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From the Boston Public Schools Communications team
Monday, January 5, 2015
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BPS students were inducted into the High School to Teacher program, which offers training, reduced tuition and a fast track for a teaching position in Boston schools. Above, a group of students and mentors from East Boston High school. BPS photo by Mark Pijanowski
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Bay State Banner: Program puts BPS students on path to Boston teaching jobs
From the Bay State Banner: Thirty-six Boston high school students are starting on a seven-year path through high school and college and into teaching careers, thanks to a new Boston Public Schools program aimed at developing a more diverse next generation of teachers. The High School to Teacher program offers training, mentoring and support to promising students interested in pursuing teaching careers. Launched earlier this year, the initiative aims to help students achieve school and career success while at the same time tackling a key BPS goal to increase diversity in the teaching ranks. "This high school teacher initiative is part of Boston's overarching initiative to increase workforce diversity. There's been considerable strategy on building the pipeline, and this is part of it," said Ceronne Daly, director of diversity programs at the BPS Office of Human Capital. "We're reaching out to work with high school students throughout their entire high school career and into college." Recruiting for High School to Teacher's first cohort began in late spring at four Boston schools: Boston Community Leadership Academy, East Boston High School, New Mission High School and TechBoston Academy. Thirty-six students were accepted into the program, and this fall, they began working with program mentors, who are teachers or guidance counselors at the participating schools. In their second semester, students are expected to spend part of their time tutoring other students. BPS is implementing the program in partnership with Today's Students, Tomorrow's Teachers, a New York-based nonprofit that also operates in New York, Connecticut and Virginia. In Massachusetts, the organization has had partnerships with schools in Worcester, Cambridge and Greater Boston suburbs, but is entering Boston for the first time. Students in the program are required to achieve a B+ average by their senior year of high school, tutor a minimum of two hours each week, intern for 20 hours each summer and attend teacher mentoring, tutor training, college visits, career counseling and free SAT preparation. In addition to the training and mentoring in high school, participants receive a 50 percent waiver of tuition at participating colleges.
More time with great teachers: BPS expanded-day announcement gets national attention
Anneta Argyres, who was cochairwoman of the Curley School Parent Council when the school had longer days, remembered how teachers could use the final hour each Wednesday to teach less-traditional classes.
Her daughter, Nicole Levenson, who is now 15 and a sophomore at Boston Latin School, would come home raving about taking classes on fishing, yoga, and photography.
Argyres said those classes showed students and teachers "that learning happens in different settings and also helped to develop a deeper sense of community."
"What we need is to bring back the richness and the diversity of education," Argyres said. "Not just pile on 40 minutes more of the same.
The National Center on Time & Learning, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that advocates for longer school days, applauded the proposal."With this agreement, Boston is emerging as one of the country's leaders as it embarks on a plan to strategically redesign and expand learning time for both teachers and students," center officials said in a statement.Boston Herald editorial: Watching school clock
We're all for adverse parties coming together to negotiate solutions to major public policy challenges and in that spirit we welcome the announcement that the city of Boston has struck a deal with its teachers union to extend the school day.
The promise of a longer school day in Boston may strike some as a counterintuitive holiday gift for 23,000 elementary and middle school pupils at 60 schools. But it is the gift that will keep on giving for the children who need the extra time to prepare for the upper grades, higher education, and the eventual demands of the workplace.
Making good on a campaign promise, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said Friday that he has negotiated a tentative agreement with the city's teachers to add 40 minutes to each school day - the equivalent of an extra month of instruction. The announcement is tempered somewhat by the fact that Boston's current six-hour school day is among the shortest of any major urban school district. And some state charter schools already boast eight-hour school days. Whether it is a "true turning point," as the mayor called it, will depend on the ability of teachers to make every one of the additional minutes count.
First Registration Period for fall BPS enrollment set for January 5-30
Parents of children who will begin Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, grades 6 or 9 in the fall of 2015 are encouraged to register for Boston Public Schools (BPS) during the first registration period, which runs today through Friday, January 30. Families may visit any BPS Welcome Center to register for school.
Parents of students seeking to enroll in all other grades may register between February 4 and March 20. Registering during the first available period for a grade level increases a family's chances of receiving an assignment to one of their top-choice schools.
Families can view which schools will be on their options list by visiting the DiscoverBPS website, www.discoverbps.org. Operators are also available during business hours to help answer questions at the BPS Registration Hotline: (617) 635-9046.
Families can also pre-register online at www.bostonpublicschools.org/register. By filling out information in advance using the online form, parents can take advantage of a separate line when they arrive at a BPS Center to complete the school registration process.
It's important to note that registration is not first-come first-served, so it does not matter when in the month families visit a BPS Welcome Center, and everyone has the same opportunities as long as they register within the correct period. BPS will run the school choice lottery after the completion of each registration period and will send school assignments by mail.
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Communications Office | Boston Public Schools
617-635-9265 | communications@bostonpublicschools.org
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