About Boston Public Schools and Participating Schools

Boston Public Schools (BPS) is the oldest public school system in the United States. Founded in 1647, BPS has grown to include 139 schools, which serve approximately 60,000 students. Boston Latin School, an exam school for grades six through twelve, is the nation's oldest public school, founded in 1635. English High, founded in 1821, is the oldest public high school in the country.

BPS has seen growth as well as turmoil over the past several decades. Most notably, the schools in Boston made national headlines in 1974 when federal judge W. Arthur Garrity issued a ruling that defined the city's school assignment system as a form of de facto segregation. The court-ordered desegregation implemented over the next several years, known to Bostonians simply as "busing," caused civil unrest and racial strife that not only left a mark on the city's national image, but also resulted in the exodus of thousands of children from the public school system.

Today, Boston's public schools are more diverse than ever. Of the total school population, 47 percent are African-American, 30 percent are Hispanic, 14 percent are white and nine percent are Asian. This diversity is, in part, the product of changing demographics in the city. Nearly 6,000 students, comprising 10 percent of total enrollment, are enrolled in programs for English language learners. 

The school reform movement has also changed the face of Boston Public Schools over the last several years. Two of the city's largest and oldest public high schools-South Boston High School and Dorchester High School-have been transformed into Educational Complexes composed of several small learning communities. There are also 17 pilot schools, which are BPS-funded schools with more flexibility in curriculum implementation. Finally, students who score well on the citywide examination may enroll in one of three academically challenging exam schools: Boston Latin School, Latin Academy, and the O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science.

To learn more about Boston Public Schools, please visit http://boston.k12.ma.us.

 Participating Schools in the Global Classrooms Program