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Education: Goals & Measures
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Indicator Measures
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How are we doing?
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4.1.1 Educational attainment rates in Boston and Metro Boston versus comparable regions
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Metro Boston has among the highest educational attainment rates in the nation. At 40% of residents with a Bachelors degree or higher, it lags only the metro areas of San Francisco at 44% and Washington, DC at 42%. Boston ranks high at 36%, behind only Seattle at 47%, San Francisco at 45%, Raleigh at 45%, Austin at 40%, DC at 39%, and Minneapolis at 37% as of 2000. |
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4.2.1 Participation in public higher education institutions by race and ethnicity
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Statewide, in 2003, 8% of college degrees awarded by UMass went to blacks and Latinos; for state colleges, the figure was 5%, and for community colleges 14% – all rates somewhat higher than in 1998. Overall, the state's public higher education system awarded 3% more Associate degrees, 4% more Bachelors degrees and 8% more Masters degrees in 2003 than in 2002. |
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4.2.2 Boston Public School students enrolled in college or skills training
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About 68% of BPS class-of -2002 graduates were enrolled in college or training a year after graduation, with more than 90% of Asian, 72% of white, 66% of black and 56% of Latino students enrolled in college. Nearly 74% of BPS young women went on to college but only 62% of young men. |
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4.3.1 Adult education and English language slots versus length of time on waiting list
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The statewide waiting list for Adult Basic Education and English for Speakers of Other Languages classes increased from 19,000 in 2002 to 25,000 in late 2004, with waits of up to two months in Boston. About 122,000 adults in Boston lack a high school diploma or have limited English proficiency. The City has access to 1,500 state-funded slots to address this need. |
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4.5.1 Third graders reading at 3rd grade reading level by race, ethnicity and income
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Despite recent gains on this key measure of past preparedness and predictor of future success, 63% of Boston's third graders did not achieve a proficient score on the third grade MCAS reading test in 2004. Statewide, about one-third of children were not proficient readers. |
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4.5.2 MCAS scores of 10th graders by race, ethnicity, income and geography
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In 2004, 74% of Boston Public Schools 10th graders passed the Mathematics exam compared to 64% in 2003, and 48% in 2002. The passing rate for English Language Arts was 77% compared to 64% in 2002, with persistent disparities by race. In 2004, 53% of BPS students with limited English proficiency passed the English exam, and 69% passed the math exam. |
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4.6.1 Enrollment in Boston’s public, private, parochial and charter schools
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About 27% of the estimated 82,000 school-age children in Boston do not attend the Boston Public Schools, with about 14,000 in private and parochial schools, 4,000 in charter schools and 3,000 in the METCO Program. The number of children in charter schools increased from 2,700 in 2002 to 4,060 in 2004, while enrollment in the BPS fell from 62,400 to 60,300. |
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4.9.1 Boston schools with up-to-date technology and libraries, gyms, labs and renovated schoolyards
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From 1992 to 2001, Boston invested more than $270 million through the city’s capital plan to renovate schools, and $25 million to build three new Early Learning Centers. As of early 2003, 47 Boston schoolyards had received major improvements, with 16 others in the pipeline through the Boston Schoolyards Initiative. |
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4.9.2 Ratio of students to guidance counselors
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Updated data and analysis to come.
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4.9.3 Attendance, dropout and expulsion rates by level
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Boston’s school drop out rate has improved. The current 21.1% drop out rate is the lowest in 20 years. However, one in five Boston Public School students is not graduating within five years after entering high school, and some experts believe that the rate would be higher if calculated differently. The Boston Private Industry Council is leading efforts, with the BPS, to reduce drop out rates. |
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4.10.1 Children served by after-school programs versus children ages 5-18, by neighborhood
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The Boston After-School for All Partnership, established in 2001, is the largest public-private partnership focused on children in Boston’s history, raising $24 million from 14 partners to expand the availability and quality of Boston’s after-school programs. By 2003, it had created an additional 4,300 new spaces in after-school programs, with 84 of the City’s 106 elementary and middle schools offering programs – up from 69 in 2001. Formalizing this function, a new organization, After-School and Beyond, continues to expand to meet the demands of Boston’s more than 80,000 school-aged children, about 60,000 of whom are in public schools. Older youth are the least well served.
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4.11.1 Per student spending on early childhood education, K-12 and public higher education
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In the 2003-04 school year, Boston's K-12 per student spending was $10,057, up from $9,500 the year before and $8,500 in 1999. Total spending in 2003-04 was 22% higher than the state average of $8,273. Regular student spending in Boston was $7,445, just 10% more than the state average of $6,779, though Boston's student body is 74% in poverty compared to the Boston Metro average of 24%. |
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