Educational Experiences of MA Foster Youth
In 2015, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s (SJC) Court Improvement Program (CIP) began research on the school experiences of students involved with the Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) in out-of-home placement in MA. The CIP report and other supplemental research found that students in MA foster care are performing up to 6.5 times worse than the general student population in MA public schools. Further data sharing show that these findings are not limited to students solely in DCF out of /home placement, but also apply to students involved with DCF.
DESE should share and use these data to provide a greater understanding of how students involved with DCF are doing in school and leadership from all child serving agencies, and with the input of schools, impacted youth and families, the education and advocacy community, come together to take action to hold all of us accountable to address these disparities. Massachusetts foster youth deserve the best we can offer.