OUR STUDENTS
Boston Green Academy welcomes diverse students of all abilities, educates and empowers them to succeed in college and career, and prepares them to lead in the sustainability of our community and world. We serve 500 students in grades 6-12, 94% of whom are BIPOC, 80% of whom are low income, and 88% of whom are considered to be “high needs”. Thirty-two percent of our students have learning, social, emotional, or intellectual disabilities, and 15% of our students are English Language Learners.
INCLUSION
BGA believes that one of our greatest strengths is inclusion: we enroll and serve 500 students in grades 6-12 who represent the mosaic of Boston’s residents.
The numbers in the chart above and the two below demonstrate that our student population is more diverse than both the district and the state, and includes more students with disabilities from economically disadvantaged homes with higher needs. We also graduate our students with disabilities in higher numbers, have fewer students drop out, keep more students at BGA, and have 15% more graduates with disabilities attending college and university. (As a Horace Mann Public Charter School, BGA is considered to be its own district, so when reading the data below "% of District" refers to BGA.)
We attribute this continuing trend to our committed staff and to strong inclusion practices. Forty-nine percent of our students with disabilities are fully included in our general education classes; 7.3% spend half of their time in general education classrooms with supports and half of their time in sub-separate classrooms; and 44% of our students with IEPs requiring modifications and accommodations to instruction learn in our USS (unique Sub-Separate) classrooms which provide small group settings with additional teacher support as well as individualized instruction. Students designated by the state as needing sub-separate accommodations due to their IEPs share the same teachers and the same curriculum with additional teaching support to individualize instruction as necessary.
ENROLLMENT DATA
SELECTED POPULATIONS
Separately, our Learning for Independence Program (LFI) serves 25 students with multiple, complex disabilities requiring individual support.
Engagement
Instructional Rounds have established a mechanism for measuring Depth of Knowledge (DOK) and linking higher DOK with higher classroom engagement.
Beginning in 2016, Instructional Rounds were created as a means of improving practice both through observation and data-focused conversation, by exposing teachers to the practice of their colleagues. Rounds provides teachers and support staff with the opportunity and structure to observe their colleagues’ teaching across content area and grade level, resulting in rich conversations focused on adapting practice to improve student engagement and learning.
Rounds take place four times each school year with the goal of ensuring that every teacher participates annually. If there is room on the Rounds team, staff are also invited to join.
This year, 55% of classes were categorized at DOK levels 3 and 4 with an engagement rate of 99% based on observations during instructional rounds. This has improved from SY2022 when 28% of classes were at DOK 3 and 4, and from January 2020 (just pre-pandemic) when 25% of classes were at DOK 3 (no DOK 4) with an engagement rate of 88%.