Superintendent to adopt school choice panel recommendation to create school quality advisors team

Superintendent Carol R. Johnson has announced she will move to immediately create a Quality School Advisors team, consisting of community members and experts, to help advise the school district on ways to accelerate student achievement and increase school quality in the city. The call to create the team was embedded in the recommendation voted on last night by the External Advisory Committee (EAC), the 27-member committee appointed last year by Mayor Thomas M. Menino to recommend a new student assignment policy.

“Today, Boston stands as a leader in urban public education, but there is more for us to do to help all students achieve at the highest levels,” said Dr. Johnson. “More parents are choosing our schools, our graduation rate is at an historic high - and we even see more students remaining in high school beyond four years - so now is the time for us to leverage the knowledge and power of those who are committed as us to seeing our schools flourish.”

Superintendent Johnson will formally present the plan to create the Quality School Advisors team to the Boston School Committee tomorrow night. The Quality School Advisors will work in close collaboration with the Superintendent and the district’s senior leadership to focus on increasing quality in all schools and setting benchmarks for accountability in real-time.

Last night, the EAC voted to endorse a student assignment model that allows families to choose a school closer to home. If approved by the school committee in March, beginning in 2014 parents will receive a list of at least six schools to choose from, based on their home address, including high-quality schools.

The Superintendent will present all the recommendations of the EAC to the school committee on Wednesday. The school committee plans to hold at least two community hearings in March prior to voting on a final plan.