The Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools

Center for Policy, Research, and Evaluation

Conclusion

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.

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Appendix

Qualitative data was collected by four highly trained researchers. NYU Metro Center worked with BPS to identify four case study schools, and one researcher was assigned to each of the selected schools.

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Executive Summary

Our report provides a primarily qualitative analysis of fidelity and quality of support for student learning in the implementation of the EFA initiative in 16 Boston Public Schools serving 4-6th grade students.
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Introduction

Excellence for All (EFA) is a Boston Public School (BPS) district initiative to address the need for equitable access and opportunity for student learning.
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Methods

This evaluation was designed to examine the facilitators and barriers of EFA implementation. As such, we relied heavily on qualitative methods.
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Findings

Key findings presented in this section emerged from our analysis of individual and focus group interviews. Findings are presented thematically in two sections we label as highlights and challenges.
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Discussion

Already desiring more rigorous curriculum and pedagogy for all students, EFA gave schools the additional resources needed to turn this vision into a reality.
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Recommendations

These recommendations support ways EFA can best serve BPS students through a culturally responsive and sustaining lens.

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