Going for Growth New Education-Housing Partnerships to Stabilize Families and Boost Student Achievement

O ne out of every six school-age residents in Massachusetts lives in a Gateway City.* Un fortunately, too many of these youths fail to complete high school, and too many of those who do finish do so without the basic skills they need to be successful as they seek higher degrees and credentials. In an economy with few jobs at family-sustaining pay for those without specialized skills, the success of these students is critical to the economic growth of Gateway Cities, their regions, and the state. Boosting the educational achievement of Gateway City youth will certainly require sustained focus on im proving the schools that serve these communities, as 60 percent of all schools in Massachusetts deemed failing by the state are located in these 11 cities. Although there are exceptions, it can be difficult for Gateway City schools to produce dramatic gains in student performance by acting independently. The Gateway City experience with the state’s landmark 1993 education reform law shows the limitations of a schools-on-their-own strategy. 1 Education reform doubled aid to local school districts and set high standards for results. These changes led to impressive achievement gains statewide. But for all its accomplishments, education reform has not been able to close the achievement gap so that a student’s chance for success does not depend on his or her zip code. Part of the challenge has been the increasing concentration of poverty in the state’s urban areas. Since 1993, the share of students in the average Gateway City district who are low-income has grown from less than half to nearly three-quarters. With such high concentrations of low-income youth, providing the additional support that schools must offer to close the achievement gap requires capabilities that extend beyond the resources of Gate way City school districts. Helping more Gateway City students succeed is going to require bold cross-sector efforts. An example of the type of partnership needed is collaboration between education and housing agencies to develop and implement innovative strategies to reduce student mobility. The challenge of large numbers of students changing schools during the school year is widespread across the Gateway Cities. In just these 11 districts, nearly 30,000 students transfer into or out of public schools during the academic year. This churn is harmful to both mobile students and stable students in the classrooms they enter and exit. It also undermines current reform efforts