Almost 50 years ago, faculty members at UMass Boston, working with the Boston Public Schools, created a college prep school called Another Course to College. The innovative school offered rigorous courses, small classes and the chance to earn college credits. In order to graduate, students had to be accepted into a college.
Another Course to College started in 1976 on Beacon Hill and in the decades since has moved to Hyde Park, Back Bay, Fenway, Brighton and finally back to Hyde Park. It has expanded from a two-year program into a four-year high school. As a pilot school, it has more control over its curriculum and budget than regular public schools in Boston.
From 2007 to 2009, Rachel Skerritt headed Another Course to College. In her last year, US News & World Report awarded the school a bronze medal in its annual ranking of best high schools in the country. Skerritt later graduated to become head of school at Boston Latin, which she had attended.
At least one other urban school district adopted the innovative model.
Washington, D.C., had its own Another Course to College in the early 1990s, though it appears to no longer exist.
Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper have put Boston’s Another Course to College on a short list of three schools to be closed in June 2027. With its enrollment shrinking, the school system is right to close and consolidate buildings for efficiency and divert the savings into educational programs.
The other two schools also have small enrollments — Lee Academy, a pre-K to 3 school; and Community Academy of Science and Health, a high school. Both are in Dorchester, Lee on Talbot Avenue near Harambee Park and Community Academy in Fields Corner.
Boston has a long history of disproportionately closing public schools in Black neighborhoods, and the School Committee ought to be mindful of this pattern as it moves to close even more schools by the end of the decade. The fair thing to do is spread the disruption and displacement around so as not to overburden Black students and their families.
Still other considerations come into play when it comes to the proposal to close Another Course to College.
It may be wise for BPS to close the building on Metropolitan Avenue, but Another Course to College should continue in another location, perhaps as a school within a school in an underen rolled building.
Another Course to College is a valuable pathway to higher education that ought to be preserved, an alternative to the competition for admission to Boston Latin, an alternative that has achieved substantial diversity without conflict and controversy. Last year, Another Course to College had about 250 students, half of them Black and 44% of them Hispanic.
Eighty percent of the students were low-income. The graduation rate has slipped from the heady days under Skerritt, down from the 90s to 78%. That is a reason to beef up the school, not to close it.
There are many kids who goof around in middle school or have emotional or family problems at that age, so they aren’t strong candidates for the city’s three exam schools. Some later get inspired or motivated to aspire to college, making them prime candidates for a small school where class sizes average about 17 students and teachers can provide personal attention.
In this time of high college costs, there is some debate whether going to college is still worth the investment. It should not be up for debate in Black and Hispanic communities that are behind in college graduation rates and in jobs that require degrees.
There are more ways to make a college education affordable than many high school students know about. More extensive counseling is needed in schools.
Here in Massachusetts, community college tuition is free for recent graduates. Spending two years at one and then transferring to a four-year college halves the overall investment. Some well-endowed colleges commit to meeting the financial need of accepted students, however much it is.
Others guarantee students below a middle-class income won’t have to take out loans. Relatively few students wind up paying full sticker price, which is lower at public colleges for that state’s residents.
However students might manage to afford college, they must be prepared for the academic rigors to come. In Boston, Latin, Latin Academy and O’Bryant, the three exam schools, should not be the only college prep programs available.
Here’s urging the Boston School Committee to stay the course on Another Course to College and keep open that pathway to higher education and income. The committee is scheduled to vote on the closing plan Dec. 17.
Ronald Mitchell
Editor and Publisher, Bay State Banner