10/12/04 -- Boston Public Schools is the first winner of the annual Urban School Board Excellence Award, NSBA's Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) announced Sept. 30.
The award, presented during the CUBE Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, is sponsored by McGraw-Hill Education, a division of the McGraw-Hill Cos. The award includes a $5,000 contribution to the district's student scholarship fund.
"We believe that the Boston School Committee will be an inspiration for all of our school boards -- those in cities, in the suburbs, and in rural areas," says NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. "The Boston leadership team has set district priorities and worked carefully to engage the community to help improve academic achievement for all students."
The award program was designed by CUBE to honor an urban school district that best demonstrates excellence in four core areas: board governance, closing the achievement gap, academic achievement, and community engagement.
The Chula Vista (Calif.) Elementary School District and Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia received honorable mention.
The CUBE award highlights the link between urban student achievement and successful board governance. The Boston School Committee and Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant have relied heavily on community input in developing the district's strategic plan.
The plan, "Focus on Children," provides clear direction on district goals and enhancing the superintendent's effectiveness in designing and executing new, data-driven approaches to teaching and learning.
As part of the plan, the district has focused on strengthening literacy and math while raising academic expectations for all 60,300 students. Boston has established citywide learning standards in English, math, science, and social studies.
The school committee has moved aggressively to improve academic achievement by investing more than $15 million to reduce class size, approving a new student promotion policy, and developing a new accountability system to measure school and student progress.
Five years ago, the majority of 10th graders failed to meet state standards. Last fall, more than 64 percent of students passed the math exam and 70 percent passed the English test.
The district is currently in the process of reorganizing all of its secondary schools into smaller learning communities.
"The Boston School Committee leadership has been critical in raising student achievement, narrowing the achievement gap, and bringing the community together to support the public schools," says CUBE Chair David Thomas, a school board member in Mobile, Ala.
"By taking the time to reach consensus, the agenda in terms of priorities is really pre-defined," says board Chair Elizabeth Reilinger. "This has helped facilitate positive and productive work between board members and has helped us focus on system priorities and an education agenda rather than personal priorities or political agendas."