EFA is a start in the right direction for the district to acknowledge the needs of underserved students and offer resources to improve academic and social and emotional achievement gaps. In fact, regardless of the challenges families, teachers, school leaders, and support staff may highlight with the EFA program, they all believed it to be a much-needed district initiative and support its implementation. However, they agreed that there needs to be a next step. One EFA support coach affirmed, “I just don’t see it as a dismantling force but certainly as a force for change...I think that that’s the best we can get with EFA under these conditions.” EFA at this stage of implementation will not be the single force to dismantle the deep-seated racist ideologies that have guided district-level policies and practices in BPS for decades. This report outlines clear guidelines to improve EFA implementation across sites as well as target efforts to meet the needs of historically marginalized students to ensure that all students are truly being prepared for excellence in Boston Public Schools.
