fluency is just one measure of Kindergarten readiness, the growth is a promising sign that partnerships such as Every Child Ready and the Birth-to-Eight Collaborative, coupled with the city’s investments in Pre-K and the Office of Early Childhood are paying real dividends for Boston’s youngest learners and their families,” said Ayesha Cammaerts, Executive Director of Opportunity Boston.
On kindergarten readiness and several other metrics across the college-to-career curriculum, the report tracks key data, highlights key partnerships and explores next steps that can continue or accelerate the progress of Boston students. Across multiple areas, from early education through high school and into post-secondary education, the report highlights partnerships and programs worth extending and deepening to accelerate success.
“When… resources are applied systematically, they produce measurable results: children enter school ready to learn, develop the skills and confidence to persist academically, and move toward meaningful career and life opportunities. Even students who fall behind are re-engaged, illustrating the results that coordinated efforts can achieve across the city,” the Opportunity Boston authors write in the report conclusion.
Throughout the report, the authors highlight place-based and other efforts that support and unlock opportunities for students, from early and middle-grade programs like Boston Reads and Wicked Math, to Boston Public Schools’ investment in My Career and Academic Plans (MyCAP), to efforts to expand Early College and other non-traditional pathways to connect students with pathways that can lead to career, life and post-secondary success.
However, the report also notes that in several measures of educational achievement, such as MCAS scores in Grade 3 reading and Grade 6 math, overall scores have recovered only slightly since the pandemic.
The report, being released online only at opportunityboston.org and bostonopportunityagenda.org, is the first publication to be released since Opportunity Boston rebranded itself, having been founded in 2010 as the Boston Opportunity Agenda.