Auditor finds BPS data is inaccurate and incomplete, with wide-ranging consequences

Submitted by bostonglobe t3_11b1i2c in massachusetts

Boston Public Schools has poor data collection and reporting processes, resulting in inaccurate, incomplete and otherwise unreliable data in many areas, including bus performance and graduation rates, according to an audit released as part of the district’s state-mandated improvement plan.

The audit found that the district often puts English learners — who comprise nearly one-third of students— in classes that don’t match their skill level. It doesn’t review education plans for about a quarter of students with disabilities on time, leaving those children with services that may be out-of-date.

The district also fails to report to the state many incidents where staff physically restrain students, the audit found. And it left nearly one-third of all bullying investigations open at the end of the school year — either because the complaints weren’t resolved or because the schools failed to update central office on the status.

The third-party data review by Ernst and Young consultants largely confirmed state concerns about district data, such as undercounting late buses and possibly overestimating high school graduation rates. The audit was one of the requirements of the improvement plan Mayor Michelle Wu agreed to last summer, averting a state takeover of the city’s schools. The consultants interviewed dozens of state and district staff and compared data from the state to internal district sources.

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dew2459 t1_j9wjr4s wrote

BPS gets a paltry $101M for central administration. They cannot be expected to do all of that stuff properly on such a tiny budget. /s

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kineaks t1_j9ysmdd wrote

Funny how wherever you look whether it’s

School admin Politicians Executives

They all wring you dry of life so they can pull the strings

Yet then you go crawling back to them like the sucklers that created them

Funny how that works

Bootstrap culture, I Got Mine Calitalism, and American boomerism is the most laughable form of peasantry devised. Just voting for their own demise! And then they go cry like they didn’t do it to themselves 🙄 you get what you give

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_Strid_ t1_j9w3dsi wrote

My teenager doesn't go to school. I take her to a building 5 days a week to hang out with friends and deal with frustrated adults who realize their pittance isn't worth it.

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wish-onastar t1_j9y7eg9 wrote

It is frustrating to constantly read things like this that lack nuance. Yes, some EL students in the past were placed in ESL classes that were one higher than their ELD level. This is because the teachers who work with them and know them realize that a test like ACCESS doesn’t tell the whole story. We have had ELs who score a 3 on the ACCESS who arrived in the first grade, speak English fluently, and have a reading disability. These kids don’t need an ESL class, they need more special education support. In the past, a teacher was able to bring together evidence showing this, and the student was able to get the reading support needed instead of an ESL class. This school year, because of this report and the state, we cannot and the student suffers. Or sometimes the student just doesn’t take ACCESS seriously and goofs off, now they have a score lower than their actual English level. Again, teachers know this and want to put students in the correct ESL classes…but now we can’t because outsiders don’t understand the nuance of teaching.

u/BostonGlobe it would be more helpful to paint a complete picture versus always trashing on BPS with a small summary. Rather than trying to inform the people of Boston, you chose to post this here and also in a SchoolSystemsBroke subreddit?!

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DarkPurpleHibiscus t1_j9ym8bb wrote

Yeah I've been really disappointed in all of the Globe's BPS articles like this that seem to make mountains out of molehills, like the piece a few days ago trying to make a 2% budgeting error a giant conspiracy. With the way the comment section for the Globe's been going it's like they're literally just feeding the trolls at this point.

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PuritanSettler1620 t1_j9yjb6p wrote

Very bad! How can we expect to be dynamic and strong in the future if our next generation is not well educated! We must fix this!

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ReverseBanzai t1_ja00hrm wrote

Bps is a complete disaster. I really hope Dese takes over soon. Spoke to an administrator today. Said there in talks to close and or merge 12 schools.

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H2Omekanic t1_j9wi34n wrote

This is why we need school choice, charter schools, or a voucher system. Public k-12 education is broken, inefficient and over administrated

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didntfindmyfeet t1_j9wj8dj wrote

I think I understand the thought process on your comment, however, public education is supposed to be for everyone. We fun schools based on property taxes making the access to education fundamentally unequal. Charter schools are publicly funded private schools that don’t really have to answer to anyone. Some are good some are dumpster fires, most pick and choose their students. Fully funding education and having an actual discussion about funding changes would go a long way to allow everybody a great education. School choice is a stopgap measure because of the funding issue. Sure some short term changes would help but privatizing education is a step that may lead to even greater divides in access to education.

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H2Omekanic t1_j9wlyeg wrote

I simply believe there should be a free market on k-12 education. If the expenditure per student is 15k but someone wants to send their child elsewhere or homeschool, they get a 10k voucher

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SharpCookie232 t1_j9wp5m8 wrote

That won't leave enough money in the system for the students with special needs. They are very expensive to educate. Public education is efficient because of economies of scale. The average cost per pupil includes the special needs students, the students who don't speak English as a first language, and the students who need all sorts of social services. Spilt it all up into separate private entities and watch the costs skyrocket. The private schools we outsource our neediest students to are 80-240k per year. If we sent out all of our kids with special needs, our costs would triple, at least. Charter schools seem cheap because they cherry-pick the kids who don't have special needs, behaviors, or social support needs.

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didntfindmyfeet t1_j9wr7es wrote

I don’t see how a free market on education would benefit all students. Also, in a true free market no one would get a publicly funded voucher right? If someone has two kids then would they get 20k? What about people who own property but don’t have children do they get 10k a year too? I am not trying to start a fight I am saying that a voucher system is not free market, but I think we can both agree that the funding mechanism is in need of revision. Cutting public education for decades and segregating funding to those that have and those that don’t furthers a fight among the many who need the best education possible.

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H2Omekanic t1_j9y027t wrote

BPS are a dumpster fire. Philadelphia has been exposed, Chicago has been exposed. It won't be long. I may not have the answer to your problem, but as a whole, the education systems in Massachusetts towns & cities appear to operate in echo chambers. Blissfully unaware of their tax burdens on communities, levels of waste & inefficiency. Boston specifically has some of the highest per students expenditures in the country. The level of waste in bussing has been exposed. Eventually as the economy constricts over the course of your next 2-3 contracts, more waste will get cut out of the system. If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem. Judging by the down votes, I'll assume the latter

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