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Priority Initiatives
To achieve its goals, the Boston Opportunity
Agenda is investing in a set of high-leverage initiatives at every point along the
education pipeline. The partners of the Agenda worked closely together over
the course of more than two years to choose the initiatives and nonprofit programs
that will be initially supported through the Boston Opportunity Agenda. Some
of the funded programs were created through collaborations involving the partners
themselves; others have been supported by the partners in the past and have proven
track records.
A Strong Educational Foundation
We are focusing on Thrive in 5,
a city-wide partnership that provides a vision and a plan for Boston to ensure that
every child enters kindergarten ready to succeed. Thrive in 5
brings together families, early childhood service providers, health and human service
providers and the
City of Boston to work
across systems to support the healthy development and school readiness of our children.
On Track for High School Graduation
Our goal is that by 2014, 80 percent of eighth graders in the Boston Public Schools will earn at least a
B in Algebra 1 or Math 8—and at least 40 percent of non-exam school students will
take Algebra 1. In addition, the Boston Public Schools
and Boston After School and
Beyond are partnering with nonprofit organizations to reduce
summer learning loss, promote student achievement and develop new models for out-of-school
programs and outreach to families and children. The Agenda is also creating
a new fund to fully engage parents in their children’s education and mobilize parents
and families in support of systemic improvements in the schools.
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High School Completion
Our goal here is that by 2014, 80 percent of all Boston Public Schools will graduate from high school
in four years and the annual dropout rate will be reduced to three percent or lower.
To achieve this goal, we are focused on Success Boston,
a college completion initiative developed through a partnership of the City of Boston, the Boston Public Schools,
the Boston Foundation, the Boston
Private Industry Council, Boston area colleges and community-based
nonprofits to ensure that students “Get Ready, Get In and Get Through” higher education.
Post-Secondary Attainment
For adult learners, we have set the goal of having 70 percent of Boston Public Schools graduates go on to obtain
an associate’s degree or higher. For older adult students, we are creating
a network that will focus on linking state-funded Adult Basic Education (including
English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs, and deliver case management and
other supports to ease the transition to college and move adult learners into post-secondary
education.
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