Mayor Michelle Wu delivered Boston’s second annual State of the Schools address on Monday night, reaffirming her commitment to make the city’s public schools the best in the nation and defending the district’s efforts amid recent criticism.
In her address, Wu announced new and growing hub schools, spelling, math, youth sports programs and celebrated achievements across Boston Public Schools.
“Last year, at our first-ever State of the Schools, we set an ambitious goal: to make the oldest public school system in the country the best,” Wu said during her address on Monday. “And we said it would take a village — our whole City working together — to get there. Tonight, we’re here to show what the village has been accomplishing.”
Wu highlighted a long list of milestones for Boston Public Schools in her address: A record-high graduation rate last school year; a double-digit decline in chronic absenteeism since 2022; an expansion of early college and career pathways to more than 25% of students; and a 150% increase in students that earned passing scores on at least three AP exams, from about 200 in 2022 to nearly 500 last year.
The mayor also pushed back against President Trump’s federal immigration crackdown, which has affected the district’s enrollment.
“Some might look at our community and see a target for immigration raids, federal funding cuts…,” she said. “We see a hub of academic ambition, community leadership, championship athletics, artistic excellence, and connection. And as Washington tries to cut our funding and make our families afraid, we are fiercely proud to see our schools on the rise.”
Wu also took aim at critics of BPS, including a recent campaign that put up billboards and briefly ran subway ads to draw attention to the district’s performance. The billboards — which the mayor called “cynical” — display the slogan “BPS IS FAILING HER” over images of children’s eyes, citing that 70% of Boston’s third graders are not performing at grade level in reading and math.
The campaign comes about a month after release of the latest MCAS scores, which shows that 31% of BPS third graders met or exceeded expectations.
“After decades stuck in the bottom 10% of Massachusetts schools, BPS standardized testing scores have continued to leapfrog our peer districts,” said “Our state MCAS ranking has climbed from the eighth percentile to the 21st, and we are not slowing down on closing proficiency gaps for every student.”
Both Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper touted the fact that that BPS improved on the MCAS compared to last year’s results by reducing the score gap, but said they are “not satisfied.”
Wu also announced a plan to set new five-year targets this fall, including “attendance and assessment scores, to early literacy and MassCore completion, school safety and culture, early college and career preparation.”
Wu added that the targets for these new measures will “help direct resources where they’re needed most, hold ourselves accountable and accelerate progress to excellence for every student.”
Skipper also spoke to the targets, saying BPS is “looking ahead with our new opportunity and achievement gap policy as our North Star.”
“We will continue our long-term facilities work so that our students will have access to the modern learning environments to grow and thrive,” said Skipper. “Our priority this year is to build on the momentum we have created, deepen the impact of this work, and accelerate student achievement through rigorous coursework.”
The superintendent also said the district plans to continue to provide students with “accelerated math possibilities, AI literacy, student apprenticeship, and career-connected activities during the school year,” adding that “in the summer, we will grow our financial literacy program and expand access to the early college experience.”
Wu also outlined plans to expand several programs across the district, like expanding the “community hub schools” model to five new schools by the start of next school year. Boston currently has 20 designated hub schools in Boston, which use “dedicated staffing and coordinated systems that connect schools, businesses and community organizations” for before- and after-school programs.
Last week, BPS launched an after-school “Vocation by Madison” program at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School that opens career and technical opportunities to students from other Boston high schools.
Wu also plans to expand free weekend youth sports programs to all students ages 6 to 12 next school year and extend its Spelling Bee program from 23 schools to every eligible public school this year.
The mayor said she’s confident in the city’s approach to address ongoing challenges, emphasizing the need to bring together resources and community support to put solutions into action.
“In most challenges in our city, we know what the difficulty is,” Wu said. “We know what the barriers are, and we often also know what the solution might look like. But it’s a matter of how we harness the momentum, the resources, the community coordination to actually implement what we need to do, and I think that’s what you’re seeing now.”
