The latest CityLab Infographic, entitled WPS Discipline Data Update --2024, was released in January 2024. CityLab researchers have been following discipline statistics in WPS since 2013 when Worcester was identified as one of the nation's highest suspension schools for Latino students. At the time, CityLab researchers found a disconcerting disparity in the frequency at which Latino students were disciplined relative to their share of WPS enrollment and a corollary disparity among White students who were disciplined far below their percentage of the student body.
The Latino student disparity has decreased over time, but this is due less to a decrease in the rate at which Latino students are disciplined -- it was 53.8% in AY 2013 and 56.7% in AY 2023 -- than it has to do with Latinos comprising more of the school population. In other words, as the Latino population grows, it is catching up to that group's historically high percentage of disciplinary actions. Further, the disparity among the White numbers has decreased, too, but for the opposite reason: lower White enrollment numbers are approaching the historically low percentage rates of White students.
While that problem remains, CityLab researchers have found that the overall number of suspensions has decreased markedly since pre-pandemic levels. This was an anticipated outcome by the current administration which recently adopted a more restorative justice-focused disciplinary model. The drop in students disciplined has placed Worcester Public Schools' discipline rate on par with that of Boston's public school district. Also, CityLab researchers found that the number of discipline actions coded under the catch-all category "non-drug, non-violent, non-criminal-related offense" dropped from 2,029 uses in AY 2013 to only 498 in AY 2023.
For the full infographic, click here. You can also see School Committeeperson Susan Mailman referencing the new report at the Worcester School Committee meeting on February 1, 2024 below at the 1:13:27 mark.
Not in This Together: COVID-19 and People of Color by Shiko Gathuo, Ph.D. Shiko Gathuo, Ph.D. Professor and Graduate Program Director of Urban Studies Presidents, prime ministers, royalty, celebrities. These and other rich, powerful and famous people have contracted COVID-19. When the pandemic first took hold, it was easy to throw around phrases like “we are in this together,” “the pandemic does not discriminate,” and “united in the fight.” These warm and comforting sentiments quickly became hollow as it became apparent that, in fact, the pandemic does discriminate and it has negatively affected the poor and people of color disproportionately and in many different ways. People of color are experiencing the health aspect of COVID-19 including infection, testing and treatment differently. The virus has also exacerbated other already existing conditions such as economic deprivation, food insecurity, and the education achievement gap. COVID-19 has also had a significant negative effect o
Professors Tom Conroy (Urban Studies) and Alex Briesacher (Sociology), along with students pictured at the right, Abigail Holden (Sociology) and Elizabeth Stone (Urban Studies/Environmental Science), received Summer Undergraduate Research Grants to continue their work on AP Participation and Performance in Worcester Public Schools. Following the completion of a quantitative study entitled AP & WPS, Part 1 in May, Conroy and Briesacher launched a qualitative study that looks at the impact of AP Exam-taking on student academic confidence and their college-going plans. Their findings from the initial study raised many questions they wanted to ask and answer. For example, publicly-accessible data shows that WPS’ failure rate is the highest among Massachusetts Gateway Cities with school districts of more than 10,000 students. This is in large part because WPS' testing rate is much higher than other districts. In no year since 2007 have more WPS students passed their AP Exams t
Urban Studies professors Dr. Tom Conroy and Dr. Tim Murphy, along with Dr. Alex Briesacher (Sociology) and associate vice president Mary Jo Marion (Civic Engagement) presented at the annual meeting of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities in October. Their panel, The Devils in the Details: The Complexities of Early College Partnerships , focused on the wide-spectrum of Early College models in the US and other areas of complexities including demographic shifts and "unharmonized" visions of EC programs. Altogether, they argued, these different levels of complexities contribute to confusion and disarray in programs that negatively affect the missions of many programs and/or lead to confusion of objectives. Well-received by attendees, the session made the case that the area most controlled by individual institutions was the "unharmonized" aspects, which is addressed when institutions create and communicate clear objectives for Early College Programs th
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