Harvard Takes Aim at Schools’ Race Gaps

Two days after a member of the Cambridge Public School Committee said that Harvard was not doing enough to help close the achievement gap in Cambridge schools, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced that Harvard and four other Boston universities were teaming up to provide at least $5 million to Boston Public Schools (BPS) to reduce racial testing disparities.

The unprecedented collaboration, “Step UP (University Partnership)”—which also includes Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, and Tufts University—will aid 10 Boston public schools over the next five years, Menino announced last Thursday.

Harvard’s contribution in the partnership will be focused on three particular areas: strengthening the after-school experience for students, strengthening the professional development for early childhood education professionals, and a comprehensive program between Harvard’s graduate schools of education, public health, and medicine called the Three-to-Third program.

The Three-to-Third program is an initiative to improve reading and math abilities and social and emotional competencies by third grade, using “multidimensional interventions.”

“You have to start early,” said Richard Weissbourd, a Graduate School of Education lecturer. “There’s already a significant achievement gap by the time that kids enter kindergarten so we’re trying to prevent the achievement gap.”

The announcement of the collaboration came two days after Cambridge Public School Committee member Richard Harding complained about the lack of financial support from Harvard and MIT for Cambridge’s own achievement gap woes.

“I really need to know what the hell [they] are they doing for us,” Harding asked in a committee meeting last week.

But Mary Power, Harvard senior director of community relations, said that the University was also working closely with Cambridge schools to provide them with the institutional support that they need.

“I think that we are in continuing dialogue with the city and the schools about ways the academic resources of Harvard can help support Cambridge education,” she said. “We are active in looking at ways to support achievement in Cambridge public schools.”

Power also said that there were already many programs in place to help Cambridge students achieve academic success, including the Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy, the Science Education Partnership, and America Reads, among others.

Power also stated that the relationship between Cambridge Public Schools and Harvard would continue to improve.

“We are working with other local institutions to identify ways for the university to be a more active partner in Cambridge Public Schools,” she said. “We have a very close relationship with the schools and I see that relationship growing stronger and stronger. “

—Staff writer Laura A. Moore can be reached at lamoore@fas.harvard.edu.