Deanna 小美 Pan And these days, they are concentrated in the state's least well funded districts.

Today, Latinos make up close to half of the district’s students and ~40% of them are classified as English learners. Their graduation rate in 2023 — 77% — was 10 percentage points lower than that of their white peers. They also had the highest dropout rate last year at 11%.

Students learning English in Boston, who represent ~1/3 of the district’s population, lag even further behind. Last year, less than 1/2 of the district’s elementary-age multilingual students and 13% of multilingual high schoolers made progress learning English, per state data.

But just 7% of English learners in BPS are enrolled in dual-language programs and schools, which research shows is the gold standard of bilingual education, improving not only students’ academic outcomes, but their English and native language literacy.

“The vast majority [of English learners] are not getting the kind of services that they should,” said Alan Rom, a civil rights and labor attorney, who has represented Latino parents in BPS over the years in their fight for equal education.

The first is from Deanna 小美 Pan of The Boston Globe, with a historical lens on the impact of busing and on Latinos and the importance of bilingual instruction on student outcomes. A must read: apps.bostonglobe.com/metro/2024/06/…

Wowwwww Deanna 小美 Pan! Check out this graphic novel, written by Deanna and illustrated by The Gutter Studios Boston University: apps.bostonglobe.com/metro/2024/06/…

Lawyers for Civil Rights (Lawyers for Civil Rights) & Massachusetts Advocates for Children (Massachusetts Advocates for Children) allege #Saugus illegally blocks #migrants from enrolling in #school district. Via The Boston Globe & Deanna 小美 Pan #education #schools #immigration bostonglobe.com/2024/08/15/met…

‘I feel really lucky’: Pushed out of Everett, Priya Tahiliani takes helm of troubled Brockton schools: bostonglobe.com/2024/08/22/met…

Brockton schools finance officer files whistle-blower complaint over budget fiasco: bostonglobe.com/2024/08/28/met…

Garden-variety incompetence — not fraud or theft — fueled Brockton Public Schools’ multimillion-dollar shortfall in fiscal year 2023, according to a comprehensive, independent investigation: bostonglobe.com/2024/09/10/met…

NEW: Not great news out of Massachusetts... 2024 MCAS scores show students falling further behind post-pandemic bostonglobe.com/2024/09/24/met… via Christopher Huffaker and Deanna 小美 Pan

MCAS results 2024: How Massachusetts towns voted on Question 2 bostonglobe.com/2024/11/06/met… via The Boston Globe

The project of standards-based reform has been on the ropes for some time now, but Massachusetts’ about-face on state testing is a real gut punch. Story by Deanna 小美 Pan via Boston Globe Education The Boston Globe bostonglobe.com/2024/11/05/met… #maedu #mapoli #AssessmentHQ

“This feels like an end of an era,” Michael Petrilli said. “Massachusetts had a good run there for a couple of decades..." With the passage of Question 2, what happens to Mass. education now? w/ Deanna 小美 Pan bostonglobe.com/2024/11/07/met…

Hundreds of Massachusetts parents of students with special needs have been forced to sign nondisclosure agreements in order to secure the free and appropriate education their children are legally entitled to, a monthslong Globe investigation has found. trib.al/HrVX9Ri

Incredible reporting by Mandy McLaren. Don't miss this.

For MA school districts struggling to respond to intensifying pressure from teachers for higher salaries, one number stands out: the $1B+ they spend to send students with disabilities to specialized campuses, including private schools: bostonglobe.com/2024/11/17/met… w/Mandy McLaren

Breaking: Marblehead teachers, School Committee reach a deal, ending weeks-long strike: bostonglobe.com/2024/11/26/met…