Exam-Mandatory Schools Underscore Inequities in The Boston Public School System

In the 2015-16 academic year (AY), Boston Public Schools (BPS) reported the following average Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores: 13th percentile in critical reading, 14th percentile in writing, and 17th percentile in mathematics. The composite average is at the 14th percentile mark. These are the averages at the school level once the three exam-mandatory schools (exam schools) are removed from the population. The three exam schools are Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, and the O’Bryant School of Math and Science. These schools were removed because they significantly distort the statistics reported by BPS. The exam schools in Boston admit students based on their current Grade Point Average (GPA) and BPS standardized exam scores. The institution of these potentially prohibitive barriers could be part of the reason why exam schools have disproportionately excluded historically marginalized students (i.e. Black and Hispanic students). 

Exam requirements such as those implemented by BPS tend to benefit students from higher-income families, which could exacerbate existing inequities. Furthermore, once students are admitted, they are likely to be better supported than their peers attending non-exam schools. Figures were unavailable for other BPS schools, but Boston Latin School reported net assets over $59 million in 2017. In a school district where Hispanic and Black students constitute over three-quarters (77%) of all BPS students, the majority of students attending the three exam schools are White and Asian. It’s important to note though, that Asian BPS families face their own unique challenges, social stigma and discrimination. However, Black and Hispanic students constitute just under 41% of the student body at Boston’s exam schools. In order for Boston’s exam schools to proportionally reflect their Black and Hispanic student body, enrollment from these two groups in the three exam schools would need to increase by 36 percentage points. The large underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic students in Boston’s exam schools raises serious questions regarding fairness and racial equity. 

BPS and Massachusetts public schools are among the best district and state performers in the country. Between 2003 and 2013, BPS fourth and eighth-graders outperformed almost all of their urban-city peers. Looking beyond their national excellence, the score disparities for students within BPS raise concerns about whether all students are receiving adequate support. Large score and participation gaps still exist between the BPS exam and non-exam schools regarding the SAT¹. Only 42% of BPS students took the SAT in the 2015-16 AY, whereas the exam schools reported at least 97% of their students having taken the SAT in recent years. The average SAT composite score of non-exam BPS schools in the 2015-16 AY was in the 14th percentile—57 percentile ranks below the exam schools. Despite SAT scores being a flawed measurement of teacher quality, achievement and college preparedness, only one of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) system schools (University of Massachusetts-Lowell) was standardized-test-optional in 2016. This could indicate that BPS students’ low SAT scores and SAT participation were a prohibitive barrier to postsecondary educational attainment.

At the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, the school with the lowest quartile SAT scores in the 2015-2016 AY and the highest acceptance rate (Amherst: 58.4%, Lowell: 62%, Boston: 69.1%, Dartmouth: 75%) of the UMass system, the bottom quartile of matriculants had SAT scores in the 34th percentile. With BPS students 20 percentile ranks away from the bottom quartile, it becomes more difficult to envision a large percentage of the 42% of students who took the SAT attending a four-year bachelor granting institution. Given that baccalaureates make 168% more per hour than high school graduates, this disparity could also indicate a barrier to economic stability for students. In a school district where 78% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, the inability to access higher education and higher wage opportunities could also indicate barriers to intergenerational mobility for these Bostonians. 

Table 1: BPS Students 20 to 54 Percentile Ranks Away From Bottom Quartile of UMass Students

SAT Percentiles of the Bottom Quartile of Matriculants at UMass System Schools in 2015-2016

^{Note: Percentile scores for the writing section were not reported by the University of Massachusetts Boston and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The author estimated scores by using the ratio between the writing score and critical reading score used by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.  Percentile cutoffs are from PrepScholar.com.} 

The Boston Globe’s Valedictorians Project interviewed 93 BPS Valedictorians from  2005 to 2007. A common thread arose in the Globe’s over 200 interviews, many of these students struggled in college because they felt unprepared. One-quarter of these students did not finish college within six years and over 10 years later 40% made less than $50,000 a year. By contrast, students from the Boston suburbs were two and a half times more likely to earn an advanced degree and earn more than $100,000 a year. A fourth of these BPS Valedictorians had aspirations of becoming a doctor, but not one has earned a medical degree. If you were a BPS Valedictorian between 2005 and 2007, you were more likely to become homeless than to become a doctor. If the best and the brightest from one of the strongest public school districts in the country are struggling to succeed, it seems unlikely the average BPS student, let alone average students from weaker public school districts are adequately supported.

With wage premiums for college graduates on the rise, income mobility falling, and income inequality rising, it is more important than ever to support and prepare all public school students. Findings indicate significant increases in income mobility if more low and middle-income students are able to attend selective colleges. Unfortunately, BPS seems to struggle with preparing their students for some of the less-selective public schools in the state. Black and Hispanic students are heavily underrepresented in the district’s most prestigious high schools and are potentially underserved compared to their peers attending one of the three exam schools. These shortcomings ought to call into question the proclaimed strength of Boston Public Schools and all public school systems across the country exhibiting similar inequities.

Photo by Svetlana Miljkovic. 

Nima Rahimi

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Nima is the Managing Editor for the Georgetown Public Policy Review. Before Georgetown, Nima was a research assistant at the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. Nima was previously a research assistant at The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality and is currently a research assistant at FutureEd. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Boston University.

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1. BPS does not report ACT data.