The Academic Achievement of Latino Students in Boston Public Schools

This report examines the SY2006-SY2009 MCAS ELA and Math achievement of Latino students in Boston Public Schools. The key findings of this report include: Latino students now constitute the largest racial/ethnic student group in Boston Public Schools (43.0% in SY2012) and the only racial/ethnic group to grow in numbers from SY2006 to SY2009. In SY2009, Latino students had the highest rates of poverty, mobility, chronic absence, and grade retention in Boston Public Schools. Latino students have some of the lowest MCAS ELA and Math pass rates in Boston Public Schools. In SY2009, White students had the highest pass rates on the MCAS ELA exams in all three grades; Black students had the lowest pass rates in Grades 4 and 8 and Latino students had the lowest in Grade 10. While Latino students had the largest increase in MCAS pass rates from SY2006 to SY2009, sizeable pass rate gaps remained between White and Latino students. Among Latinos who passed MCAS ELA or Math, sizeable proportions—and in some cases a majority—performed at the “needs improvement” level. Among Latinos, MCAS performance varied by key student characteristics. In SY2009, Latino students in Grades 4, 8, and 10 had lower pass rates on both the MCAS ELA and Math exams if they were male, Black, had a disability, had switched schools during the school year, were chronically absent, received at least one out-of-school suspension, or had been retained in grade that school year