Letters to the Editor

Learn from strides of pilot schools

November 21, 2007

TWO LETTERS on Nov. 17 questioned a Center for Collaborative Education report finding significant gains for pilot high school students ("Pilot schools' gains stir queries"). If the writers read the report, they would have found that their concerns about comparing pilot and other Boston Public Schools students were addressed.

Pilot high school students in a range of demographic subgroups - race, income, and with risk factors such as low attendance - outperformed their regular high school peers. For example, entering pilot freshmen who had received a warning on the eighth-grade MCAS outpaced BPS peers by 20 percentage points in pass rates on the 10th-grade MCAS.

The report also found that pilot high schools that take applications have similar demographics to pilot schools that take students by lottery, disproving claims that applications skew enrollment. Rather, families across race and income seek high-performing high schools, regardless of admissions processes.

Some look to critique any schools in which black, Latino, and low-income students are successful. The report demonstrates that these students can be and are. The district should find more ways for pilot and other BPS schools to share effective practices. I invite disbelievers to visit any pilot high school to see what can occur when schools are vision-driven and control their resources.

DAN FRENCH
Executive director
Center for Collaborative Education
Boston